Does my NZ Super reduce my US Social Security?

What was the Windfall Elimination Provision?

A rule that cut your US Social Security if you also received a pension from work that had not paid into US Social Security.

The Social Security Administration describes the two provisions it repealed as ones "which could reduce Social Security benefits when someone received a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security". Work done in New Zealand falls squarely into that description, and New Zealand Superannuation is a pension arising from it. So a New Zealander who had also worked in the United States, or an American who had spent part of their career in New Zealand, could find their US benefit reduced because of a New Zealand payment.

The companion rule, the Government Pension Offset, did a similar thing to spousal and survivor benefits.

Is it really gone?

Yes. On 5 January 2025 the President signed H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023. The Social Security Administration's own bulletin states that "the law repeals the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision".

The Administration now puts it to the public in one sentence: "We no longer reduce your benefits because of pensions from jobs that didn't pay into Social Security."

From when?

Benefits payable for months after December 2023.

The bulletin is precise about it: "The law applies with respect to benefits payable for months after December 2023. (WEP and GPO continue to apply to benefits payable for months before January 2024.)"

That backdating matters. If you were already receiving a reduced benefit, the Administration says it will add the reduced amount back to the monthly payment and pay back what was withheld from January 2024 onwards. If you have not claimed yet, the reduction simply never applies.

The Administration reported in 2025 that it had made over three million such payments. If you were affected, were not contacted, and have moved country since, that is worth chasing rather than assuming it was handled.

Careful with older advice

This is a live trap for anyone researching this question.

The repeal is recent, and a great deal of writing about foreign pensions and US Social Security predates it. Some of that writing is still online, still confidently worded, and now wrong. Anything that explains how to calculate your WEP reduction, or describes a foreign pension as cutting your US benefit, is describing the position up to December 2023.

Check the date on anything you read about this, including this page.

Does it work the other way round?

No, and this is the asymmetry to hold on to.

New Zealand still reduces New Zealand Superannuation by the amount of an overseas pension. Section 189(1) of the Social Security Act 2018 says the rate of the benefit "must be reduced by the amount of the overseas pension", and section 188 catches anyone qualified for a New Zealand benefit who is entitled to receive, or receives, one.

So the two countries no longer behave the same way. The United States has stopped reducing its payment because you have a New Zealand one. New Zealand has not stopped reducing its payment because you have a US one.

One softener on the New Zealand side. Section 189(3) means your New Zealand Superannuation is not reduced because your husband, wife or partner receives an overseas pension. Only your own counts.

What this guide does not tell you

It does not tell you whether you qualify for US Social Security at all, which depends on your work credits, nor what you would be paid.

It also leaves alone whether New Zealand and the United States have a totalisation agreement letting credits in one country count in the other, how a US payment is taxed in New Zealand or a New Zealand payment in the United States, and what happens to either payment when you move between the two. Each is its own question and none of them is answered by the repeal described here.

If your US benefit was reduced before 2024 and you have not seen it corrected, take that to the Social Security Administration directly rather than to a calculator.