Is an early retirement benefit smaller forever?
Unfortunately, yes. You can start collecting early retirement benefits as early as age 62, but then they are permanently reduced depending on your age. For example, for people born in 1960 and later, whose full retirement age is 67, benefits collected from age 62 are 30% lower than the full benefit. The consequences can be even more serious for a worker whose wife plans to collect spousal benefits or, someday, survivor (widow’s) benefits.
If a husband takes early retirement at age 62, he will receive 70% of his full benefit. If his wife applies for spousal benefits, also at 62, she will receive 32.5% of his full benefit instead of the 50% she would receive at full retirement age. The husband’s early retirement can also lower the wife’s future widow’s benefits. All in all, an impatient couple deprives itself of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over its lifetime.
Does collecting a ZUS pension hurt Social Security benefits?
Not anymore. For many years, recipients of Polish pensions had their Social Security benefits reduced, because a clause of the Social Security law called the “Windfall Elimination Provision” (WEP) required a reduction in benefits for people who had worked outside the Social Security system (in Poland or for the US government). WEP was repealed by the Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025. The law also repealed the Government Pension Offset (GPO). The change applies to benefits payable for January 2024 and later, and the Social Security Administration has paid out the back payments.
Did the reduction also apply to totalized benefits?
The reduction did not apply to totalized benefits calculated under the agreement in effect since March 1, 2009. The WEP reduction was also gradually lessened for people who had worked in the States for more than 20 years, and it disappeared for people with 30 or more years of work. The reduction also did not apply to widows’ or widowers’ benefits.
The Social Security Administration explains the effects of the Social Security Fairness Act on its website: www.ssa.gov. Combining Polish and American pensions is explained in detail in the book “Emerytura polska i amerykańska” (“Polish and American Pensions”).
Did the pension agreement cause benefit reductions?
The Agreement on Social Security between the Republic of Poland and the United States of America took effect on March 1, 2009. It brought several changes for Polish-American retirees and benefit recipients, the most important of which is the ability to combine periods of coverage.
The agreement changed nothing with regard to the Windfall Elimination Provision, because that rule had been in effect since 1985 – until it was repealed in 2025.
Why weren’t others reduced?
Many people cited examples of acquaintances who were collecting pensions in Poland and did not have their Social Security reduced. There could have been several reasons: maybe they started collecting benefits before 1985, before the Windfall Elimination Provision took effect. Maybe they were collecting a totalized pension in Poland, maybe they had worked in the US for more than thirty years, maybe they were collecting widow’s benefits. Or maybe they simply did not disclose that they were receiving ZUS or KRUS (Poland’s Agricultural Social Insurance Fund) benefits. Today, after the repeal of WEP, a Polish pension no longer reduces Social Security benefits.
Will SSA reduce my benefits if I move to Poland?
If a person has US citizenship, the benefits paid in Poland are not reduced. But Social Security benefits paid in Poland to US tax nonresidents (people without American citizenship and without a green card) are additionally reduced by 25.5%.
The reason is that for a nonresident alien for tax purposes, 85% of Social Security benefits are subject to a 30-percent tax. This tax is governed by international tax treaties, not by the Polish-American social security agreement. Poland is not on the list of countries whose residents are exempt from this tax.
Advice: People planning to retire to Poland should obtain American citizenship. It will pay off.
Why are taxes being withheld from my ZUS pension?
Often a ZUS or KRUS pension is transferred to an account in a Polish bank while the recipient lives in the States and resents the taxes being withheld.
Unfortunately, living outside Poland does not always exempt us from paying Polish income taxes. An income tax advance and a contribution to the Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia (Poland’s National Health Fund) are withheld from the pension. People living abroad can apply to be released from the obligation to pay the National Health Fund contribution, but then they will have no health insurance when they come to Poland on vacation (Medicare does not pay abroad).
How much does an undocumented immigrant lose?
Maybe everything, maybe nothing. It depends on whether he has a valid Social Security number issued before 2004.
Under the Social Security Protection Act of 2004, people who file applications after January 1, 2004, must meet additional requirements. In short, since 2004, undocumented immigrants who never had a valid Social Security number and still have not regularized their immigration status have no chance of getting Social Security retirement or disability benefits. Working under someone else’s number or a fake number, as well as under a taxpayer identification number (ITIN), disqualifies the applicant. The only advice for them is to regularize their immigration status. The new rules apply only to people who file for retirement or disability benefits after January 1, 2004. If someone was awarded benefits earlier, they will not be taken away.
The rules become even more complicated if someone had a Social Security card issued earlier, if he lost legal status, and if he has family members who want to collect benefits on his record. These issues are explained at length in the book “Ubezpieczenie społeczne Social Security” (“Social Security”).
When the SSA office won’t talk to an undocumented immigrant
Long-settled undocumented immigrants work under a valid number for as long as possible, apply for retirement benefits in the States and collect them in Poland. But it happens that SSA employees do not know how to handle an immigrant without papers. They wrongly tell him that he is not entitled to anything, and even ask him to leave the office.
Advice: The book “Ubezpieczenie społeczne Social Security” contains a letter to the Social Security Administration written in English, together with a quotation of the relevant section, which you can use to persuade the official to accept your application for retirement benefits in the US even though your immigration status is unlawful.
You can also file an application for retirement benefits with the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) at the US Embassy in Warsaw (e-mail: [email protected]) or at the US Consulate General in Kraków (e-mail: [email protected]). Current contact information is available at www.ssa.gov/foreign/iclaim.htm.
How we reduce our own benefits
Usually it is not others who cause our retirement or family benefits to be reduced, but we ourselves. Earnings over our working career, the age at which we retire, marital status, the benefit we choose (our own or our spouse’s), working in retirement, immigration status, Medicare coverage – all of these affect the amount of benefits. Research by scholars at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has shown that the right combination of age and Social Security benefits can increase a married couple’s income by as much as 19%, which over a lifetime can add up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. I explain strategies that allow spouses to significantly increase their benefits in the book “Ubezpieczenie społeczne Social Security”.
Immigrants should pay particular attention to retirement matters, because additional factors affect their situation: immigration status, a Polish pension, country of residence, and a change in their tax situation after moving to Poland.
For people planning to return to Poland in retirement, the book “Emerytura reemigranta w Polsce” (“A Returning Emigrant’s Pension in Poland”) is indispensable.
Elżbieta Baumgartner has been the author and publisher of numerous advice books for Polish immigrants in the US since 1989. They are available in Polish-American bookstores and directly from the publisher: tel. 718-224-3492, www.poradniksukces.com
Updated October 2026.
