No — your Israeli pension no longer cuts your US Social Security. For decades the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) reduced the US benefit of anyone who also drew a pension from work that was not covered by US Social Security, and an Israeli employer pension or a ביטוח לאומי (Bituach Leumi) old-age pension is precisely that. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed 5 January 2025, repealed the WEP and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), and it is retroactive: the rules no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 onward.1 Many olim are owed back-pay.
Not advice
Almost every oleh who built a US work record and then earned an Israeli pension was blindsided by the same thing at retirement: their US benefit estimate looked fine while they were working in America, then the SSA quietly knocked it down once the Israeli pension started. That reduction was the WEP, and the classic WEP victim was a person with exactly your profile — US credits from a US career, plus a foreign (Israeli) pension that US Social Security never taxed. A lifelong Israeli with no US work record never had this problem; you did, and the 2025 repeal is money flowing back to you.
What were the WEP and GPO, and how did they cut an oleh’s benefit?
The WEP and GPO were two rules that reduced US Social Security for people who also received a pension from non-covered work — work on which no US Social Security tax was paid, which describes essentially every Israeli job. The WEP attacked your own retirement benefit. The GPO attacked a spousal or survivor benefit.
The WEP worked by changing the formula that turns your earnings into a benefit. Normally the first slice of your averaged earnings is credited at 90%; under the WEP that first factor was scaled down as low as 40% for workers with fewer than 20 years of substantial US coverage.2 A guarantee capped the damage: the WEP reduction could never exceed half of your monthly non-covered (Israeli) pension.2The GPO was harsher in shape — it reduced any spousal or widow(er) benefit by two-thirds of your monthly non-covered pension, which often wiped the spousal benefit out entirely.3
| Provision | What it reduced | How the cut was sized (pre-repeal) | Status now |
|---|---|---|---|
| WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) | Your own US retirement / disability benefit | First benefit factor cut from 90% toward 40%; reduction capped at half your monthly Israeli pension2 | Repealed; does not apply from January 20241 |
| GPO (Government Pension Offset) | Your US spousal or survivor benefit | Benefit reduced by two-thirds of your monthly Israeli pension3 | Repealed; does not apply from January 20241 |
What exactly did the Social Security Fairness Act change?
It eliminated both provisions outright. The Social Security Fairness Act was signed into law on 5 January 2025, and it ended the reduction of Social Security benefits for people who receive a pension from non-covered work.1 The repeal is backdated: December 2023 was the last month the WEP and GPO applied, so they no longer reduce benefits payable for January 2024 and later.1In practice that means two things land in your account — a permanently higher monthly check going forward, and a one-time lump sum covering the under-payment back to January 2024.
The SSA identified roughly 2.8 million existing beneficiaries whose checks had been reduced by the WEP or GPO and began adjusting monthly payments and issuing retroactive lump sums on 25 February 2025.4 If you were already receiving a benefit that had been cut, you generally do notneed to file anything — the adjustment is automatic as long as the SSA has current direct-deposit and address details for you.4 Olim should confirm the SSA holds a working Israeli bank account or a current mailing address so the back-pay can actually reach them.
If you never claimed because of WEP/GPO
Does my Israeli Bituach Leumi count toward US Social Security (or vice versa)?
No. There is no US–Israel totalization agreement, so the two systems never share credits in either direction. The United States has totalization (social-security) agreements with roughly 30 countries that let a worker combine coverage periods to qualify for a benefit — and Israel is not on that list.5 That has a concrete consequence: your years of paying ביטוח לאומי (Bituach Leumi) in Israel do not help you reach the 40 US credits the SSA requires, and your US work years do not count toward your Israeli קצבת זקנה (Kitzvat Zikna) (old-age pension).
This is the cross-border twist worth internalising. The WEP repeal is good news, but it does not merge the systems — it just stops one system from punishing you for participating in the other. You still earn a US benefit only from US-covered work, and an Israeli קצבת זקנה (Kitzvat Zikna) only from your years in the Israeli system. Plan each pension on its own track, because no agreement bridges them.
How do I actually receive US Social Security while living in Israel?
By international direct deposit, paid into an Israeli bank account and converted to shekels automatically. As a US citizen you may receive your Social Security payments while living outside the United States, and Israel is an approved destination — the SSA sends the payment electronically and it lands in your מטבע חוץ (Matbea Chutz) or shekel account, converted at the daily exchange rate without a separate conversion fee.6 You keep the SSA informed of address and banking changes, and a US citizen abroad can generally keep collecting indefinitely.6
On the tax side, US Social Security is generally taxable by the United States, not Israel. Under the US–Israel income tax treaty, a social-security payment is taxable in the country that makes the payment — so your US benefit is a US tax matter even though you live in Israel.7Because the US still taxes its citizens worldwide, you report it on your US return; the treaty’s allocation keeps Israel from taxing the same benefit a second time.7 This is one of the cleaner cross-border outcomes an oleh will meet, but confirm your own facts with a cross-border preparer before relying on it.
Quick check
An oleh with 12 years of US work and an Israeli employer pension saw their US Social Security cut for years. After the Social Security Fairness Act, what changed?
No, your Israeli pension no longer reduces your US Social Security. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed 5 January 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO), and it is retroactive: the rules no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 onward. For decades the WEP cut the US benefit of anyone who also drew a pension from non-covered work, and an Israeli employer pension or Bituach Leumi old-age pension was exactly that kind of pension, so many olim with a US work record are now owed back-pay. If you were already on the rolls, the adjustment is automatic, a permanently higher monthly check plus a one-time lump sum back to January 2024. There is still no US-Israel totalization agreement, so Israeli and US work years never share credits, and your US Social Security stays generally US-taxable, not Israeli-taxable, under the tax treaty.
If you were already receiving a US benefit that the WEP or GPO had reduced, the adjustment is automatic. The SSA began raising monthly payments and sending retroactive lump sums on 25 February 2025 without a new application. Your job is to make sure the SSA has a current Israeli bank account and address on file so the back-pay can actually reach you.
Possibly. If you hold the roughly 40 US credits (about ten years of US-covered work) needed to qualify, the calculation that previously made a claim worthless no longer holds, because the offset is gone. Filing a fresh claim with the SSA can now produce a real monthly benefit. There is still no totalization agreement, so you need those US credits on their own; Israeli Bituach Leumi years will not fill a shortfall.
No. A Bituach Leumi or Israeli employer pension was the classic non-covered pension that triggered the WEP, but the WEP no longer applies to benefits payable for January 2024 onward. You can now draw both your Israeli old-age pension (kitzvat zikna) and your full US Social Security without one cutting the other.
No. There is no US-Israel totalization agreement, so credits never cross the border in either direction. You need about ten years (40 credits) of US-covered work for a US benefit, and a separate Israeli record for an Israeli pension. Each is earned and claimed on its own. The WEP repeal removed a penalty but did not link the two systems.
Generally no. Under the US-Israel income tax treaty, a social-security payment is taxable by the country paying it, so your US benefit is taxed by the US, not Israel. Because the US taxes its citizens on worldwide income, you still report it on your US return, and the treaty keeps Israel from taxing the same benefit a second time. Run your specific situation past a cross-border preparer, since other income and filing thresholds can change the picture.
The same way as the ongoing benefit: by international direct deposit into your Israeli bank account, converted to shekels at the daily exchange rate with no separate conversion fee. The retroactive amount arrives as a one-time deposit covering the period back to January 2024, and your monthly payment is permanently increased going forward.
Both were US rules that reduced Social Security for people who also received a pension from non-covered work, essentially any Israeli job on which no US Social Security tax was paid. The WEP attacked your own retirement benefit by scaling down the first benefit factor from 90% toward as low as 40%, with the reduction capped at half your monthly Israeli pension. The GPO attacked a spousal or survivor benefit, reducing it by two-thirds of your monthly Israeli pension, which often wiped that benefit out entirely. Both were repealed and no longer apply from January 2024.
