Q. I am receiving Social Security benefits. I am still a federal employee under FERS and having Social Security deducted from my pay. I get a statement from the Social Security Administration for the amount I received for taxes, but it does not acknowledge the amount deducted from my salary as being against the amount received. I called them, and they don’t know if it could be deducted or not. The IRS doesn’t seem to know either. Do you know?
A. There is no reason why the statement of benefits you received would include any information about the deductions taken from your pay. The benefits statement is just that: a statement of the benefits you received in a calendar year. On the other hand, your W-2 shows, among other things, the total amount of Social Security deductions taken from your salary during a calendar year. If you are a relatively new Social Security beneficiary, you have a surprise coming. After you have filed your federal taxes, the Social Security Administration will update your record and send you a catch-up payment for the amount of Social Security benefit they would have paid you had the correction been made at the beginning of the new year, plus a statement of what your new monthly benefit will be. I know because it happens to me every year.
