Mostly posting because I found it interesting, but it applies to our situation (both my wife and I have credits in both the US and Japan) so it raises a question for us about voluntary Nenkin payments.
From [this SSA page](https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0201701310):
> Beginning January 1995, a foreign pension that is based on a Totalization agreement with the United States will not cause the WEP to apply in the computation of a non-Totalization U.S. benefit.
>…
> A foreign pension is “based on a Totalization agreement with the United States” if entitlement to the pension is established as a result of the Totalization agreement between the United States and that country. A foreign pension is not based on the agreement if the beneficiary met the normal entitlement requirements of the other country’s laws and did not rely on the agreement to establish entitlement. The decision as to whether the foreign pension is based on the agreement is made as of the first month the beneficiary is concurrently entitled to the foreign pension and a U.S. benefit.
If I’m reading this correctly, you are subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision if you fully qualify for Japanese pension without needing the Totalization agreement, but if you’re short, the Japanese pension doesn’t fall under the WEP.
My understanding is that now only 10 years of contributions are needed to qualify for Nenkin, but [this other SSA page](https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/japan.html) (updated in at least 2022) seems to suggest that 25 years are still needed to fully qualify.
For our situation, we lived in the US, then moved to Japan, and now we’re moving back to the US again. I’ve paid into the Japanese system for 8 years so I’m “safe” but my wife is over the 10 year threshold (because she has credits from her first job out of university before she moved to the US the first time) so we’re up in the air about her making voluntary pension payments if the eventual payout is going to be hit by the WEP.
Any advice?
by FogDucker
