Yes, you can collect both a pension and Social Security in Massachusetts, and as of 2025 the combination is worth more than it has been in decades. The Social Security Fairness Act, signed on January 5, 2025, repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, the two federal formulas that used to cut Social Security checks for people receiving a Massachusetts public pension. The repeal is retroactive to January 2024.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)
Why the Question Comes Up in Massachusetts
Massachusetts public employees don’t pay Social Security tax on their government wages. State workers belong to the Massachusetts State Employees’ Retirement System (MSERS), and public school teachers belong to the Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement System (MTRS).2Mass.gov. MSERS Retirement Benefit Guide Massachusetts never entered a Section 218 agreement to bring its workers under Social Security, so the payroll tax doesn’t come out of a public paycheck.3Hampshire County Retirement System. History of HCRS and Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement Law That’s why collecting both benefits requires meeting two entirely separate sets of rules.
Qualifying for Each Benefit
Nothing you earn in one system counts toward the other. You have to satisfy each on its own terms.
On the state side, MSERS members vest after ten years of full-time service. Retirement eligibility turns on your hire date. Employees hired before April 2, 2012, can retire with 20 years of service at any age, or at age 55 with at least ten years of service. Employees hired on or after that date generally need to reach age 60 with ten years of service.4Mass.gov. Creditable Service for Retirement (MSRB)
On the federal side, you need 40 Social Security credits, which works out to about ten years in jobs where Social Security tax was withheld. In 2026, one credit is worth $1,890 in covered earnings, capped at four credits per year.5Social Security Administration. Social Security Credits and Benefit Eligibility For most Massachusetts public retirees, those credits come from private-sector work before, alongside, or after their government career.
What the Social Security Fairness Act Changed
Before the 2025 repeal, two provisions reduced Social Security payments for people who also received a pension from work not covered by Social Security.
The Windfall Elimination Provision cut your own Social Security retirement or disability benefit. Social Security normally replaces 90% of the first band of average monthly earnings, but the WEP dropped that factor to as low as 40% for anyone with a non-covered government pension.6Social Security Administration. Program Explainer: Windfall Elimination Provision The result was often several hundred dollars a month less than the standard formula would have paid.
The Government Pension Offset hit spousal and survivor benefits. It reduced the Social Security benefit you could claim on a spouse’s or late spouse’s record by two-thirds of your Massachusetts pension. A $3,000 monthly pension produced a $2,000 offset, which was often enough to eliminate the spousal or survivor check entirely.7Social Security Administration. Government Pension Offset
Both provisions are repealed. December 2023 was the last month either applied. Benefits payable from January 2024 forward are calculated without any reduction for a Massachusetts public pension.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)
If You Were Already Receiving Reduced Benefits
The SSA recalculated benefits automatically for people already on the rolls. If your check was reduced by WEP or GPO, the agency raised your monthly payment and issued a one-time lump sum covering the increase back to January 2024. The lump sum was deposited into the bank account SSA had on file, followed by a mailed notice.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO)
If You Never Applied Because of the Old Rules
This is the most important step for anyone who assumed the WEP or GPO would zero out their Social Security and never bothered filing. The repeal did not change the SSA’s retroactivity rules for new applications. Retirement and survivor claims are generally limited to six months of back pay before the month you apply. Disability claims can go back twelve months.1Social Security Administration. Social Security Fairness Act: Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO) Every month you wait is a month of benefits you can’t get back. Contact the SSA and file.
Medicare and IRMAA
Medicare works on separate rules. State and local government workers hired after March 31, 1986, pay the 1.45% Medicare portion of FICA even though they don’t pay the 6.2% Social Security portion.8Social Security Administration. Mandatory Medicare Coverage Those Medicare quarters count toward premium-free Part A but not toward Social Security retirement. If you were hired after that date and have at least 40 quarters, you qualify for premium-free Part A at 65. Workers hired earlier who never paid into Medicare may still qualify through a spouse’s record or by paying a Part A premium.
Watch out for the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount on Part B. With WEP and GPO gone, combined incomes are higher than many retirees planned for. The standard Part B premium in 2026 is $202.90 per month, but single filers with modified adjusted gross income above $109,000 (joint filers above $218,000) pay surcharges that can push the monthly premium to $689.90.9Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2026 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles IRMAA looks at tax returns from two years earlier, so a retroactive lump sum could affect premiums a couple of years out.
How the Combined Income Gets Taxed
Massachusetts treats retirees generously. The state does not tax Social Security benefits, and pensions paid by the Commonwealth or its municipalities are exempt from state income tax as well.10Mass.gov. Differences Between MA and Federal Tax Law for Personal Income For many retirees, neither check produces a Massachusetts tax bill.
Federal taxes are another matter. Your MSERS or MTRS pension is fully taxable as ordinary income. Social Security is partially taxable depending on your combined income, which is adjusted gross income plus nontaxable interest plus half your Social Security benefits. Single filers with combined income between $25,000 and $34,000 may owe tax on up to 50% of benefits; above $34,000, up to 85%. For married couples filing jointly, the thresholds are $32,000 and $44,000. Those numbers have never been indexed to inflation, so most retirees drawing both a pension and Social Security land in the 85% bracket.
Planning Moves Now That the Offsets Are Gone
If you’re still working in a Social Security-covered job, keep going if you can. The SSA calculates benefits from your highest 35 years of covered earnings, and years of Massachusetts public service show up as zeros in that average. Each additional year of covered work replaces a zero and raises your monthly benefit.
Rethink the survivor option on your pension. MSERS and MTRS both let you reduce your monthly pension in exchange for a survivor benefit to your spouse. Under the old GPO, a public retiree’s spouse often received nothing from Social Security, which made the pension survivor option the only real protection. Now that a surviving spouse can collect a Social Security survivor benefit, the math on whether to buy down your own pension for that protection is different than it was before 2025.
Pull a current Social Security Statement from ssa.gov before you make any of these decisions. The figure it shows now reflects the post-repeal calculation, so comparing it against your projected MSERS or MTRS pension gives you an accurate combined-income picture for the first time in decades.