What to do after citizenship

[sparkofcreation 0]

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Edited April 16, 2008 by sparkofcreation

[Ashish 1]

BTW If you are not paying FICA then what is the basis of your exemption?

I, like many others - and there are thousands of employees in city/state/federal agencies that fall under this - have 'alternative pension programs' - We paid our portion to our fund - (yes the same 8% that others pay for Social Security) - though it may vary from city to state to federal. Our employer (mine was the state of Colorado) - paid the matching portion (just like under SS) - but our pension administrator has lower costs for the state. Then the pension administrators takes care of the funds and have defined benefits (in my case) which are far superior to SS benefits. And since, we do not pay SS - we are not eligible for Social Security and other benefits - and there are hundreds of thousands of people like me, perhaps millions. There are people in private sector who salivate when they hear about our retirement program - the downsize is you may not make as much money as in the private sector. I thought retirement was something that didn't matter and after a few years of working, I realized that I could retire and collect pension as early as age 50! I did retire at age 55! Good Luck to all of you

Thanks for clarifying this Motu .

[akdiver 3]

It might be irrelevant to you but AFAIK anyone who earns legal wages in the US has to pay SS.

This is simply not true. You should check your facts before offering bad information.

Lots of people are not required to pay SS tax on their wages - including many government employees.

[sparkofcreation 0]

It might be irrelevant to you but AFAIK anyone who earns legal wages in the US has to pay SS.

This is simply not true. You should check your facts before offering bad information.

Lots of people are not required to pay SS tax on their wages - including many government employees.

According to the retirement-benefits-for-federal-employees training I had two weeks ago, at the federal level only people who started working for the federal government under the old system (CSRS) fall into that category. Everyone who's under FERS (which was put into place in the 1980s) pays Social Security. So the number of people *not* required to pay SS tax is dwindling rapidly as the people who didn't, are now retiring and are all expected to be retired in the next decade.

[akdiver 3]

According to the retirement-benefits-for-federal-employees training I had two weeks ago, at the federal level only people who started working for the federal government under the old system (CSRS) fall into that category. Everyone who's under FERS (which was put into place in the 1980s) pays Social Security. So the number of people *not* required to pay SS tax is dwindling rapidly as the people who didn't, are now retiring and are all expected to be retired in the next decade.

Um, there are plenty of government employees who do not work for the federal government. Most state employees do not pay into social security either - and their numbers are not "dwindling rapidly". Many local/county/city employees ALSO do not pay into social security.

It's a great example of how government requires everyone else to get screwed while it takes care of its own.

Edited May 5, 2008 by akdiver

[NickD 203]

Ironically for a union free state practically all of our city, state, and teachers belong to very strong unions. I was a GS-11 a long time ago, no SS, could retire at 55 with 75% pay with full medical benefits, but couldn't put up with the pure BS of that job and the politics. My sister and brother-in-law struck it out and retired at 55 and were able to buy a second home in Florida, brother retired at colonel pay at the ripe old age of 43 after 25 years of service.

It does seem rather unfair to taxpayers, but don't fight them, join them. My son was born with a chronic disease where he was kicked off my medical insurance after one year causing me huge medical bills that almost killed me, same gene in the family who worked for the government, their kids were never kicked off. One nice thing about government jobs, if you are extremely incompetent, they don't fire you, but make a supervisor out of you. In my own dirty way, played stupid to upgrade myself from a GS-7 to a GS-11 and more than likely would have become a GS-15 in short order. But it didn't seem right to me. Can't argue, I made the choice. Did do very well in the corporate world, was general manager of a fortune 500 company for about ten years and a young one at that. But never anticipated my field would be shipped out to Mexico, Japan or China by our government. Could have gone to Mexico, but another bad choice on my part. I put my family first.

Just apply for a government job. A good place to start is to pick a winner and help some guy get elected to office. And also learn how to complain as to how hard you have to work.

[warlord 73]

One of the main reasons for informing and changin SS is because agencies can use that to verify your citizenship. It's always a good practice if you are now a citizen to make sure everyone is caught up and realizing you are a citizen.

Also if you work, you need to notify your HR and let them know. The I-9 I think it is will need to be updated by them...

[l.j./1999 1]

One of the main reasons for informing and changin SS is because agencies can use that to verify your citizenship. It's always a good practice if you are now a citizen to make sure everyone is caught up and realizing you are a citizen.

Good point, warlord. Going back to the link Verika posted earlier, it's important not to overlook the first reason that they give for updating your status with Social Security:

"The social security database will be updated showing you as a US citizen. This database is shared with all federal agencies and many state agencies further validating your US citizenship status with the federal and state governments."

For example, I know that when you apply for federal student loans, if you claim to be a U.S. citizen on the application, they will check the SSA database to confirm your claim. There are probably many other cases where this database would be checked. Obviously you can provide other proofs of your citizenship, but you might have to deal with unnecessary delays if your citizenship cannot be immediately verified through the Social Security database. So notifying SSA when you have a chance is probably a good idea, even if it's just as a precaution and maybe not a matter of real urgency.

[RICHIE07 0]

It might be irrelevant to you but AFAIK anyone who earns legal wages in the US has to pay SS.

This is simply not true. You should check your facts before offering bad information.

Lots of people are not required to pay SS tax on their wages - including many government employees.

I agreed with you. My husband is government employees but his not paying the SS for his retirement.