CNBC Personal Finance
By Lorie Konish
February 11th, 2026
New laws enacted in 2025 may have a big impact on how much Social Security beneficiaries pay in taxes this season.
The Social Security Fairness Act provides more than 2.8 million beneficiaries who receive public pensions with higher monthly payments and retroactive lump-sum payments dating back to 2024. The law eliminated two provisions affecting those beneficiaries: the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP, and the Government Pension Offset, or GPO.
If you’re getting higher benefits because of the Social Security Fairness Act, some percentage of those are going to be taxable.
Alex Durante, Senior Economist at the Tax Foundation
The monthly benefit increases for affected beneficiaries range from “very little” to more than $1,000, according to the Social Security Administration. Here’s what to think about when reporting that extra income to the IRS this tax season.
