hello

Under Social Security rules, anyone born in 1929 or later needs 10 years of work (40 credits) to be eligible for retirement benefits. People born before 1929 need fewer years of work.

When a person who has worked and paid Social Security taxes dies, certain members of the family may be eligible for survivors benefits. Up to 10 years of work is needed to be eligible for benefits, depending on the person’s age at the time of death. Survivors of very young workers may be eligible if the deceased worker was employed for 1½ years during the three years before his or her death.

Not all employees work in jobs covered by Social Security. Some of these employees are—

• Most federal employees hired before 1984 (since January 1, 1983, all federal employees have paid the Medicare hospital insurance part of the Social Security tax);

• Railroad employees with more than 10 years of service;

• Employees of some state and local governments that chose not to participate in Social Security; or

So what you need to do is to make sure that when you worked for the Federal Government, you paid social security,

But if you worked after 1984, you should have paid into the system

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Yes,

You are correct,

However, were you enlisted in the Army ?

f you served in the military after 1956, you paid Social Security taxes on those earnings. Since 1988, inactive duty service in the Armed Forces reserves (such as weekend drills) has also been covered by Social Security.

Under certain circumstances, special extra earnings for periods of active duty from 1957 through 2001 can also be credited to your Social Security earnings record for benefit purposes.

• From 1957 through 1967, we will add the extra credits to your record when you apply for Social Security benefits.
• From 1968 through 2001, you do not need to do anything to receive these extra credits. The credits were automatically added to your record.
• After 2001, there are no special extra earnings credits for military service.

The information that follows explains how you can get credit for special extra earnings and applies only to active duty military service earnings from 1957 through 2001.

• From 1957 through 1977, you are credited with $300 in additional earnings for each calendar quarter in which you received active duty basic pay.
• From 1978 through 2001, For every $300 in active duty basic pay, you are credited with an additional $100 in earnings up to a maximum of $1,200 a year. If you enlisted after September 7, 1980, and didn’t complete at least 24 months of active duty or your full tour, you may not be able to receive the additional earnings. Check with Social Security for details.

This is directly from the social security regulations

I would go directly to your local Social security office, and advise them of the mistake,

if you were enlisted you paid social security and were covered,

I would also contact the Army Human resources and obtain your work history and any records to show you paid SS.

http://ssa.gov/pubs/10017.pdf

You can look at the rules at the link above,

If they are only giving you 31 credits, their must be a mistake.

That is different, you need the form SSA-7004, the Social Security Administration will send you a Personal Earnings and Benefits Statement (PEBES) that will list your earnings from employment covered by Social Security and provide a Social Security benefit estimate assuming retirement at alternative ages, 62, 65, and 70.

If you were a civil service employee, their is an offset, due to you having

government pensions and retirement.

So the work credits may have been reduced,

Federal employees who stayed under the old Civil Service system in 1987 did not pay into Social Security. If the employee also worked under Social Security through other employment, his Social Security benefit will be smaller under the Windfall Elimination Provision. Under this provision, his Social Security benefit computation is different from the standard method and could reduce his benefit up to $380.50 monthly.

Most employees in the Civil Service Retirement System do not pay into Social Security. The exception is CSRS Offset. CSRS Offset employees do pay into Social Security.

If you did not pay into the system you would not,

You should still verify if social security taxes were paid, but from the facts you have presented, it seems that you did not pay into the system, and elected to have the CSRS annuity or retirement benefits

I would make sure through the HR of your previous employer or the benefits department to see how much if any social security taxes were paid, while you worked to make sure their is no mistake.

Good luck,

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