Social security taxes back to Indians

[jaganjaga]

Hi Guys,

 

Recently i found this article online saying that US offers to pay social security taxes back to Indians who work in the US for at least 4-5 years.

Is this true??

 

http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/05/20/us-offers-to-pay-social-security-taxes-back-to-indians-who-work-in-the-us-for-at-least-4-5-years/

 

Thanks

Jag

[JoeF]

That's BS.
A totalization agreement would never be about paying these taxes back (it can't, because that money was paid to current retirees), it would be about having the time paid into the US social security system considered for payouts of a comparable social security system in the person's home country.
So, until India gets a social security system similar to the US and other countries, e.g., Western Europe, this kind of stuff is not going to happen.

[rahul412]

 (it can't, because that money was paid to current retirees),

Now, that's called as Ponzi scheme. 

[JoeF]

Now, that's called as Ponzi scheme. 

Not quite, because it is supposed to be backed by the government, which has a fund to make sure it stays viable. Unfortunately, a certain party has somewhat raided that fund for other purposes...

[rahul412]

Not quite, because it is supposed to be backed by the government, which has a fund to make sure it stays viable. Unfortunately, a certain party has somewhat raided that fund for other purposes...

Govt itself is running this scheme. That's 100% fraud.

[JoeF]

Govt itself is running this scheme. That's 100% fraud.

No, it isn't. Please read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund

"Social Security benefits are paid from a combination of social security payroll taxes paid by current workers and interest income earned by the Social Security Trust Fund."

Things are never as simple as a certain Presidential candidate (name starting with T) and his party claim.

[rahul412]

 

Hi Guys,

 

Recently i found this article online saying that US offers to pay social security taxes back to Indians who work in the US for at least 4-5 years.

Is this true??

 

http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2015/05/20/us-offers-to-pay-social-security-taxes-back-to-indians-who-work-in-the-us-for-at-least-4-5-years/

 

Thanks

Jag

 

You will never get your SS money back, lots of politics involved here. And this is one of the reasons why govt is not interested in clearing the GC backlogs.

[rahul412]

No, it isn't. Please read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund

"Social Security benefits are paid from a combination of social security payroll taxes paid by current workers and interest income earned by the Social Security Trust Fund."

Things are never as simple as a certain Presidential candidate (name starting with T) and his party claim.

I have to agree that I am wrong here.

[JoeF]

You will never get your SS money back, lots of politics involved here. And this is one of the reasons why govt is not interested in clearing the GC backlogs.

 

People who have paid into the US Social Security system for 10 years/40 quarters can get social security retirement benefits even abroad (except for a few countries like Syria, Iran, ...)

The only "politics involved" is about totalisation, which simply requires a social security system similar to the US, and also requires reciprocity. Works quite well with Canada, countries in Western Europe, Australia, etc. etc. etc.

It is not the US fault if India doesn't have such a system...

[GcLLC]

People who have paid into the US Social Security system for 10 years/40 quarters can get social security retirement benefits even abroad (except for a few countries like Syria, Iran, ...)

The only "politics involved" is about totalisation, which simply requires a social security system similar to the US, and also requires reciprocity. Works quite well with Canada, countries in Western Europe, Australia, etc. etc. etc.

It is not the US fault if India doesn't have such a system...

 

That reminds me of something that I need to explore. I worked for 4 years in Scandinavia. Did not care much about the SS benefits there since India did not have a SS system. Now I am a US citizen, would it be possible to capture some of the benefits accrued in Scandinavia?

[JoeF]

That reminds me of something that I need to explore. I worked for 4 years in Scandinavia. Did not care much about the SS benefits there since India did not have a SS system. Now I am a US citizen, would it be possible to capture some of the benefits accrued in Scandinavia?

 

I haven't really looked into this other than for my own old home country, but I think it should work. This would be considered when you retire here, so it shouldn't matter what your nationality was when the benefits where accrued.