§ 417.
(e)
Determination based on wages and self-employment
(1)
For purposes of determining entitlement to and the amount of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment payable under this subchapter on the basis of wages and self-employment income of any veteran (as defined in paragraph (4) of this subsection), and for purposes of
section 416(i)(3) of this title, such veteran shall be deemed to have been paid wages (in addition to the wages, if any, actually paid to him) of $160 in each month during any part of which he served in the active military or naval service of the United States on or after
July 25, 1947, and prior to
January 1, 1957. This subsection shall not be applicable in the case of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment if—
(A)
a larger such benefit or payment, as the case may be, would be payable without its application; or
(B)
a benefit (other than a benefit payable in a lump sum unless it is a commutation of, or a substitute for, periodic payments) which is based, in whole or in part, upon the active military or naval service of such veteran on or after July 25, 1947, and prior to January 1, 1957, is determined by any agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States (other than the Department of Veterans Affairs) to be payable by it under any other law of the United States or under a system established by such agency or instrumentality.
The provisions of clause (B) of this paragraph shall not apply in the case of any monthly benefit or lump-sum death payment under this subchapter if its application would reduce by $0.50 or less the primary insurance amount (as computed under
section 415 of this title prior to any recomputation thereof pursuant to subsection (f) of
section 415 of this title) of the individual on whose wages and self-employment income such benefit or payment is based. The provisions of clause (B) of this paragraph shall also not apply for purposes of
section 416(i)(3) of this title. In the case of monthly benefits under this subchapter for months after December 1956 (and any lump-sum death payment under this subchapter with respect to a death occurring after December 1956) based on the wages and self-employment income of a veteran who performed service (as a member of a uniformed service) to which the provisions of section 410(
l)(1) of this title are applicable, wages which would, but for the provisions of clause (B) of this paragraph, be deemed under this subsection to have been paid to such veteran with respect to his active military or naval service performed after December 1950 shall be deemed to have been paid to him with respect to such service notwithstanding the provisions of such clause, but only if the benefits referred to in such clause which are based (in whole or in part) on such service are payable solely by the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Coast and Geodetic Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps, or Public Health Service.
(2)
Upon application for benefits or a lump-sum death payment on the basis of the wages and self-employment income of any veteran, the Commissioner of Social Security shall make a decision without regard to clause (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection unless the Commissioner has been notified by some other agency or instrumentality of the United States that, on the basis of the military or naval service of such veteran on or after July 25, 1947, and prior to January 1, 1957, a benefit described in clause (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection has been determined by such agency or instrumentality to be payable by it. If the Commissioner has not been so notified, the Commissioner of Social Security shall then ascertain whether some other agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States has decided that a benefit described in clause (B) of paragraph (1) of this subsection is payable by it. If any such agency or instrumentality has decided, or thereafter decides, that such a benefit is payable by it, it shall so notify the Commissioner of Social Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall certify no further benefits for payment or shall recompute the amount of any further benefits payable, as may be required by paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(3)
Any agency or wholly owned instrumentality of the United States which is authorized by any law of the United States to pay benefits, or has a system of benefits which are based, in whole or in part, on military or naval service on or after July 25, 1947, and prior to January 1, 1957, shall, at the request of the Commissioner of Social Security, certify to the Commissioner, with respect to any veteran, such information as the Commissioner of Social Security deems necessary to carry out the Commissioner’s functions under paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(4)
For the purposes of this subsection, the term “veteran” means any individual who served in the active military or naval service of the United States at any time on or after July 25, 1947, and prior to January 1, 1957, and who, if discharged or released therefrom, was so discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable after active service of ninety days or more or by reason of a disability or injury incurred or aggravated in service in line of duty; but such term shall not include any individual who died while in the active military or naval service of the United States if his death was inflicted (other than by an enemy of the United States) as lawful punishment for a military or naval offense.
([Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531], title II, § 217, as added [Aug. 28, 1950, ch. 809], title I, § 105, [64 Stat. 512]; amended [July 18, 1952, ch. 945, § 5(a)], (d)(1), [66 Stat. 773], 775; [Aug. 14, 1953, ch. 483, § 1], [67 Stat. 580]; [Sept. 1, 1954, ch. 1206], title I, § 106(e), [68 Stat. 1081]; [Aug. 9, 1955, ch. 685, § 1], [69 Stat. 621]; [Aug. 1, 1956, ch. 837], title IV, §§ 404(a), (b), 406, [70 Stat. 872], 873, 875; [Pub. L. 85–840, title III, § 314(a)], (b), Aug. 28, 1958, [72 Stat. 1036], 1037; [Pub. L. 85–857, § 13(i)(2)], Sept. 2, 1958, [72 Stat. 1265]; [Pub. L. 86–778, title I, § 103(j)(2)(C)], Sept. 13, 1960, [74 Stat. 937]; [Pub. L. 89–97, title III, § 322], July 30, 1965, [79 Stat. 396]; [Pub. L. 90–248, title IV, § 403(c)], Jan. 2, 1968, [81 Stat. 932]; [Pub. L. 94–273], §§ 2(23), 16, Apr. 21, 1976, [90 Stat. 376], 379; [Pub. L. 95–216, title II, § 205(c)], Dec. 20, 1977, [91 Stat. 1529]; [Pub. L. 97–35, title XXII, § 2201(c)(7)], Aug. 13, 1981, [95 Stat. 832]; [Pub. L. 97–123, § 2(g)], Dec. 29, 1981, [95 Stat. 1661]; [Pub. L. 98–21, title I, § 151(a)], title III, § 308, Apr. 20, 1983, [97 Stat. 103], 115; [Pub. L. 98–369, div. B, title VI, § 2663(a)(12)], (j)(3)(A)(ii), July 18, 1984, [98 Stat. 1164], 1170; [Pub. L. 101–239, title X, § 10208(d)(2)(A)(iv)], Dec. 19, 1989, [103 Stat. 2481]; [Pub. L. 101–508, title V, § 5117(b)], Nov. 5, 1990, [104 Stat. 1388–277]; [Pub. L. 102–40, title IV, § 402(d)(2)], May 7, 1991, [105 Stat. 239]; [Pub. L. 102–54, § 13(q)(3)(A)(i)], (D), (E), June 13, 1991, [105 Stat. 279]; [Pub. L. 103–296, title I, § 107(a)(4)], Aug. 15, 1994, [108 Stat. 1478]; [Pub. L. 114–74, title VIII, § 842], Nov. 2, 2015, [129 Stat. 617].)