When you work as a worker in the United States, you and your employer normally pay Social Security taxes only in the United States and not in France. When you work in France, you normally only pay French social security taxes and neither you nor your employer have to pay US social security taxes. If a U.S. benefit is payable based on the U.S. and French Social Security Credit Census, we will determine an initial benefit based on your U.S. income, as if you had completed your entire career under the U.S. plan. The United States then reduced this initial benefit to take into account the fact that french loans helped make the benefit payable.