Q. I am eligible for retirement under CSRS with over 30 years of employment with the USGS. One intriguing retirement option was the proposal that was floated last year regarding a transition into retirement by working part time. I understand this proposal has been recently finalized; however, my main concern is how this legislation affects retirement benefits at the “high 3” level. A. There hasn’t been any change in law regarding a transition into retirement by working part time. However, there has been a change to the way that the annuities of part-time CSRS employees are calculated, which will produce…
Monthly Archives: February, 2010
Q. Thank you so much for your article entitled “Making sense of 2 types of annuities.” It was very informative to the fifty-something people in my office. Assuming FERS, two questions. When you refer to annuity, are you referring to 1) the person’s pension or 2) the person getting the equivalent of some of type of early Social Security benefits? And if the answer to the above is the person’s pension, is it possible for one to start collecting Social Security benefits (or the equivalent of) once they do early retirement (for example, age 57)? Obviously, if this was so,…
Q. I retired as a FERS annuitant on Feb. 1, 2006 at age 62 plus a couple of weeks. If I am rehired please help with these questions. Will my current FERS gross annuity before taxes be deducted from the new gross salary before taxes? If I have the maximum for retirement, including the over-50 extra amount, deducted and invested in the Thrift Savings Plan, am I matched by the federal government and vested from day one for as long as I decide to work? I left my TSP with the federal government and I have not taking anything from…
Q. I will be 62 years old in November 2010. I plan on retiring Dec 31, 2010. I will draw a FERS annuity from the government; I also will be drawing Social Security. My question is, will my FERS annuity be considered taxable income to Social Security and will my Social Security benefit be taxed for it ? A. Your FERS annuity will be taxable as regular income; however, a portion of it will be tax-exempt because it represents a return of the contributions you made to the retirement system, which have already been taxed. When determining if you have…
Q. I am retired under a combination of CSRS (14 years) and FERS (12 years). My CSRS annuity is $3,000 a month and my Social Security is $600 a month. If my spouse dies, can I get any part of his $1,600 monthly Social Security? A. If you are a federal retiree who elected to switch from the Civil Service Retirement System to the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS) on or before June 30, 1988 or you if you switched after that date, including during the open season from July 1, 1998, through December 31, 1998, the fact that you had at least…
Q. I am currently 54 years old under FERS and considering early retirement in the next 3 – 4 years. I am also retired from the military and bought my service time. I currently do not carry any Federal Health Care Benefit; I use my military benefit. Once I retire from federal civilian service my retirement pay from the military will stop; does this have any effect on my military health benefits? A. It’s my understanding that waiving your military retired pay will not affect any other military benefits to which you are entitled; however, to be sure, you’d need to…
Q. I retired from the U.S Forest Service on 7/03/05 at age 52 under CSRS Firefighter retirement. I retired out of a secondary firefighter position that I went into from a primary firefighter position with no break in service. If I am rehired by the U.S Forest Service now, after 4.5 years retired, into a secondary firefighter position, will I still have to take mandatory retirement at age 57 or will the break in service mean that no firefighter retirement will be in effect for any “supplemental” or separate annuity I may acquire? Basically, in this scenario, can I work…
Q. I retired on June 30, 1999 at age 47 on disability under the CSRS offset. I had exactly 21 years of service at the time of retirement. I show the disability amount as wages on my tax return. At what point can I start showing this income as a pension rather than wages? A. This is a tax matter and falls outside my area of knowledge. You’ll have to check with the IRS. To get a head start, download a copy of IRS Publication 721, Tax Guide to U.S. Civil Service Benefits, available at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p721.pdf.
Q. What happens to the special retirement supplement if I worked until age 62? … even though I am eligible to retire at age 56, with 31 years of service? Do I lose the SRS completely? It would total about $106,000 between ages 56-62. A. The only purpose of the special retirement supplement is to help a FERS retiree bridge the gap between his retirement and his eligibility for a Social Security benefit. It you work until age 62, you won’t get it or need it. Note: Even if you were to retire before age 62, began receiving the SRS, and had earnings…
Q. I am a FERS employee and I plan to retire in the near future. As I have a CSRS component, I will be impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision when I begin to draw Social Security. As my spouse is also a FERS employee, it is possible that my spouse benefit for Social Security may exceed my own benefits. I will turn 62 eight years before my spouse. And we both plan to draw Social Security when we each turn 62, respectively. I understand that I will not be eligible for a spouse Social Security benefit until my wife…