Q. My husband is retired from the Army and is now working as a FERS employee. Once he can retire at 62, does Social Security offset his military? I am medically retired under CSRS. Since I did not pay into Social Security, can I collect Social Security under my husband?
A. Any Social Security benefit to which he would be entitled will be in addition to his military retired pay. That benefit will be based on his total years of Social Security-covered service. If he meets the age and service requirement to retire under FERS, based solely on his FERS service, he will be able to receive that benefit, too. He does have the option of making a deposit to the civilian retirement fund and get credit for his active-duty service; however, at retirement he would have to waive his military retired pay.
Any spousal Social Security benefit to which you would be entitled will be subject to the government pension offset provision. The GPO reduces or eliminates the spousal Social Security benefit of anyone receiving an annuity from a retirement system where he or she didn’t pay Social Security taxes, such as CSRS. The reduction would be $2 for every $3 you receive in your CSRS annuity.
