Q: I am retired military with 20 years of active duty. I am a GS-14 with two years of federal service. I am 47 years old. What would the benefit be to buy back my military time?
A: If you made a deposit to the civilian retirement system for your 10 years of active-duty service, it would be added to your actual service time in determining your eligibility to retire and, when you retire, your annuity would be 10 percent higher than if you didn’t make a deposit. The deposit required would be 3 percent of your basic active-duty pay, not including differentials or allowances. If you were to do that before the third year after entering government, no interest would be charged; after that, there would be. Finally, at retirement you would have to waive your military retired pay. You’ll have to do the math to see which way is best for you financially.
