Q: I’m a CSRS Offset employee with 18 years, 6½ months under straight CSRS, with 12 years, seven months at retirement April 30, 2012, and with at least 40 quarters earned under Social Security before federal service. Had an appointment the other day at the Social Security Administration to see what my benefits, Offset amount and Windfall amounts would be.
The person who I talked to had no idea about the CSRS Offset, kept calling the WEP an offset, insisted that she never had to consider/calculate the offset amount for OPM, that OPM would do the calculations and she just had to do the WEP calculations.
At time of retirement, does OPM notify a Social Security Office where there are SME who have dealt with CSRS Offset and WEP and will calculate my benefits properly and correctly?
What figures and formula do I use to figure out my benefit amount at 64, my Offset amount and the WEP amount?
My full retirement age is 66, going out at 64 will reduce my full retirement benefit. The Offset amount is calculated against the total amount I’m due at 64, that amount reduces the CSRS annuity, not the SS amount and the combination of the two amounts will total the same as the original CSRS benefit. The WEP is also calculated against the amount I’m due at 64.
A: If you retire before age 62, at age 62, your CSRS annuity will be reduced by the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while covered by CSRS Offset. If you retire on or after reaching age 62, the reduction will occur on the day you retire. The total amount you receive will be approximately the same; it will just come from two places, OPM and the Social Security Administration. Any additional Social Security benefit to which you are entitled based on non CSRS-Offset work will be in addition to that. However, if you have fewer that 30 years of substantial earnings under Social Security, you will be subject to the windfall elimination provision. While the WEP is unlikely to affect the Social Security benefit you earned while covered by CSRS Offset, it will affect the remainder.
2 Comments
Hello,
I agree with the person posing the question above. My husband is a retired Civil Service Town employee and I am retired CSRS Offset turning 62 years old this year. My husband is 64 and has been collecting retirement and social security for a few years. When I went with him to the Social Security office they had no idea what CSRS-Offset was.
I told them that my husband should be able to increase his social security payments because I paid into social security for at least 25 years and made substantially more money.
When I start collecting later this year at 62 years old, can he receive more money based on my earnings?
Your husband would be entitled to the greater of the two Social Security benefits, either his own or the spousal benefit based on your work record.