Q: I’m an employee under the Federal Employees Retirement System with a hire date of Jan. 19, 1999. I plan on retiring the day after my 60th birthday in 2015 under the minimum retirement age plus-10 provision with 16 years of service. Will I have to take the 10 percent penalty for being two years younger than age 62, or does being age 60 somehow eliminate it?
A: The 5 percent-per-year penalty will apply for every year (5/12ths of a percent per month) that you are under age 62. If you had 20 years of service and retired at age 60, the penalty would not apply.
