Q. I am a CSRS employee with 45 years of service. I am planning to retire at the end of the year and was told that all of my retirement contribution after 41 years and 11 months will be returned to me. Is that true? If so, is any interest paid? A. Yes, you will receive a refund of your excess contributions, with interest. You will also be given the opportunity to purchase additional annuity not subject to the 80 percent limit.
Monthly Archives: July, 2012
Q. I’m a GS–15/10 under FERS, so I’m subject to the pay cap. I typically roll over the allowed 240 hours of annual leave, and I frequently have restored leave. If I retire partway through the year, will the pay cap affect my lump–sum payment for leave? Would I be paid for the total of those three amounts? A. Lump-sum annual leave payments aren’t subject to the 80 percent pay cap.
Q. Should I be worried, when I retire from FERS in seven years, that I will not receive a retirement check from the military and a FERS civil service retirement check? I returned to civil service after retiring from the Air Force after 20 years. I receive a monthly annuity in addition a monthly VA disability check. I received my FERS benefit estimate report for buying back my recent active-duty time. The estimate clearly favors that I buy my time back. All references lead me to believe I will be able to collect my full military retirement annuity, VA disability check and…
Q. I retired from the postal service in 2003. My health benefits continued under the federal employee health benefit plan. Now that I am turning 65, I need to know how I will be affected by Medicare A, B and D. I have Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Federal Employees Plan. What is automatic and what should I choose, if anything? A. While you will have to apply for Medicare Part A, which you have already paid for through payroll deductions, it’s up to you to decide if your need Part B, for which you would pay premiums. On the other hand, OPM and most…
Q. I am a CSRS employee, hired in 1979 and contemplating retirement April 3. I will be subject to the windfall elimination provision since I earned 40 credits of Social Security eligibility before federal employment. But my spouse is also Social Security eligible and started receiving Social Security benefits of more than $1,900/month (gross) last month, whereas the SSA has estimated that my Social Security benefits would be approximately $385/month (gross). Would I be eligible for spousal Social Security benefits? Also, a financial planner has recommended that I roll over my substantial TSP account balance before I turn 70½ (October 2017), but I…
Q. I am 53 and have 27 years in a law enforcement officer position covered by 6-C Special Retirement and am eligible (by both time and age) to retire. I was injured on duty and required surgery. I have been on OWCP for five months. I have been assigned an OWCP nurse case manager. My doctor told me yesterday that he does not feel he can approve me to return to my position due to my injury and subsequent surgery. He is referring me for a Functional Capacity Exam, after which he will make his decision. (This is probably moot anyway, as I…
Q. The agency has offered me a voluntary early retirement. The agency has agreed that if OPM does not accept my application, I will be returned to work. If my retirement application is denied by OPM and I am returned to work, who is responsible for any lost wages I incur while my application is being processed? If the agency is responsible, do you have any regulations to support your answer? A. You agency has introduced a note of uncertainty where none should exist. If your agency has been granted a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, it offers you an opportunity to…
Q. I am 60 and work for USPS. I have 39 years and one month of federal service, including eight years, three months and 14 days’ military service that I paid into and two years, five months and 25 days of previous civil service. I also worked in the private sector and have accumulated more than 90 quarters for Social Security from part-time jobs and the military. Because I worked for CSRS and did not pay into Social Security from that job, I know that will affect my Social Security benefit. The quarters I acquired don’t meet the “substantial earnings” amount for…
Q. When I retire, I will give my wife a full spousal annuity. I am in CSRS. When I die and when my wife starts to receive her spousal annuity, will the Social Security payment she receives for her contributions be reduced? Is there any windfall or offset adjustment to her Social Security earnings? A. There would be no reduction of any kind, either to her earned Social Security benefit or the survivor annuity you are providing for her.
Q. My wife and I are retired. My wife has both a small civil service pension and Social Security. I had 30-plus years of Social Security earnings when I retired in 1998. If I survive my wife, will the reduced amount I would receive from her government pension affect my Social Security payment? I am asking about Government Offset Pension rules. A. The government pension offset applies only to the spousal Social Security benefit of someone receiving an annuity from a retirement system where he or she didn’t pay Social Security taxes, such as CSRS. It doesn’t apply to the earned Social Security benefit of…