Q. I have nine years of prior active-duty military service as a physician. If I took a physician’s job with the VA, could those nine years be counted toward my retirement? A. Only if you made a deposit to the retirement system to get credit for that time.
Monthly Archives: September, 2012
Q. My Voluntary Contributions account was just set up, and I am now ready to put a lot of money in it. How do I keep tabs on the current balance? Will it show up in my pay statement, or is there online access? A. OPM will send a Voluntary Contributions Annual Statement of Account to you at the beginning of each year, showing the interest through Dec. 31 of the preceding year.
Q. I am doing long-range retirement planning, and the answer I need is not addressed by the OPM website, as the end of leave year page is only shown through 2020. Could you give an estimate of the best days for a FERS covered employee to retire at the end of leave year in 2021 and 2022? My research shows that I need to work until Dec. 31, 2022, to get full credit for the entire leave year. A. I don’t know when the leave year will end in 2021 or 2022. And I’m not going to waste my time…
Q. My husband and I work for the federal government. He plans to retire soon; however, I will continue working. The Request for Retirement Annuity Computation form asks if he wants to elect a survivor annuity for his spouse. The notes section immediately below this question states the following: “You must elect a survivor annuity for your spouse to be eligible to continue coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB), unless your spouse is a federal employee with his/her own entitlement to FEHB.” This note has thrown me for an absolute loop. I don’t understand the correlation between my…
Q. I will be retiring next year after 31 years from CSRS. I am not eligible for Social Security. Am I eligible for Medicare parts A and B at age 65? A. While you aren’t eligible for Medicare Part A, you will be able to enroll in Medicare Part B.
Q. I will be 65 in November and will have Medicare. I will keep Blue Cross/Blue Shield as my supplement. Will my BC/BS federal employee premiums go down? I am a retired FERS employee, and I receive an annuity from which my premiums are deducted. A. No, your premium payments will remain the same.
Q. I retired under CSRS in 2010 and came back in August 2011 under the rehire program. I’m not a senior official, and there’s no offset with my pension — which is nice, but HR says regarding Social Security, too bad: I have to pay into the program, which seems unfair, knowing I’ll never get Social Security income. Do you have any suggestions on how I could recover what they’ve been taking out for Social Security and/or stop this withdrawal? A. Too bad, but that’s the law and there is no way around it.
Q. I have completed 10 years of active-duty service and 11 years in the National Guard (I am still in the guard). I have been employed by the Department of Labor (GS12/FERS) for the last 10 years. I bought back my 10 years of active-duty service. My questions are: 1. Was I eligible to buy back my 10 years of active duty, seeing as how I can now retire from the guard? 2. If I am eligible, does that mean I have 20 years with the Department of Labor (10 active plus 10 in the department itself)? A. 1) Yes,…
Q. I am a CSRS employee with 40 years in the government. What percent of my check will I get if I retire? A. Assuming you have exactly 40 years of service, your annuity will equal 76.25 percent of your high-3. Each additional month of service will increase it by 1/6 of 1 percent. Further, if you have unused sick leave, every 174 hours will increase that amount by an additional 1/6 of 1 percent.
Q. I worked for 16 years at Kelly Air Force Base, and when the base closed, I withdrew my retirement contributions. I was told I was eligible to receive only what I had contributed to my retirement. Does this mean I lose what the government put into my retirement fund, or am I still entitled to that money? A. No, by law you weren’t entitled to the government’s contributions, only the ones you made.