Q. I am a retired pure CSRS employee working part time as a rehired annuitant with no annuity offset. I am coming to the end of my third year. When I first began working, HR was not taking out FICA. Two years ago, HR said it had been told at some payroll class that it should be taking out FICA, so it started doing so. About 12 months later, HR sent a demand letter for the FICA it had failed to collect in the beginning. I filled an appeal immediately and have heard nothing.
Three of us here are in this predicament. We do not think FICA withholding is proper. We will never be able to collect Social Security.
Their total justification seems to be that we were hired as rehired annuitants after 1983.
A. Yes, because you are a re-employed annuitant whose pay is not offset by the amount of your annuity, FICA deductions are required to be taken from your pay. The fact that you may never have enough credits to qualify for a Social Security benefit is irrelevant.