Q. I am a postal employee who was hired under CSRS in 1983 but switched to FERS when it was offered in 1987. At that time, I was refunded the money I had put into CSRS between 1983 and 1987. How does that affect how my FERS annuity is computed? Can I buy back those four years, to make my annuity higher when I retire?
A. No, you can’t. Because you didn’t have five years of service under CSRS when FERS came on line, that service was automatically converted to FERS service. Therefore, when you retire, your entire annuity will be computed using the FERS formula.
