Q. I retired at 61 and was unaware that the CSRS offset was supposed to be automatic at 62. I was definitely eligible for Social Security at 62, but no offset was taken by the Office of Personnel Management. Now as I am looking at enrolling in Social Security retirement at my current age of 65+, advice in many forums state offset starts at 62 no matter what. Any thoughts on why it wasn’t taken? OPM error?
A. If OPM failed to offset your CSRS annuity by the amount of Social Security you earned while you were a CSRS Offset employee, it was clearly an error. They are required to do a file match with the Social Security Administration to catch situations like yours. Since the offset is a requirement of law, whether you apply for a Social Security benefit or not, they will catch up with you in time. To speed up the process, you may want to let them know about their oversight.
