Q. At my age of 59 (60 in December 2016) and with 27 years of service (28 starting in October 2016), would the 5 percent per year for lifetime penalty apply to me if I retire before turning 60?
A. Yes, it would. Your annuity would be permanently reduced by 5 percent for every year that you were under age 62, or 5/12 of 1 percent per month.
8 Comments
Won’t the individual above avoid the annuity penalty because he is over the MRA and has over 20 years of service?
Thanks for catching my typo. The answer has been corrected.
So to clarify… I would not be penalized the 5% per year lifetime on my FERS Annuity if I retire early before age 62 (that was my typo).. that falls under the MRA + 20 provision
For the best results, and not to discover I need to reinstate with the Federal Government, I should wait until I turn 60 at the end of December 2016? Or could I go now?
If you have 20 years of service and retire at age 60, you would receive a penalty-free annuity. If you applied for that annuity before reaching age 60, you’d be subject to the age penalty, which is 5/12ths of 1 percent for every month you are under age 60.
Yes, I have over 20 (October begins my 28th yr), and turn 60 in December. So retiring at the end of December would be good. Would my TSP work simultaneously each month the my FERS Annuity?
Would the age penalty not be 5/12ths of 1 percent for every month under 62?
Best courses of action for the person who posed the original question would seem to be a) either wait until 60 to retire, or b) retire before 60 and postpone receipt of an annuity until he/she is 60, at which time an unreduced annuity would be available.(since the person has more than 20 years of service).
Would you please provide a reference for your response. The only reference that I’ve ever seen concerning this issue is 5/12ths of 1 percent for every month under 62, not 60.
Also, am I correct to say, that if I retire 1 day before turning 60, with over twenty years service, that I totally forfeit the FERS supplement. Any insight why the supplement isn’t reduced in a manner similar to the annuity reduction?
You are correct. It’s age 62, not 60. If you retire the day before turning age 60, you wouldn’t forfeit the SRS. That’s because you will have completed a full year the day before the next year begins. For example, if you were born on July 15, you would have completed one year on July 14.