Q. I’m a FERS employee. I thought I had read somewhere that when you leave government early and apply for a deferred retirement, you have to wait until you are 62 to receive your annuity. Is that not true? Would you be eligible for the FERS supplement in this case?
A. In answer to your first question, a FERS employee who leaves government before being eligible to retire can apply for a deferred annuity when he reaches one of the following age and service combinations: 62 with five years of service; 60 with 20; at his minimum retirement age with 30; or at his MRA with at least 10 years of service. In the latter case, his annuity would be reduced by 5 percent for every year he was under age 62.
In answer to your second question, deferred retirees are never eligible for the special retirement supplement.
2 Comments
I am currently serving overseas. When my five year tour of duty is up I will be 60 years old with 19 years of service. I know if I chose to retire at that point I would get a 10% reduced annuity. However, if I defer my retirement until I’m 62 will I get an unreduced retirement that I would get at 20 years service or would I still get the 10% reduction because I had not completed the full 20 years of creditable service?
If you resign and apply for an annuity at age 62, there would be no age-penalty reduction in your annuity. That annuity would be based on your actual service which, as you’ve stated, is 19 years.