Q. Do CSRS Offset retirees receive separate payments from Social Security and the Office of Personnel Management?
A. If you retire before age 62, you will receive a single annuity payment from OPM. When you reach age 62, your CSRS annuity will be reduced by the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while a CSRS offset employee, and you will begin receiving a separate Social Security payment that represents the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while covered by CSRS Offset. That payment will be larger if you have other Social Security-covered service outside of your years as a CSRS Offset employee.
8 Comments
I retired in 2008 with an Early Out. I am not receiving Social Security at this time. Im a retired FERS with Frozen CSRS. My MRA is 65yrs 6 months. I was told by Social Security that I make to much money from my Pension and husbands Annuity to receive any benefits from SS. I was told by my OPM personnel that I would receive my husbands annuity and my own pension and it will not change until i die. Am I entitled to SS benefits at all?
Was employed with the USPS from 1977 through 2008. For the first 5 years I was on CSRS and then switched to FERS. Any help in this matter would be helpful.
Once you reach your Full Retirement Age (FRA) with Social Security, you can apply for benefits from them with no income limitation. Because you had 5 years in CSRS, it is doubtful you will receive any spousal SS benefits, due to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) Law. However, you are also affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), which will reduce (but not eliminate) Social Security benefits earned on your own account, by about half. At your FRA, you should receive SS benefits on your own account, reduced by the WEP. You can read more about the WEP and GPO at: https://www.ssa.gov/planners/retire/gpo-wep.html
I retired under CSRS Offset 6 months ago at 65. I’m still waiting for my full annuity to be resolved by OPM. I was planning to wait until I was at least 66 to apply for Social Security. I was under the impression that I would receive a higher Social Security payment if I waited until I was 66 or even 70. Is there any financial benefit to my waiting to receive Social Security or should I apply now?
There won’t be any reduction in your Social Security benefit if you wait until your full Social Security retirement age, which ranges between 62 and 67, depending on your year of birth. The closer you are to full retirement age, the less the age-based reduction will be. You have to decide whether it’s better to receive a lower benefit now or wait until you are eligible for a higher one.
Good morning, Mr. Jones,
I’m 64, planning to retire in December. What is the simple formula of reduction for my CSRS Offset annuity?
Thank you.
To estimate the amount of that reduction, do the following: Take your estimated Social Security benefit, multiply it by your total years of Offset service, and divide the product by 40.
The outcome of this, Is this a monthly or a year of deduction on my annuity.
If this is monthly, this is sky high for a low grade GS level like me. If a yearly divide by 12 is fine.
Thanks
At age 62 your CSRS annuity would be permanently reduced by the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while a CSRS Offset employee. If you apply for a Social Security benefit at that time, the total benefit you receive would be approximately the same as the amount you were receiving when you reached age 62, more if you had additional earnings covered by Social Security outside your CSRS Offset career. Note: If you work past age 62, the reduction will occur when you retire.