Q: I plan to retire in June 2011 on my 62nd birthday. If I work up until that date and make approximately $20,000 will my Social Security benefits be reduced? A: The Social Security Administration has a special “first year” rule that lets them pay a full Social Security check for any whole month they consider you retired, regardless of your yearly earnings. In other words, the pay you received before retiring won’t count against the earnings limit. Note: In 2010, if you are below full retirement age, you are considered retired in any month that your earnings are $1,180…
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Q: I am an 80 percent disabled veteran right now. I have applied for a Federal Employees Retirement System disability retirement, and they I was told it would take three to six months. Is that about the right time? I thought it would go through rather quickly. I went to apply for Social Security, but until I am not working, they can’t process my claim. Same thing with Veterans Affairs. I gave them an individual unemployment form, then they said I had to wait until I am not working. Is that right? I applied for Social Security under the Wounded…
Q: I am currently a federal employee, having joined an agency in January 2010, late in my career. I am 64 years old. Between 1980 and 1987 I worked for the state and I paid into the state retirement system. Later, I transferred those funds into a private IRA. I was not vested in that system after only seven years. Can I make a deposit into the federal system for those years to add resources to what will likely be five years of employment with the federal government? A: No, you cannot make a deposit and get credit for that…
Q: I read somewhere that if you had enough quarters of Social Security, like 28 or 30, you could qualify for your Social Security pay based on that and I would get both my Federal Employees Retirement System and Social Security disability retirement money, without there being an offset. Is that correct? A: The criteria for receiving a Social Security disability benefits are much higher than those for a FERS disability benefit. To receive such a benefit with fewer than 40 credits, you would have had to be covered under Social Security from the time you turned age 22. Under…
Q: I was in the Air Force from May 1980 to June 1993. I took a separation incentive. I have been in Federal Employees Retirement System from 1993 to present. What do I do to get the best possible retirement pay? Buy back time? Would I have to pay back the separation incentive? I am 48 years old. A: If you want to get credit for your years of active duty service, you’ll have to make a deposit to the civilian retirement fund. In your case, that would be 3 percent of your basic military pay, not including any allowances…
Q: I was a Civil Service Retirement System employee who quit after eight years of service to take care of my ailing mother. After the what I believe is the three year window for rehire into CSRS, I never tried to go back. It has been 20 years. Recently, I have heard of a legal case that might allow me to be rehired under CSRS. Under what circumstances could I now go back as a CSRS rehire? When I was hired originally in 1981, I was eligible for a GS-9, but took a much lower grade so I could get…
Q: I have been receiving Social Security benefits since turning 65 in 2003. I had to take another job and the company I am working for does not take Social Security from my pay. I have been employed for seven years. I am thinking about retiring from this position and when I do, I will receive a pension from state of California of about $600 per month. I have less than 20 years paid into Social Security. I had interview with Social Security representative, and she calculated my Social Security once I receive pension from California will be reduced by…
Q: For those covered under the law enforcement provision of the Federal Employees Retirement System, is the Social Security earnings test applied toward funds received from their Thrift Savings Plan if those amounts exceed the earnings test for the special law enforcement officer/firefighter Social Security supplement after their minimum retirement age? A: No. The Social Security earnings test only applies to earnings from wages or self-employment.
In expanding benefits to federal employees’ same-sex partners, President Obama ordered the Office of Personnel Management director to issue a proposed rule to “add a federal retiree’s same-sex domestic partner to the list of individuals presumed to have an insurable interest in the employee.” What would adding same-sex domestic partners to such a list accomplish? To figure that out, you need to know something about insurable interest annuities. You probably know that a retiring employee can elect a survivor annuity for a current spouse and may be required to provide one for a former spouse, but you may not know…
Q: I am a Reserve JAG in the Air Force and work for the Patent Office as an attorney. I received an e-mail from a guy I met on a cruise last month who is working for the federal government in Iraq. He can’t seem to to buy in for his retirement because his DD 214 indicates that he may get a disability retirement under TDRL. However, he didn’t, and now he has no retirement and can’t get credit for his service. That is wrong. Apparently his agency thinks that only the DD-214 is authorized to state whether he is…