Q: What are the available annuity options for a federal employee with 19 years of service under the Foreign Service Retirement and Disability System (FSRDS) and an additional 21 years under the Civil Service Retirement System? A former spouse has an entitlement for the 19 years under FSRDS, and a current spouse has entitlement for the 21 years in CSRS. Is there an option for two separate annuity computations? Also, what are the various benefits included in a lump-sum payment from the Office of Personnel Management? A: If you don’t take steps to combine your service, you would be eligible…
Browsing: CSRS annuity computation
Q: I will be retiring from federal service at age 58 with 35 years of service under the Civil Service Retirement System. I have been paying the 1.45 percent Medicare biweekly payment since its inception in 1983. Will this tax be deducted from my monthly CSRS annuity until I reach age 65? And, without 40 quarters of paying into Social Security, does paying the Medicare tax for 17 years qualify me for free Medicare Part A? A: Deductions for Medicare Part A are only required for those who have earnings from wages or self-employment, not annuities. The fact that you…
Q: Can the president change the high-3 retirement formula to high-5 by executive order, or must this change be approved by Congress and then signed by the president? A: The high-3 formula is a matter of law. To change that would require that the Congress pass legislation and the President sign it into law.
Q: I retired at age 55 with 34-plus years of service. I quit after 13 years of civil service and returned to civil service after 3 1/2 years of private employment. I just turned 61. I paid Social Security for over 20 years. If I elect to request Social Security benefits at age 62, how will this affect my civil service pension? A: Because you are now covered by CSRS Offset, at age 62 your annuity will be offset by the amount of Social Security benefits you earned while covered by CSRS Offset. The net effect will be that you’ll…
Q: I plan to retire at the end of this calendar year under the Civil Service Retirement System. My tour of duty is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday thought Friday. Everything I read says the optimum date to retire is Dec. 31. Human resources says I can only retire on the first, second or third of the month, and they want me to retire Jan. 1. It is my understanding that there is no advantage to retiring after Dec. 31 because the weekend days aren’t paydays and if I retire Jan. 1, I will lose one day of my…
Q: I have 33 years under the Civil Service Retirement System. Prior to that, I was with a private company and completed 32 quarters under Social Security. I will be 70 years old in June. My separation notice under the Base Closure and Realignment Act will be issued in June, and I will have to leave my job by Sept. 15. What are my best options to qualify for Social Security (40 quarters)? I understand there will be offset payments. Should I continue work two more years, finding another job after Sept. 15, and forget Social Security? A: You can…
Q: In reading your article on key dates for federal retirement in the Oct. 4 issue of Federal Times, you say that “CSRS employees get full credit for unused sick leave.” I am eligible to retire by age and years under the Civil Service Retirement System, but have been told that only increments of 174 hours of sick leave will be “rolled” into my retirement calculation. A: At retirement, any days and hours of actual service that don’t add up to a full month are added to any hours of unused sick leave. To provide retirees with 12 equal monthly payments,…
Q: I can retire in February with 31 years of service under the Civil Service Retirement System as a part-time/flex employee in the U.S. Postal Service. My “high-3” years were from 2006-2009. Will they use these years to calculate my annuity? Is it always the last years? Is it always three consecutive years, or is it the highest consecutive three years? As a PTF, my hours changed yearly as to how many offices I worked in. Also, when I was hired in 1979, I never heard of “buying back” or anything related. Since I made no deposits, or didn’t know…
Q: I’m a disabled federal retiree drawing a federal retirement. I paid into Social Security while on National Guard status for 30 years. I’m currently working and paying into Social Security and will have enough quarters to draw Social Security payments at age 62. I understand there is an offset that will apply to my retirement. I have received a Social Security statement every year; my past statement shows I will draw around $750 at age 62. Is this my retirement amount after the offset, or do I need to reduce this amount by the offset amount? If that’s the…
Q: My husband was federal technician and served in the Air National Guard. The military discharged him because of health reasons. So he lost his federal technician job. He now receives Civil Service Retirement System disability benefits. He applied for Social Security disability. Social Security counts his CSRS disability as a public disability, so his benefit is offset and his payment is reduced to $31.00 a month. Now that he is over age 55, can he change his CSRS retirement to a CSRS annuity or discontinued service retirement? Social Security stated that if he is receiving a CSRS annuity or…