Q. I need to know the percentage I contributed toward my pension as a retired law enforcement officer ( I retired in 2008), and what percentage the government contributed. A. When you retired, the amount of your own contributions was reported on the package sent to you by OPM. You could also find it on your final pay voucher. To find out what your agency contributed, you’ll have to get that from your former agency. The amount depends on your retirement system and, in the case of FERS, varied over time.
Browsing: FERS annuity computation
Q. I am a FERS employee with seven years of service. I was told at our retirement seminar that we could not draw more than two federal pensions. I will retire from the Air Force reserve in three years, and in another 10 years can retire from my GS position. We were told that if we elect to get the military retirement and the civil service retirement, we could not get Social Security. Is this correct? A. No. You will be able to receive your reserve retired pay, your FERS annuity, and a Social Security benefit based on all your…
Q. I currently have 34 years, starting under CSRS and switching over to FERS when that was offered (so about 10 years under CSRS). I plan on working another three years and retire when I am 57. I resigned after my first three years and withdrew my money. If I don’t pay this money back, what difference would that make in my retirement? How will they figure CSRS and FERS? A. Your CSRS component will be figured using the standard CSRS formula: 0.01 x your high-3 x 5 years of CSRS service, plus 0.0175 x your high-3 x five years…
Q. I am now eligible as a CSRS/FERS hybrid for a maximum pension for my previous service, since I am over 62. I understand there is no more actuarial adjustment (higher annual benefit) after age 62 for delaying receipt. My last employment was about 20 years ago. If I take my annuity and am later rehired, I understand that I cannot have my high-3 and high-5 years recalculated unless I serve more than 5 years. However, what if I just don’t take my annuity? Aren’t I then eligible for redetermination for each year of re-employment? Is there any age at…
Q. How does a federal employee go about finding out what their FERS balance is at any specific time? Like if I was to retire tomorrow, what would my annuity payments be drawn on, balance-wise? A. You can find the amount of your retirement contributions by looking at your most recent pay slip. However, that information isn’t related to what your annuity will be. For most employees that will be based on the following formula: 0.01 x your highest three years of average basic pay x your years and full months of service. If you were to retire at age 62…
Q. I will be covered by a Civil Service FERS/CSRS Component retirement & am currently considering an overseas assignment where a cost-of-living allowance (COLA)/post allowance (PA) will be paid. Since I lose my current stateside locality pay when overseas, will this COLA/PA be included in computations for my high-3 retirement calculation? A. No, it won’t be included when computing your high-3.
Q: I have a question about minimum retirement age-plus 10. I am 55 and have 27 ½ years of service. If I retire at age 56, am I to understand that my annuity would be reduced by about 30 percent if I started collecting it right away? Also what would happen to my health benefits? Could I still use them immediately upon retiring? I have 14 years of frozen service under the old Civil Service Retirement System so how would that be affected? A: If you retire under the MRA+10 provision and begin receiving your benefits immediately, the Federal Employees…
Q: I am a FERS air traffic controller with 22 years of service. I planned on retiring in three years with 25 years of service. I am also in the Army national guard and was just told I will be deployed for 12 months next year. How will this effect my high three for retirement? I will be on leave without pay for most of my deployment. A: It won’t. While on military leave, your civilian pay for retirement purposes will remain the same as it would have been if you hadn’t been on military leave. However, when you get…
Q. Thank you so much for your article entitled “Making sense of 2 types of annuities.” It was very informative to the fifty-something people in my office. Assuming FERS, two questions. When you refer to annuity, are you referring to 1) the person’s pension or 2) the person getting the equivalent of some of type of early Social Security benefits? And if the answer to the above is the person’s pension, is it possible for one to start collecting Social Security benefits (or the equivalent of) once they do early retirement (for example, age 57)? Obviously, if this was so,…
Q. I will be 62 years old in November 2010. I plan on retiring Dec 31, 2010. I will draw a FERS annuity from the government; I also will be drawing Social Security. My question is, will my FERS annuity be considered taxable income to Social Security and will my Social Security benefit be taxed for it ? A. Your FERS annuity will be taxable as regular income; however, a portion of it will be tax-exempt because it represents a return of the contributions you made to the retirement system, which have already been taxed. When determining if you have…