Browsing: Military service deposits

Q. In November I will have five years of service and I bought back my Army time of three years, which gives me eight years of service. If I pass away, will my spouse be eligible for a monthly annuity check? I’m 58 and would have 10 years at 60, which should be my minimum retirement age. A. When you have five years of actual FERS service, you’ll be vested in the retirement system. If you die after you are vested, your widow would be entitled to a survivor annuity. If you were to die before that, she wouldn’t. Then…

Q. I’m a GS employee and have made a deposit to get credit for 10 years of active duty. Would that deposit be refunded to me if I’m called back to active duty? A. No, it wouldn’t. That would only happen if you resigned from the government and asked for a refund of all your retirement contributions. However, if you did, you would void all future entitlement to a retirement annuity.

Q. I only paid part of my buy back for my military time and applied for deferred retirement from civil service in September 2018. I just got a letter from the Office of Management and Budget telling me that they have refunded my partial payment to get credit for my military time and that my claim was denied. Not counting my military time, I had 10½ years in civil service. Because I have been disabled for some time I have been receiving Social Security and I am 30 percent service-connected from the military, so I do receive a disability check…

Q. I was employed in June 2011 as an Army civilian. I served 33 years in the Marine Corps, out of which 14 years or so were active duty. I was still in the reserves when I was employed and retired from the reserves on July 1, 2011. My service computation date was computed to 08/27/97 for leave. After attending one of your seminars, I checked the government retirement and benefits website and my SCD on GRB is the same as my leave date. According to the GRB website, I am eligible for voluntary retirement on Jan. 18, 2020. Problem is,…

Q. I’ve been working for the federal government for 12 months and am planning to leave. If I buy back my eight years of active-duty service before I go, would I be eligible for a FERS annuity at age 62? A. No, you wouldn’t. To be eligible for a deferred annuity, you would need to have five years of actual FERS service. Active-duty service for which you’ve made a deposit only counts after you are vested in the retirement system.

Q. I’m a federal employee who was in leave-without-pay status during the three years I was on active duty. I’ll be retiring soon. If I make a deposit for that time, can I use my higher military base pay to calculate my high-3 when I retire? A. No. By law your high-3 is based solely on your highest three consecutive years of civilian basic pay.

Q. I have over 12 years of active duty service in the Army. I have accepted a job with a federal agency. I’ve been told that I can “buy back” my active duty time. How do I go about doing that? A. Yes, you can make a deposit for your active duty service and get credit for that time in determining your length of civilian service and have it used in your civilian annuity computation when you retire from the government. If you complete that deposit within two years after you come on board, you won’t be charged any interest on…

Q. I’ve just been offered a job in a federal agency. Because I’m an Army retiree, I’ve been told that I won’t get any credit for that time in determining my annual leave accrual rate. It doesn’t seem right that I won’t get any credit while others who served less time and didn’t retire do get credit for their time. Why is that? A. When it enacted the Dual Compensation Act in 1964, Congress adopted a compromise between the view that retired members should receive preference and full credit for their service and the view that there should be no…

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