Q. I am 53 with 24 years of creditable service. My agency may offer a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority due to sequestration. If I am offered a VERA and I accept, I would start a Thrift Savings Plan annuity in the amount of approximately $5,000 per month. Is this considered income for the earnings limitation and the special retirement supplement? This would supplement my retirement annuity. I would be well over the $14,500 earnings limit. How would this impact any additional income from other private consulting work?
Browsing: Special retirement supplement
Q. I plan on retiring at the end of June 2014. I will be 61 years old with 28½ years of service for the Internal Revenue Service under FERS. Am I eligible to receive special retirement supplement until February 2015, when I will be 62 years old? Is the supplement amount equal to what I will receive from Social Security at age 62? Or is it calculated differently? By receiving supplement, will my Social Security amount be affected or lowered compared to if I didn’t receive the supplement?
Q. I am 58 years old with 29 years of service under FERS at the post office. If I delay (defer) receiving my annuity until age 60, will I be able to collect the special retirement supplement?
Q. I have my minimum retirement age and 30 years of service. If I retire now (buyout), will my retirement check be recalculated when I turn 62 (1.1 percent vs. 1.0 (high-3 years) x years of service = retirement check)?
Q. I was honorably discharged from the Air Force in September 1992 under the Voluntary Separation Incentive program. I had 16½ years of service. I have received VSI payments each year since, and am due about 12 more payments. In May 2000, I went to work for the Department of Labor under FERS. At the end of this year, I will have 13½ years of civilian service. I will also be 56 years old, my minimum retirement age, by the end of the year. Can I buy back my military time and retire at the end of the year with…
Q. I have just been notified that I am eligible for the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority being offered by my agency. I am 57 and have 23 years of service. I have “roughed” my special retirement supplement to $700 a month, and the FERS annuity would be $1,400 a month, for a total of approximately $2,100 a month. What amount would be taxable (federal and Social Security), and what would the taxes be, assuming that would be my only income?
Q. I have approximately 24 years of FERS service (USDA, Forest Service) and have approximately six years (10 seasons) of temp/seasonal time, all of which occurred before 1989. I have paid a deposit for all of my time as a federal temp/seasonal employee. Will the special retirement supplement be calculated only on my 24 years of FERS service? Or, because I made the deposit for all of my seasonal time, will it be based on all 30 years of my federal service? I am hoping to retire at the end of the year. I will have over 30 years and…
Q. I am a 52-year-old widow of an employee who died while employed. He was 55 years old with 25 years under FERS. Am I now entitled to the special retirement supplement until age 60 if my earned wages are under the Social Security limit?
Q. I am a FERS employee who is 57 years old with not quite 25 years of service. I am being offered a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority along with Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay ($25,000). Would I be eligible for the special retirement supplement if I accept the VSIP? Would I be eligible if I don’t accept it? Is it true that, if I accept the VSIP, I can never apply for disability? That’s what I was told by my HR office. I am being given a very short (30-day) window in which to make all of these decisions.
Q. I retired from the military with 20 years of service, retired from the state of California with seven years, and worked under three years as a Defense Department federal employee, resigning in 2011. Do I qualify for the Social Security supplement?