Q. I am 61 years old and in the Civil Service Retirement System. I have paid back my military deposit, and don’t have enough quarters/credits under Social Security to qualify. I am anticipating retiring when I am 62-plus, and don’t plan on working to earn quarters/credits under Social Security. I have heard that I can request a refund of my military deposit after I retire; is this correct? If so, who handles that request? A. You were misinformed. You can’t get a refund of the deposit you made for your active-duty service. What’s done is done. If you retire at…
Browsing: SOCIAL SECURITY
Q. My mother just came to me and showed me her Social Security statement. She asked: “Why are they deducting $96.50 for monthly Medicare insurance when I have full medical coverage from the Navy?” She is an 86-year-old Navy veteran, and my father, who passed away three years ago, was retired from the Navy. Is this something she should be paying? A. She appears to have signed up for Medicare Part B (medical insurance), for which she would be required to pay the premiums.
Q. I am 57 and a retired federal worker. I retired under the Civil Service Retirement System at the GS-13 level. I only worked a total of about three months before my federal service paying into Social Security, so I am not eligible for any Social Security benefits for myself. However, my husband, who is 60, has worked since he was 19, and has been paying into the Social Security system since then. My understanding is that I am not eligible to receive any of his Social Security benefits because my civil service pension is too high. My question: Is…
Q. I’m a Civil Service Retirement System Offset employee with 18 years, 6½ months, under straight CSRS; 12 years, 7 months, at retirement (April 30, 2012); and with at least 40 quarters earned under Social Security before federal service. I had an appointment the other day at the Social Security Administration to see what my benefits, offset amount and windfall amounts would be. The person who I talked to had no idea about the CSRS Offset and kept calling the windfall elimination provision (WEP) an offset. She insisted she never had to consider/calculate the offset amount for the Office of…
Q. My wife is five years older than me. If I draw early Social Security at 62 (she’ll be 67), and she waits until then to draw hers, will she be eligible for the spousal benefit where she receives half of my amount because her full benefit is less than half, or do we have to wait until I’m full retirement age for her to receive it? A. No, you don’t have to wait. She will receive the larger of the two benefits: her own earned benefit or the spousal benefit based on your record.
Q. I am 68 and still working. I am fully covered by my employer’s insurance. My employer is switching our health insurance to a health savings account in 2012. You cannot contribute to a HSA if you have Medicare Part A. I have Medicare Part A. Should I drop Part A, to enroll in the HSA, or will I be penalized later when I retire and re-enroll in Part A? A. I don’t know if it makes sense for you to disenroll from Medicare Part A. Before you decide, you need to understand a few things. First, if your employer…
Q. My wife started working under the Civil Service Retirement System in July 1982 and continued to work under CSRS until August 1989. She is re-entering the government workforce. She plans to stop working in eight years when she will be 57, and will have 15 years of government service. It appears she would be eligible for deferred retirement benefits at age 62. How will her benefits be calculated? A: It all depends. When she returns to work for the federal government, she’ll be covered by CSRS Offset (CSRS and Social Security), with the option of transferring to the Federal…
Q. I know that the Social Security supplement is reduced for any earnings above $14,640 (FY 2012). My question is that if I retire at the end of February 2012, would I already lose some of the supplement since I would have already made over $20,000 by the end of February? Or would the earnings test be only for the period of March 2012-December 2012? A. No, you wouldn’t lose any of your special retirement supplement because you’d be protected by the “first year rule.” To learn why that’s so, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10069.html.
Q. I am a 57-year-old Federal Employees Retirement System employee eligible for retirement. I am also a widow. Can I retire and receive the special retirement supplement until age 60, then take the Social Security widow’s benefit — which would be greater than my SRS — and keep that until I reach full retirement age at 66? Could I also delay retirement until age 60, bypass SRS and take the widow’s benefit? A. Relax. The Office of Personnel Management automatically pays the special retirement supplement until age 62 to FERS employees who retire on an immediate, unreduced annuity. The SRS…
Q. I am 64 and don’t have enough credits to get Social Security. I will turn 65 in October. Will I be eligible for Medicare? If not, do I still sign up for it? My husband retired from Ford Motor Company and is 61. He will turn 62 in April. He plans on getting on Social Security at that time. Will I then be able to get Medicare? A. The answer to both questions is no.