Q: Can you tell me how many years I have of Creditable Service? I am a FERS employee. I have also paid back about eight years of active duty Air Force. A: Write down the amount of time you have worked under FERS. Then write down the amount of active duty service for which you made a deposit. Add the two figures together and you’ll have the total amount of your creditable service.
Q. I will be fully eligible to retire in 2012. I am under CSRS. I also receive Social Security notices about how much SSN I will receive at Social Security age. Will I be able to receive both? A. You will receive your full CSRS annuity. However, the amount of Social Security benefit you’ll get will be affected by the windfall elimination provision of law. The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit of anyone who receives an annuity from a retirement system where he or she didn’t pay Social Security taxes, such as CSRS, and has fewer than 30 years…
Q. Thank you for the informative article on “Making Sense of 2 Types of Annuities.” I am a CSRS employee planning to retire in 2011 (at 57/32+). Our Self & Family FEHBP is and has been under my name since 1980 with out-of-pocket medical bills reimbursed via our FSA. My wife, born in 1956, is a FERS employee planning to retire in 2014 (at 58/10) under the MRA+10 provision. We wish to continue to utilize our FSA when I retire by moving our Self & Family FEHBP coverage under my wife’s name until she retires. But as I understand from…
Q. I know that federal employees under FERS who have 30+ years of service at the minimum retirement age (MRA) are eligible to retire and receive an immediate annuity as well as the Social Security supplement until they reach eligibility for Social Security under normal circumstances. My question is: Who is actually paying this supplement? A. The purpose of the special retirement supplement is to provide a bridge between retirement and when a retiree first becomes eligible for a Social Security benefit. The SRS is paid out of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. The amount needed to cover…
Q. I retired from the Air Force after 23 years and have been receiving retired pay since 1996. I’ve been working under FERS now since January 1999 and hope to retire at age 59 in 2014 under the MRA+10 provision. Someone recently told me I would have the option to somehow combine the two retirements into one. He stated that for some people it means more money and for some less, so it has to be weighted individually. Are you aware of any such option and are their any issues to be wary about? A. You can get credit for…
Q. I am a CSRS employee who will have 40 years of government service in mid-April 2010 at age 63. When would it be in my best interest to retire to obtain the 80 percent annuity? Whatever that date may be, would I then be entitled to the next full cost-of-living increase? A. To receive an annuity worth 80 percent of your high-3, you’d need to have 41 years an 11 months of creditable service and owe no deposits or redeposits to the retirement fund. If you worked longer than that, any retirement contributions you made to the retirement fund…
Q. What office does a Senior Executive Service employee apply to for retirement and where is the pay office located for SES personnel? Is it a different office than a regular CSRS employee who deals with the Office of Personnel Management? A. Senior Executive Service employees are no different from other employees when it comes to retirement. They fill out the same paperwork and submit it to their servicing personnel office. Once retired, their annuity, like that of other employees, is paid out of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, which is maintained by the Department of the Treasury…
Q. I am eligible for retirement under CSRS with over 30 years of employment with the USGS. One intriguing retirement option was the proposal that was floated last year regarding a transition into retirement by working part time. I understand this proposal has been recently finalized; however, my main concern is how this legislation affects retirement benefits at the “high 3” level. A. There hasn’t been any change in law regarding a transition into retirement by working part time. However, there has been a change to the way that the annuities of part-time CSRS employees are calculated, which will produce…
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 retired as a FERS annuitant on Feb. 1, 2006 at age 62 plus a couple of weeks. If I am rehired please help with these questions. Will my current FERS gross annuity before taxes be deducted from the new gross salary before taxes? If I have the maximum for retirement, including the over-50 extra amount, deducted and invested in the Thrift Savings Plan, am I matched by the federal government and vested from day one for as long as I decide to work? I left my TSP with the federal government and I have not taking anything from…