Q. I am in CSRS. My husband has never worked for the government. I have 37 years working at the Defense Department, and I am going to retire Dec 31. Can my husband draw on my retirement rather than Social Security now? Does he have to wait until he is 65? Or do I have to die before he can draw this? A. Assuming you elect a survivor annuity for him when you retire, he will only receive that benefit if you die. P.S. You have to elect a full survivor annuity for your husband unless he agrees in a…
Browsing: CSRS
Q. I am a CSRS employee who plans to retire this year. I will have a large annual leave buyback, so I want to leave before the end of the 2013 leave year. I read one article that advised to retire Dec. 28 (the start of new pay period) and others that relay Jan. 3, 2014. While I understand that the 3rd is the max to stay and get a retirement check the following month, i.e., February, am I correct that if you retire Dec. 28, you miss out on two full days of pay, i.e., the 30th and 31st?…
Q. I will be 62 this year and I am already on my CSRS retirement from the Postal Service. I have also qualified for Social Security. Can I draw from both, or will one be lessened? A. Because you were a CSRS employee, your Social Security benefit will be subject to the windfall elimination provision. The WEP reduces the Social Security benefit of anyone who receives an annuity from a retirement system where he didn’t pay Social Security taxes and has fewer than 30 years of substantial earnings under Social Security.
Q. While the human resources department was preparing my CSRS retirement notice, it discovered an error in my life insurance. Twenty years ago, I elected an amount equal to “five times my salary.” However, my agency has only been deducting premiums from my salary for “one times my salary.” They now want me to repay almost $30,000 in back premiums covering the past 20 years. Is there not a statute of limitations on premium recovery or other reasonable remedy? A. No, there isn’t.
Q. What is the percentage paid by the U.S. Treasury toward our monthly annuity account when we retire under CSRS? A. It’s not surprising that no one could answer the question, because there isn’t any one answer. It all depends. If an employee retired before June 2, 1986, all of his annuity payments were considered to be a return of his retirement contributions and weren’t taxable, since they had already been taxed as income while he was working. When the amount in his account ran out, all of the annuity payments he received were from the government and, as such,…
Q. I am reading in a Blue Cross/Blue Shield brochure that you have to be a federal employee as of Jan. 1, 1983, to get free Medicare Part A. I joined in March 1983 and do not have Social Security eligibility. Will I get Part A for free or not? What is the significance of Jan. 1, 1983? A. Here’s the scoop from the Social Security Administration: “Federal employees are required to contribute to the Medicare Trust Fund and are therefore eligible for Medicare. This provision is referred to as the Medicare Qualified Government Employees (MQGE) provision. “All wages paid…
Q. I am a CSRS, 32-year, nine-month Postal Service retiree. I was told by USPS that upon retiring Jan. 31, I would not receive my first retirement check until April 1. Will I be paid back pay for March 1 to April 1, or does the Office of Personnel Management payment process disallow any back payments between March 1 and April 1? If so, what happens to the time gap between March 1 and April 1? A. What your agency may have meant is that the time which would elapse between when they got your paperwork to OPM and OPM…
Q. Is there a maximum amount of sick leave that can be applied toward retirement? A. There is no limit if you are covered by CSRS. If you are covered by FERS, you’ll only get half credit unless you retire after Dec. 31.
Q. My father was a federal employee for many years and he retired in 1983. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 80. My mother has been receiving an annuity benefit since that time. The only insurance that my father ever had was his Blue Cross/Blue Shield Federal. Why was he (and now my mother) not eligible for Medicare Part A? Shouldn’t he have been paying into the Medicare system through payroll deductions when he was employed with the Federal Communications Commission? A. Because he was a CSRS employee who retired before December 31, 1983, he didn’t have…
Q. I am going to be 53 this year. I have 32 years of federal service and would like to take the deferred retirement option. My minimum retirement age is 56. I understand I will not be entitled to special retirement supplement. My spouse retired under CSRS, and she carries our Federal Employees Health Benefits plan. When I reach my MRA, do I have to initiate the paperwork to start my FERS annuity? A. Yes, you would be eligible for a deferred annuity at age 56. Several months before you reach that age, download a copy of Standard Form 2801,…