Q. My husband, who is 98 years old, worked for the Postal Service in Chicago from 1937 to 1942, then joined the Army to fight in World War II. He took a leave of absence from the Postal Service until the war ended and returned to the Postal Service in 1947 and worked until 1948, when he entered graduate school under the GI Bill. He did not take a refund of his CSRS contribution. Is he eligible for a pension? A. If what you say is true, he may very well be eligible for an annuity. To find out, he’ll have to…
Browsing: CSRS
Q. I am getting ready to retire under CSRS. As you know, I do not have Social Security taxes taken out of my pay. Will they start taking Social Security out of my annuity? A. No.
Q. I am retired under CSRS with survivor benefits for my spouse. I have Medicare Part A and Federal Employees Health Benefits Blue Cross/Blue Shield family plan. My spouse has just become Medicare eligible. Since there is a penalty (140 percent) for me to pick up Part B, we are contemplating continuing with the Medicare Part A and FEHB. The adviser at Social Security questioned our health insurance coverage after I die, noting the penalty in picking up Part B later. I assume that FEHB coverage will continue with the survivor benefits. Also, will the cost of the FEHB become…
Q. I am eligible for retirement in July. I started under CSRS and transferred to FERS. I know that after Jan. 1, 2014, I will get time of service for all of my sick leave. How is that figured? Do 2,080 hours add one year of service? A. No, 2,087 hours equals one year. Therefore, a month of additional credit is roughly 174 hours. Be aware that unused sick leave isn’t treated separately. It’s added to any hours that weren’t used in the computation of your annuity. There are usually some hours left over because your annuity is based on…
Q. Does retiring under a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority meet Pennsylvania’s requirement that the “taxpayer must have been eligible to retire by meeting the age or service conditions of the retirement plan” for a pension to be tax-exempt? I was 53 years old when I retired and had 33 years of service under CSRS. A. That’s a matter between you and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Q. I find the Michigan tax code for CSRS Postal Service retirees confusing and murky. I believe I am exempt but find no section that spells it out. A. According to our information, the state of Michigan exempts the total amount of civil service annuities.
Q. I am in the process of completing my CSRS SF2801, Application For Immediate Retirement. Concerning Section B, Federal Service, block 5: “Are you receiving or have you applied for military retired pay?” I am retired from the Air National Guard and receiving monthly retirement pay. Should I answer yes to this because I am receiving retirement pay for reserve service, or does this question only apply to active-duty retirees? A. It applies only to military retired pay, not reserve retired pay.
Q. I’ve been a federal retiree under the CSRS for more than 25 years. I am curious about the fact that I have received in monthly benefits more than 10 times the amount I and my employer, the federal government, contributed during my 30-plus years of employment. I am aware that CSRS was phased out more than 25 years ago with consequent reduction of new contributions from the existing employees. (The Social Security System has a continuous source of new funds to pay into its trust fund, an advantage CSRS lacks.) What is the source of the extra funding that…
Q. I am a CSRS employee. If I elect survivor benefits and my nongovernment spouse dies before I do, will my annuity return to the full amount? If I should die before him, will he receive my full amount or the survivor amount? Does it matter if I elect a lower survivor benefit annuity — that is, not 55 percent? A. If you elect a survivor benefit for your spouse and he dies before you, your annuity will be restored to what it would have been if you hadn’t made that election. If you die before he does, he’ll receive…
Q. I retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs after 42 years of CSRS service. I also retired from the U.S. Army Reserve with 31 years of service. In the Reserve, I paid into the Social Security system. I always understood that I would not receive Social Security payments due to the windfall elimination provision or government pension offset. However while I was visiting a Social Security office on another matter, a rep told me that because I paid in for more than 20 years, I would receive a percentage of my Social Security entitlement. Is this true, and if…