Q: Will I receive back pay if I wait to apply for my FERS retirement at 62? I postponed my retirement due to the penalty associated with starting before age 62. I have 15 years of service and am 61. I want to possibly wait to start my annuity because I do not want to be considered a re-employed annuitant when I apply for a job. I am currently on a temp appointment not covered by FERS and the next job will probably be a temp as well. I cannot get the job as a re-employed annuitant because the hiring…
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Q: I am a FERS air traffic controller with 22 years of service. I planned on retiring in three years with 25 years of service. I am also in the Army national guard and was just told I will be deployed for 12 months next year. How will this effect my high three for retirement? I will be on leave without pay for most of my deployment. A: It won’t. While on military leave, your civilian pay for retirement purposes will remain the same as it would have been if you hadn’t been on military leave. However, when you get…
Q: If one is drawing a FERS annuity and receiving the special retirement supplement, how do any earnings in excess of the earnings limit get paid back to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund? Does one write a check at the end of the year? A: When your earnings in one year exceed the earnings limit, your special retirement supplement will be reduced in the following year. The reduction cannot be more that the total amount of SRS you received during the year when the excess earnings occurred.
Q: I received a medical retirement from active duty in the Army after serving 15 years. I am working as a YA-02 (GS-11 equivalent) and I was wondering if I could buy back my military time. I am no longer receiving retirement pay because my VA compensation is more than my retirement pay. I have been a civil servant (FERS) for almost 2 years and my probationary period is just about over. Would it be beneficial for me to buy back my military time? A: To get credit for you period of active duty service, you would need to make…
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. 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 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…
Q. I will be 62 years old in November 2010. I plan on retiring Dec 31, 2010. I will draw a FERS annuity from the government; I also will be drawing Social Security. My question is, will my FERS annuity be considered taxable income to Social Security and will my Social Security benefit be taxed for it ? A. Your FERS annuity will be taxable as regular income; however, a portion of it will be tax-exempt because it represents a return of the contributions you made to the retirement system, which have already been taxed. When determining if you have…