Q. If I die after retirement and have my annuity reduced to get a full survivor annuity benefit for my husband, I understand my husband will get 55 percent of what my regular retirement annuity would have been. What if I am retired and my annuity is reduced to cover full survivor benefits for my husband (survivor) and he dies before I do? I understand my annuity check will be returned to full value, but what happens to all the money taken out for him? Do I get a lump sum refund or does it go to the estate? A.…
Browsing: lump sum
Q. My father was a federal employee for more than 40 years. When he died, he had the highest civil servant rank possible. My mom died 15 months ago, and my dad died in September at the age of 86 after being retired for 24 years. He was receiving monthly annuity payments of over $6,000 a month until he died. We just received paperwork about a possible lump sum that would be whatever was left in his annuity that was not paid out in monthly payments. What is the likelihood that there is a lump sum left? Typically, do federal…
Q. I am 59 and a CSRS Offset employee with 33+ years of CSRS coverage and am at the top of the GS-15 payscale. About 21 of those years were under CSRS Offset, so I know the deduction will be somewhere around 52.5 percent of my Social Security earnings. I am exempt from windfall elimination provision because of more than 30 years of Social Security coverage. I am concerned that if I retire Jan. 3, 2014, my final paycheck and my lump sum for leave will add another year to my number of years covered by Social Security and raise…
Q. I am retired military with 27 years in. Since that time, I have been a civil servant and am coming up on my 10-year anniversary under FERS. My service computation date is Aug. 10, 2003. I am planning to resign from my civil position Dec. 31, prior to my 62nd birthday. (I was born Dec. 11, 1952.) I plan to ask for a lump-sum check for my unused accrued leave. But it looks like I will not gain anything for having been such a healthy individual and that my many days of sick leave will simply go wasted. Is…
Q. I am joining the Air Force this summer after four years of Defense Department civil service. Will I be able to take a lump-sum payment for my accumulated annual leave, or will I have to allow my annual leave to roll over to my new Air Force position? A. Your annual leave isn’t transferable. Assuming that you are separating from the civilian government, you’ll receive a lump sum payment for your unused annual leave.
Q. I am a federal employee with law enforcement status. My mandatory retirement date is calculated as the end of the month in which I turn 57 years of age (March 31, 2014). However, I have determined that retiring at the end of the 2013 leave year, which is Jan. 11, 2014, is the best date for me to retire so that I may: 1) take advantage of the 100 percent sick leave credit now available to FERS employees, and 2) permit the maximum annual leave lump-sum payment available to me at that time. I can’t see any benefit to…
Q. Years ago, at a retirement seminar, an instructor said that if a retiring employee has a debilitating or terminal illness, they can retire and be paid a lump sum equal to all of the payments they made into CSRS. There is a reduction to the annuity for this payment. Any credence to the statement? If it is true, is the lump sum taxable immediately? If taxable, does the retiree get to take a 10 percent tax write-off for each year he collects an annuity, as regular retirees? A. What you are referring to is the alternative form of annuity.…
Q. I understand that if you exceed the special retirement supplement earnings limit for the year you retire, you will not be eligible for the special retirement supplement for the rest of that year. Is this correct? I will be eligible to retire Jan. 22, 2015. I would like to carry into the 2015 year 240 hours of annual leave. There are two pay days in 2015 prior to Jan. 22. Most likely, the lump-sum payment for 240 hours of annual leave and January wage earnings will exceed the special retirement supplement earnings limit for 2015. If I put all…
Q. I have just returned to federal civil service after being away for 4½ years. I have made a lump-sum deposit for those 4½ years. If I retire tomorrow, how will my high-3 salary be calculated? Would it reflect the salary tables for 2008 to 2012 — the years I was away — or would my actual salary from 2004 to 2007 be used? A. Your high-3 would be based on the average of the highest three consecutive years of basic pay you actually received, not what you would have received if you’d been at work.
Q. Is Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offered to those who are already eligible to retire? Does VERA apply to your high-three calculation for retirement? A. It’s clear from your questions that you are asking about the Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment, not VERA. According to OPM, “The Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment Authority, also known as buyout authority, allows agencies that are downsizing or restructuring to offer employees lump-sum payments up to $25,000 as an incentive to voluntarily separate. When authorized by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), an agency may offer VSIP to employees who are in surplus positions or have…