Q: I retired on July 3 under CSRS Offset (law enforcement/firefighter). I just received the lump sum payment for my unused annual leave. Deductions for federal and state taxes and Medicare were taken out. There was no deduction for CSRS Offset retirement (typically 1.3 percent), but 6.2 percent was deducted for OASDI. Is the lack of deduction for CSRS-Offset retirement and the deduction for OASDI correct? It seems that it should have been both or neither. A: There weren’t any deductions for CSRS Offset retirement because you are no longer an employee. On the other hand, the lump-sum payment is…
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Q: In 1985 I was injured and was covered under worker’s compensation. In 1996 I switched over from worker’s compensation to OPM disability pay. In 1999 I returned to duty as a federal agent and was placed under CSRS-Offset. I have been told that I am under offset because I was off the government payroll for more than a year before returning to work. As I was getting paid by OPM and worker’s compensation for on-duty injuries during the whole period I was off, I am concerned that I am not in the right retirement program. A: What you were…
Q: I read somewhere that if you had enough quarters of Social Security, like 28 or 30, you could qualify for your Social Security pay based on that and I would get both my Federal Employees Retirement System and Social Security disability retirement money, without there being an offset. Is that correct? A: The criteria for receiving a Social Security disability benefits are much higher than those for a FERS disability benefit. To receive such a benefit with fewer than 40 credits, you would have had to be covered under Social Security from the time you turned age 22. Under…
Q: I’m on Civil Service Retirement System disability retirement. Will my annuity be affected if I return to work for my local county government or the federal government? A: If you were to be rehired by the federal government, the salary of your new position would be offset by the amount of your annuity. If the salary for that position was equal to or exceeded 80 percent of the current pay for the position you held before retiring on disability, your disability annuity would be suspended. If you went to work in a nonfederal position, there wouldn’t be any offset…
Q: I am a Civil Service Retirement System optionally retired rehired annuitant. Because I am under CSRS for retirement, is my salary as a rehired annuitant subject to Social Security withholding? A: As a pure CSRS rehire, you aren’t subject to Social Security deductions unless you were hired as a senior official. If you were, you’d be covered by CSRS Offset, and Social Security deductions would be mandatory.
Q: I am employed by the Defense Department under the Civil Service Retirement System. My service computation date is Dec. 17, 1977, and I will turn 62 on Nov. 16. Prior to entering civil service, I earned enough quarters to qualify for Social Security. I have not selected a retirement date, but I am considering Dec. 31 of this year or January 2011 to receive a payout from the National Security Personnel System. If I retire Dec. 31, I will be reimbursed for all of my annual leave, but after that reimbursement I would be limited to the maximum amount…
Q: At the age of 54, I would like to retire. It is then when I will have 20 years as a federal civilian nurse. I will be retiring under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Once retired, I would like to work for the Forest Service part-time or seasonally. How will this affect my retirement? How will my retirement income be computed? Can I collect my FERS retirement while still working for the Forest Service? A: As a FERS employee, you aren’t eligible to retire. The earliest point at which you could do that is when you reach your minimum…
Q: My husband and I are both Civil Service Retirement System Offset employees who will elect a survivor annuity. Can you explain how a CSRS Offset employee’s survivor annuity offset amount is calculated? A specific example would be helpful of how the offset amount is applied to a survivor annuity. When my husband begins getting Social Security, his annuity is estimated to be offset by about $800, mine by about $200. If I receive a survivor annuity upon his death, will my survivor annuity amount be reduced dollar for dollar by the full $800, or will my husband’s full annuity…
Q: I’ll be retiring in the near future with Civil Service Retirement System. I have been told that after I retire, I can work as an intermittent employee. I have read that my pay would be reduced by the amount of my annuity during the time I work. How is that calculated? Is my annuity paid on a “per day” basis, a weekly basis or a monthly basis? If I work 15 days in a month, would my monthly annuity get cut by half, or considering that 15 days is three weeks, would it be cut by approximately 75 percent?…
Q. To figure how much the windfall elimination provision will affect one’s Social Security benefit, it is necessary to know the amount of the “noncovered pension.” How does one figure this amount? Is it simply a percentage? For example, if I worked 12 years as a CSRS employee (noncovered) and 24 years as a CSRS Offset employee covered by Social Security, is the noncovered portion of the CSRS pension simply 33 percent of the full pension or is there a more complication formula? A. I think you’re making hard work out of this. Your CSRS annuity will be calculated using…