Q. I am confused and the booklets don’t make it very clear. I will be 56 in January 2011. At that time I will have 26 years and four months of service. I am a FERS employee. It was my understanding that I may be eligble for early out under the provision of 25/Any Age. Our agency has recieved an Early Out Authority from OPM. Since I am at MRA, will I have to pay any penalty for retiring before I have reached 59 — the year I will reach 30 years of service (i.e: the fractional amount for every…
Browsing: OPM
Q. We are getting feedback from fellow retiring co-workers that there is now an option passed by OPM approximately a year ago to either use unused sick leave for added annuity calculations or cash unused sick leave in for a cash buyout the same as a buyout for unused annual leave.Any truth to this? A. While unused sick leave can be added to actual service after an employee qualifies for retirement and used in the computation of his annuity, it has no cash value. Note: For the present, FERS employees only get credit for one-half of their unused sick leave.
Q. I have recently retired and understand that a portion of my annuity is tax-free when filing my federal tax return next year. Per the OPM website calculator to determine the tax-free amount, a person needs to know the total amount of retirement withholdings from their paychecks over their career. How do you obtain this figure, as my paystubs while working did not show an accumulated amount for retirement withholdings? A. You will receive that information on a Form 1099-R, which will be sent to you each January by OPM.
Q. I have more than 30 years of federal civil service (CSRS offset) and am 57 years old. I am also a part-time member of the Air Force Reserve. I will be leaving my present federal civil service job but not starting my retirement. I am looking for another full-time federal job. What happens to my records while I am looking for other federal employment and not employed as a full-time federal worker? A. They will be sent OPM’s Retirement Services and Management Group in Boyers, Pa., where they can be retrieved when you get another federal job or apply for…
Q. I retired on disability retirement 10 months before the age of 55 with 32 years of service. I was able to go back to work after a little over a year. I am restricted to 80 percent of my salary. My question is will this restriction be for the rest of my working life? A. OPM will no longer ask you to report your earnings after you reach age 60.
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: My mother started with the U.S. Postal Service in 1974. Due to health issues, she retired on disability (not based on age or years of service) with her annuity commencing in September 1992. Her husband died in March and was receiving Social Security. When she applied for survivor benefits, it took almost three months for the Office of Personnel Managment to get back to Social Security and we were told even at that point they did not provide the information originally requested. Social Security made the decision that the survivor benefits fell under the windfall elimination provision. We are…
Q: From January 1990 through August 1993, I was a Treasury Department adviser to Saudi Arabian Ministry of Finance. During that tenure, I purchased credit in the retirement system for the three years of active duty in the Navy (1967-1970). So, I have something slightly in excess of 6.5 years in the system. I am now 67 years old and self-employed. My questions are the following: Do I have sufficient time in the Treasury Department’s retirement system to draw a monthly stipend? If so, who would I contact to start these benefits? If not, how much more time as a…
Q: I retired from federal service in 2006 under the law enforcement retirement provision. I have since been re-employed by the government with a waiver for a temporary law enforcement position that allows me to receive both my annuity and the full salary of my new job. I have been informed that when my temporary position ends, the Office of Personnel Management will recalculate my retirement. Are there are any special provisions that would apply to my situation due to being re-employed with a waiver? Because I have not been contributing to retirement in my temporary position, would the recalculation…
Q: I am need to clarify whether disability retirement becomes nontaxable once a person reaches retirement age. I cannot get a clear answer from the Office of Personnel Management or the Internal Revenue Service. I have gone over IRS Publications 721 and 525. My father left the Post Office on disability in 1972. He is now 78 years old, and I am trying to file his tax returns. He is not eligible for Social Security. A: There isn’t a tax break for a federal disability retiree unless he is totally disabled for all gainful employment. The retiree’s age has no…