Q. An article about a House panel approving higher pension contributions for feds said that if you do not have five years by 2013 that you would be subject to the 5.8 percent. What is the cutoff date in 2013? I started Aug. 4, 2008. A. You are the victim of a common misunderstanding. The law doesn’t apply to current employees, only to those first hired on or after Jan. 1, 2013, and any former employees that return to work for the government and have fewer than five years of creditable service.
Browsing: pension
Q. I hope to retire under CSRS at age 60. Will Medicare deductions continue to be taken from my CSRS pension checks when I retire? If so, will the deductions end when I turn 65 and am eligible to invoke Medicare coverage? A. Deductions for Medicare are only taken from earnings from wages or self-employment, not annuities.
Q. I spent 20 years in the Navy and am currently receiving my pension from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and a 30 percent disability pension from the Veterans Affairs Department. In 1991, I began my employment with federal government under FERS. In 2009, I applied for disability due to my health condition. I spent 18½ years in federal service. In June 2009, I began receiving my disability pay from the Office of Personnel Management, computed based on 60 percent of my high-3 for the first 12 months and 40 percent thereafter until I reached age 62. I will…
Q. I am a Customs and Border Protection officer, series 1895, with an enhanced (6c) FERS pension and am moving into another position with the same agency as an investigative program specialist, series 1801. I was grandfathered in with CBP prior to the enhanced coverage changes a couple of years ago resulting in age requirements concerning coming on the job and retirement. I have been with Customs and CBP for almost almost nine years, joining the agency in my 40s. Will this change in positions result in my losing the enhanced coverage and law enforcement officer status? If so, how will the change affect me? Is there a maximum…
Q. Approximately how much does a CSRS letter carrier from Kansas receive (pension) after 40 years of service? Never promoted beyond letter carrier. A. You’ll have to figure it out yourself, using the following formula: 0.015 x your highest three years of average salary (your high-3) x five years of service, plus 0.0175 x your high-3 x five years of service, plus 0.02 x your high-3 x all remaining years of service.
Q. I am considering reinstatement. I was with the Treasury Department for seven years and nine months, and left in January 1981 as Grade 12, Step 1. I received a refund of retirement contributions of approximately $6,000 when I left. How can I approximate what my pension will be if I return to the Treasury Department at a Grade 13, Step 1 and work for 5½ years. How would this calculation work if I wanted to calculate the pension at different dates? At the time I left, I was not required to make Social Security withholdings. I have made Social…
Q. I was medically retired from the military after about 15 years of service. I was receiving a pension from the Army until I was awarded compensation from the Veterans Affairs Department. The VA compensation was more than the Army pension that is taxable; therefore, I receive a VA compensation that is nontaxable (80 percent). Within the past three or four years, I was awarded combat-related special compensation because the injuries were considered to be combat-related during my military career. My time of service was Sept. 21, 1981, to June 19, 1996. Does the military buyback option apply to me…
Q. I am in the process of filling out my retirement forms and my wife informed me that she did not want to be included on my retirement pension. Is there something that she needs to sign so that she will not be included? A. Yes. Because you are required by law to provide her with a full survivor annuity, when you submit your retirement application, you’ll have to include a signed and notarized statement from your wife stating that she is declining the survivor annuity.
Q. I am an air traffic controller and will be retiring at the end of May at age 51 with 22 years of service. I’m being told the Social Security supplement portion of my retirement will come six to eight months after I leave, and it will not be retroactive. This doesn’t seem accurate as this is a integral part of my three-tier pension system. Am I getting correct information? A. Whoever told you that was mistaken. When you begin receiving your full annuity payment, you’ll be sent a catch-up payment for the money you didn’t get because you were…
Q. I retired 11 months ago and still not getting my full pension. When I submitted my application through my agency, they approved without any problems. But I just received a letter from the Office of Personnel Management informing me of a $10,000 unpaid deposit. I thought that if there were any issues with retirement, OPM was supposed to inform the employee. If they would have told me, I could have made the choice of continue working until the debt was paid. What can be done at this stage? A. It’s unlikely that your agency would have known that you…