Q. I am a CSRS, 32-year, nine-month Postal Service retiree. I was told by USPS that upon retiring Jan. 31, I would not receive my first retirement check until April 1. Will I be paid back pay for March 1 to April 1, or does the Office of Personnel Management payment process disallow any back payments between March 1 and April 1? If so, what happens to the time gap between March 1 and April 1? A. What your agency may have meant is that the time which would elapse between when they got your paperwork to OPM and OPM…
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Q. My wife has a disability retirement from the Postal Service. She is deemed permanently and totally disabled by the Social Security Administration and receives the SSA disability benefit. She also receives a FERS disability annuity benefit. Is the FERS disability annuity federally taxable? If not, can you direct me to the IRS document that outlines how to file? A. It is taxable unless the Internal Revenue Service determines that she is totally disabled. You can call them at 1-800-829-4933.
Q. I have retired from the Postal Service in Jan. 31 on a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority with an incentive payment. I recently was awarded Social Security disability. I am 54 years old. Am I required to apply for federal disability? I understand the offset. Will I lose my voluntary separation incentive payments in May? A. You don’t have to apply for disability retirement. However, the fact that you are or would be eligible for disabiltiy retirement would bar you from receiving the VSIP.
Q. I am a 55-year-old Postal Service employee with more than 26 years of creditable service who has been on active duty under Title 10 for the past 10 years. Late last year, I was offered the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, which I accepted and submitted the irrevocable application along with all of the required documents. On Jan. 31, I received a phone from the Postal Service human resources office to inform me that my retirement could not be processed because I am on active duty. I was also told that I had to return to pay status to be eligible for retirement. 1. …
Q. I am a retired Postal Service employee under CSRS. I am 66 and have been collecting Social Security since turning 62. My Social Security benefit was reduced by taking benefits at 62 and by the windfall elimination provision. My CSRS annuity was also reduced because I opted for the CSRS survivor benefit. However, I am nine years older than my wife, who is 57 and intends to work until she can begin her early retirement at 62. 1. If my wife and I continue to file our taxes as “Married – jointly” and I suspend my Social Security benefits…
Q. I served 11 years in the Air Force, am 30 percent disabled, worked for USPS for three years and have now been employed by the Department of Defense for two years. What do I need to do to see about transferring back to USPS? A. You can no more transfer from the Department of the Air Force to the Postal Service than you could have transferred from the Postal Service to the Air Force. What you can do is apply for a job in the Postal Service. If you still live where you did when you last worked for…
I am a 58-year-old Postal Service employee with 34 years of service who was sent home during the National Reassessment Process. I was thinking about retiring but choosing workers’ compensation over my civil service retirement. I would like to know if I would be eligible to receive the incentive if I did this. I would also like to know if I would be able to elect the spousal annuity if I retired OWCP. A. No, you wouldn’t. No one who has a disability such that he or she is or would be eligible for disability retirement can receive a Voluntary…
Q. My husband, who is 98 years old, worked for the Postal Service in Chicago from 1937 to 1942, then joined the Army to fight in World War II. He took a leave of absence from the Postal Service until the war ended and returned to the Postal Service in 1947 and worked until 1948, when he entered graduate school under the GI Bill. He did not take a refund of his CSRS contribution. Is he eligible for a pension? A. If what you say is true, he may very well be eligible for an annuity. To find out, he’ll have to…
Q. I find the Michigan tax code for CSRS Postal Service retirees confusing and murky. I believe I am exempt but find no section that spells it out. A. According to our information, the state of Michigan exempts the total amount of civil service annuities.
Q. I am a Postal Service craft employee in Hawaii planning to retire this year. We receive a 25 percent T-COLA on our base salary ($56,508) that also includes our annual leave as we use it, so our checks don’t shrink when on annual leave. Is the 25 percent T-COLA included on the terminal leave I wish to sell back at retirement? If not, I will burn my annual leave before retiring. A. Only if it is included in your basic pay and retirement deductions are taken from it. Note: You don’t have the option of “burning off” your annual…