Q: I am a CSRS Offset federal employee with 18 years of service and I am now 53. I expect to retire at 65 with a total of 30 years of federal government service. Will my retirement be offset at the age of 65 with 30 years of service when I apply for Social Security? A: Yes, your CSRS annuity will be reduced by the amount of Social Security benefit you earned while employed under CSRS Offset. The total you receive will be the same, it will just come from two different places, OPM and the Social Security Administration.
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Q: I am a federal employee under CSRS. When I die, my spouse will get the full spouse survivor benefit. She is not and has not been a federal employee. Is it true that when I die most (if not all) of her Social Security benefits will go away because she receives the CSRS survivor benefit? A: Her Social Security benefit won’t be affected in any way unless she is receiving an annuity — in whole or part — from a retirement system where she didn’t pay Social Security taxes.
Q: I was told that if I retire from the USPS with 30 years of service but only at 59 1/2 years of age, I’m entitled to my FERS full retirement benefits as well as a 35 percent advanced payment from Social Security until I reach age 62, and then I will get the full amount by age 62. Is this true? A: No, it isn’t. It’s a garbled account of what the law provides. Because you will meet the age and service requirements to retire on an immediate annuity, in addition to your FERS annuity, you will receive a…
Q: My compensation date is July 29, 1968. I worked under CSR for 30 years and upon advice from our human resources department, I switched to FERS to get the matching funds and TSP tax-deferred deductions (which were not available to CSR workers at the time). At the same time I earned 40 quarters under Social Security (I worked a full-time job for 10 years at the same time as I started with the government full time). I am in good health and do not plan on retiring immediately, but I’d like to plan ahead. Additionally I became disabled in…
Q: I have been on disability for several years but my husband worked, so we were told I could still be covered by his insurance. After his retirement, we were told we had to take Medicare Part B. The problem is that I am being penalized by Social Security for not taking it sooner. I was also being covered under my OPM with the VA retirement. I called Medicare and Social Security. Medicare told me that I should not be penalized because of the coverage of OPM. I called Social Security back and they told me that Medicare didn’t know…
Q: I will be retiring soon from the civil service. I am covered under CSRS Offset due to my earlier employment as a career civilian government employee under another federal retirement system from which I have a (suspended, for now) pension. I worked part time after 2002 under a temporary, intermittent appointment between my two career federal government positions. I have almost two years of eligibility for prior service credit from those years upon a deposit to cover that period in CSRS. I understand that even though am now covered under CSRS Offset I will have to make a full…
Q: I am a recent widow of a CSRS Offset employee. I, too, was a CSRS employee (not offset). The survivor benefit that has been calculated for me is equivalent to 28 percent of my husband’s retirement benefit when he died. This doesn’t seem accurate, although it may be. I’ve spent nearly a year with OPM and Social Security trying to identify where their numbers are coming from, with no success. Can you recommend an expert that I can contact to assist me? Nobody, not even Social Security, seems to know how the rules were applied and I am going…
Q: I am a retired Air Force veteran of 26 years (1968-1994) and soon will become eligible for a 10 years of service under FERS. I will also become eligible for early Social Security benefits at age 62 at the same time. Both my military and federal civilian careers paid into Social Security. Because I am drawing two federal retirements, will my Social Security benefits be reduced/penalized? A: No, you won’t be penalized. Your Social Security benefit will be based on all your years of Social Security-covered employment.
Q: Does the SRS that I receive at MRA come out of my Social Security benefits? And, if so, would that mean my benefits at 62 would be reduced since I would have received a portion beforehand? A: No. The special retirement supplement is designed to bridge the gap between the point when you start receiving it and age 62 when you are first eligible for a Social Security benefit. The SRS is paid out of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, not from the Social Security Trust Fund.
Q: I am a CSRS federal government employee. I am single and have no children. I retired when I was 64 in January 2005 with 24 years and nine months of service. I signed a paper stating that I would not come back into the federal government for five years. What happens if I am able to get a job in the federal government in 2011 when I am 69? When I am ready to retire again, will I still be under the CSRS or will I be under FERS? Will they add the 24 years and nine months of…