Q. Eight years ago, I retired under CSRS with 21 years of service as an air traffic controller. Prior to my controller years, I earned three years of Social Security credits and served seven years in the military. Since retiring I have worked full time at a good salary and my Social Security statement says I have earned enough credits to qualify for benefits, but I think I’m subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision. Assuming that is true, if I don’t elect to receive Social Security at age 62 and wait until my full retirement age of 66 to receive…
Browsing: SOCIAL SECURITY
Q. If they offer the early retirement this year to postmasters I will have close to 26 years, but I will be just 48 years old in August. Will I be able to retire and get the Social Security Supplement also? A. If you accept an early retirement offer, you would be eligible for the special retirement when you reach your minimum retirement age. Since you were born between 1953 and 1964, your MRA would be 56.
Q. I am retired from the postal service as a CSRS employee. I had already worked for private agencies and paid in enough quarters (40) and over to draw my Social Security before I ever started working for the federal government. However, even though these quarters were earned prior to any federal employment, my Social Security check has an offset on it. I have been told by a Social Security attorney that this should not have been done. Is this correct? A. Your Social Security benefit wasn’t offset. It was reduced because of the windfall elimination provision of law. The…
Q. I retired under the early-out retirement program at CSRS; currently, I am working part time and paying in to Social Security. Am I eligible for Social Security disability? A. Putting aside the question of whether you are sufficiently disabled to meet the Social Security Administration’s stringent criteria for granting disability benefits, to even apply you would need to have a certain number of credits under Social Security, the number depending in large part on your age and the onset of your disability. For more information go to www.ssa.gov/retire2/credits3.htm.
Q. I will soon be a CSRS retiree — no offset, no military service, just 30 years with the federal government. My wife has worked for many years in the private sector and is covered by Social security. If she dies before I do, will I receive her full Social Security or any of it? A. Any Social Security survivor benefit to which you are entitled would be affected by the government pension offset provision of law. The GPO would reduce that benefit by $2 for every $3 you receive in your CSRS annuity.
Q. I have a question about the CSRS system and the impact of my wife’s Social Security. I will be retiring in January 2011 with 40-plus years of federal government experience. I don’t have enough quarters to qualify for Social Security. My only Social Security quarters are from when I worked summer jobs back when I was in college before 1970. My wife will be applying for a reduced Social Security benefit when she turns 62 this July. Will her benefit be affected by my CSRS annuity or vice versa? A. Neither her Social Security benefit nor your CSRS annuity…
Q. I retired at age 55 in 2005 under the FERS system. I had switched from civil service to FERS back in 1997, so a portion of my postal pension is that FERS supplement until I reach age 62. However, subsequent to my retirement I am 100 percent disabled and receive Social Security Disability. My question now is, when I reach age 62, my FERS supplement will cease and I will not get any increase in my pension, since I am already getting disability. Is this true? Will my postal pension under the civil service portion increase any after reaching…
Q. I left the VA after 10 years of service and was under the civil service retirement program. When I left I was a GS-5, step 4. I was employed from June 27,1977 until July 5,1987. I left my retirement funds and did not withdraw them. I thought I might return to federal service someday. I am now 57 years old. As things turned out I did not return and now I am approaching retirement age. I have been told that I may not be able to draw both Social Security and civil service retirement. I need to understand if…
Q. On March 16th you answered a question with information concerning OPM checking only once to see if you were eligible for Social Security. Would you please expound upon that statement and tell us how that would affect a CSRS employee? I am just a few quarters shy of having 40 quarters and wondering if it means I would be better off waiting until I am 62 before completing the 40 since I will retire from CSRS before I am 62. A. I think you are referring to what’s popularly referred to as “Catch-62.” If a CSRS retiree served on…
Q. I have a rather complicated question concerning my FERS retirement. I took an early retirement under FERS at the end of 2009. I retired on Dec. 31, 2009 at the age of 59. Because of the pay periods in 2009, the last pay period of December actually ended on Jan. 2, 2010. This pay period therefore became pay period 1 for 2010. Therefore, my last pay check and annual leave show as earned income in 2010. My retirement date started on Jan.1, 2010. Since my last check and annual leave earnings show as earned in 2010, do they count…