Q. I will be retiring with 33 years under CSRS on April 3. I am 61 years of age and will be able to collect a small Social Security amount at age 62 (July 14). I have enough quarters in Social Security from working in the private sector before I joined the federal government. I am scheduled to receive $529 at age 62. How much will I receive from Social Security? I am told that I will not receive the full $529. I make about $62,000 a year, since I am a GS-9 Step 10. I understand that there is…
Browsing: substantial earnings
Q. I have 38 years under CSRS and have not paid back my four years of military service. I am 63 years old and am thinking about retiring this year. I have 40 quarters under Social Security. When I retire, am I eligible for a partial Social Security annuity, along with my federal retirement pension? A. You’ll get full credit for your active-duty service in determining your length of service. However, when you reach age 62, your annuity will be recomputed without those four years, which will reduce your annuity. While you’ll be eligible for a Social Security benefit, it…
Q. I am receiving Social Security reduced by the windfall elimination provision. I am collecting Canada Pension Plan for 10 years of employment with no Social Security for that time. I am continuing to work at age 70 and plan to continue doing so. At the end of this year, I will have 30 years of substantial Social Security earnings. Will they then do a recalculation and give me back the windfall amount, or am I stuck with the deduction forever? A. No, they won’t. What you got is what you get.
Q. I am retired under CSRS, and have more than 40 credits of Social Security accrued. I am almost 62, and want to apply for Social Security benefits. How much will the windfall elimination provision hit me for? I spoke to several other CSRS retirees, and only a few said they took a 60 percent reduction, while some took no reduction. I can’t figure why each case appears to take a different amount off due to WEP. A. Anyone who receives an annuity in whole or part from a retirement system where he didn’t pay Social Security taxes is subject…
Q. I am a 57-year-old federal employee with 11 years creditable service under FERS. Earlier in life, I became disabled as a result of a line-of-service duty incident after 15 years as a California law enforcement officer. I receive a lifetime industrial disability retirement (tax-free) from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. I intend on retiring in five years, at 62½. Will I be subject to the windfall elimination provision due to my law enforcement employment outside of the Social Security system? Does my disability retirement play any role in reducing my Social Security entitlement? By my calculations, I will…
Q. I worked four years under CSRS and drew the retirement funds out and did not pay them back. When I was reinstated, it was under the CSRS Offset. I retired and drew the CSRS Offset but did not apply for my Social Security benefits until I reached age 66 in October. I just got notified by Social Security that I would be subject to the windfall elimination provision from my Social Security check. Is this correct? I have 29 years and three months of substantial earnings, according to their table for substantial earnings. Actually, for these years, I far…
Q. I am CSRS Offset, having retired in 2001, and have been working in the private sector since that time. I turned 62 last year, applied for, and began drawing Social Security. However, my annuity has not been reduced. I have been holding out what I had estimated my reduction would be, anticipating that at some point the Social Security Administration would want the money. I have 34 years of substantial earnings, which includes my 14 years as an offset employee. Do these years affect the offset amount? Does this mean my annuity could possibly not be reduced? I have…
Q. I expected to retire with a CSRS Offset pension and a pension from a state public employees system not covered by Social Security. It appears that the windfall elimination provision is going to reduce my CSRS Offset Social Security portion to almost nothing. Can that be right? Your descriptions of CSRS Offset always say the benefit will be the same it will just be paid partly from CSRS and partly from Social Security. But windfall elimination appears to reduce the Social Security portion by 40 percent. A. The windfall elimination provision does reduce the Social Security benefit of anyone…
Q. I have been reading your responses regarding the windfall elimination provision and you continually say 30 years of “substantial” earnings under Social Security. What are considered “substantial earnings”? I am 60 years old, with 26 years of government service and more than 16 years in private industry. I have almost 30 years that I paid into Social Security between the two. However, the earlier years were at a much lesser salary that I now make. (My earnings were $10,000 a year in the earlier years.) Does that qualify for “substantial earnings” under Social Security? Or will I have to…
Q. I’m 59 years old and have 38 years government service under CSRS. I have 39 quarters Social Security paid in. Do I only have to work one more quarter to qualify for Social Security by the time I’m 62? Someone told me I had to work so many quarters in the last 10 years. A. You only have to have 40 credits under Social Security to qualify for a Social Security benefit at age 62. Just be aware that if you are still working when you apply for that benefit, it will be affected by the annual earnings limit,…