Q. I am a soon-to-be 68-year-old CSRS Offset employee returning to work in 1988. I did not pay back the retirement contributions I took out when I left government service in 1980 and realize my CSRS annuity will be reduced to pay this back. I plan on working several more years. Is there any disadvantage or effect on my total retirement annuity (combination of CSRS and Social Security) if I start receiving Social Security payments now? I plan on electing full survivor benefits for my wife, a FERS government employee 15 years younger. Is there any effect on the survivor…
Browsing: Survivor benefits
Q. My wife and I are postal employees. I am CSRS, and she is FERS. If we choose the survivor benefit, upon either of our deaths, can the other of us collect our retirement and the other’s survivor benefit? A. Yes.
Q. I am attempting to help my brother apply for his postponed FERS retirement. When he left government service, he was 55 with more than 10 years of service, so he was eligible for retirement, but he decided to postpone it to avoid the age reductions. He is now 65 and has never applied for his FERS annuity. I am filling out the forms for him, and I am unsure what date to put down as an effective date. I’ve read the OPM Web pages but can’t find information that pertains to someone applying for the postponed annuity after turning…
Q. I am a FERS retiree since September 2007, at which time I was 50. I elected survivor benefits for my spouse, who is 14½ years older than I am. She was 64 when I retired. I elected to remain in FEHB. Additionally, I did not stop working, as I took a job with a private firm before my retirement date and had medical benefits with that firm, in addition to my FEHB coverage. When my spouse was eligible to receive Medicare Part B the following year, she elected not to take it based on a briefing we received by…
Q. I am a CSRS employee, and my husband is a FERS employee. My husband has been covered under my FEHB policy for the past 27 years. We are approaching retirement and do not wish to elect survivor benefits. After retirement, in the event of my death, will my husband be eligible to continue FEHB coverage? If I must elect a survivor benefit for him to continue coverage upon my death, what is the least amount I can elect? A. You must elect a full survivor annuity for him unless he agrees to a lesser amount or none at all. If you both agree to no survivor…
Q. I am retired under Civil Service, and because I earned enough quarters through outside employment, I was eligible for Social Security benefits. I have survivor’s benefits for my wife under my CS retirement in the event of my death. Will she also be eligible to receive all or part of my Social Security benefits? We are both 72, she also retired on disability under Social Security, and we have been married for 51 years. A: If you died, your wife would be entitled to the higher of the two Social Security benefits, her own or the survivor benefit based on…
Q. Upon retirement from civilian government service, if you chose the survivor benefits plan for your spouse, are the payments deducted monthly from your retirement pay taxable by the government? A. Payments aren’t deducted monthly for a survivor benefit. Instead, there is a one-time permanent reduction in your annuity. Since that reduction will be made before you receive annuity payments, you will be taxed only on the amount you receive. Note: A portion of your annuity will be tax-free, since it represents a return of the post-tax contributions you made to the retirement system. See IRS Publication 721 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p721.pdf.
Q. My wife and I are retired. My wife has both a small civil service pension and Social Security. I had 30-plus years of Social Security earnings when I retired in 1998. If I survive my wife, will the reduced amount I would receive from her government pension affect my Social Security payment? I am asking about Government Offset Pension rules. A. The government pension offset applies only to the spousal Social Security benefit of someone receiving an annuity from a retirement system where he or she didn’t pay Social Security taxes, such as CSRS. It doesn’t apply to the earned Social Security benefit of…
Q. Is it possible to retain my Defense Department survivor benefits plan and use it as the basis for continued Federal Employees Health Benefits coverage for my wife and dependent child if I were to pass away? I plan on retiring under FERS this year. I’d rather not take the FERS SBP as it is more expensive. I am retired military with 20 years and bought back the time. A. No, it isn’t possible.
Q. I am a federal retiree, and my wife and I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan. Should I predecease her, is she still covered under the plan? If so, does the rate drop to single, or would she need to continue paying the family rate? I ask this because a recent response states, “The only way she can continue to be covered by your FEHB plan is for you to continue being enrolled in the self-and-family option.” A. What I wrote is correct. However, were you to die while she was covered under…