Q: Since I’ve been buying back my 20 years of military service toward a FERS retirement, would I qualify for the MRA (56.5 years old) and would at least 10 years of federal service actually equal 30 years of total service for calculations on the SRS? Or would the system only use the 10 years of federal service and MRA, which according to your column would disqualify me for SRS?
A: Only actual civilian service is used when calculating the special retirement supplement. Therefore, if you retired at your MRA with at least 30 years of service (actual service and service for which you made a deposit), your annuity would be based on your entire service history, but your SRS would be based solely on your 10 years of civilian service.