Q. I’m a CSRS employee. I am eligible for retirement. I’ve passed my 62nd birthday and will not have enough quarters to be eligible for Social Security. I have heard different accounts of whether there is a way to get a refund on the money I paid to buy back my six years of military service time. Since I will not be eligible for Social Security and I paid the full amount to be sure I would be able to get credit for my military service, is there a way to get a refund on the nearly $8,000 I paid,…
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Q. I am on active duty (Army). I will be retiring with 20 years of active service and receive my monthly retirement pay. If I take a government job, how does the buyback thing work? If I choose the buyback option, will my military retirement check stop? Could I buy back the 20 years of military service (without giving up my military retirement pay), work the government for 10 years, then retire and receive both my military and government retirement? A. You could make a deposit to get credit for your active-duty service; however, when you retired, you would have…
Q. I have over 28 years of credible service as an Army reservist and therefore will qualify for retired reserve retirement benefits. I am also considering buying back my active-duty time. I understand from your blog that I am able to purchase back time without it reducing my reserve retirement services and that buying back time is only to reset my service computation date. Where can I find that in regulations? A. If you make a deposit to get credit for any period or periods of active-duty service, that time will be used to increase your civilian length of service…
Q. I am in FERS with a CSRS component, and I’m planning to retire in April 2013 after more than 35 years of continuous government service. Prior to working for the Defense Department in 1975, I had worked a summer in the post office with all the taxes paid, including Social Security. Would I be able to pay a FERS deposit for the two or three months I’ve worked at the post office and get credit for the FERS retirement annuity? Below is the info from the ABC-C website: FERS deposit service is any period of Federal civilian service performed…
Q. I am still uncertain on one nuance of the five years to be vested. I am working through the process to “sell back” my four years of Air Force Academy time. I started work this year (March 2012). When I hit March 2018, I will have six years of civilian time and four years of military credited time. Will I be eligible for a MRA +10 using the four military years? I will be past my minimum retirement age with over five years of civilian time and over 10 years of total creditable service. A. Yes, you can retire…
Q. I am in the process of buying back active-duty service time. I served in the Marines from 1982 to 1986, and started with the Postal Service in 1987. I am 47 years old. For the Marine Corps service, I received the PS Form 2805 with the initial amount due as $1,050.48 and interest of $2,612.74, totaling $3,663.20. I find out there was no penalty or interest during the first two years. This was never explained when hired. Is there an appeal process for the interest? Also, I have three other periods of National Guard active service being looked into.…
Q. I have worked in federal civilian service since September 2001. When in college, I worked several summers for a federal government agency. My service computation date does not take this into account. Can I get a record of how much time that was, and if it doesn’t count toward my creditable service date, is there a way to purchase this time to add it retroactively? A. Nondeduction service performed after Dec. 31, 1988, isn’t creditable for either eligibility or computational purposes, nor can you make a deposit to get credit for it.
Q. I am a federal civilian (GS-13), and I am an O-4 in the Navy Reserve. I have chosen not to buy back my active-duty military service because I read on the Department of the Navy civilian human resources website that it would jeopardize my Navy Reserve retirement (i.e. might force me to merge or choose one or the other once I’m 60 and eligible for the Navy Reserve pension and my FERS). I do not want to jeopardize my Navy Reserve O-4 retirement (I worked too hard for 21 years to lose it.) I also do not want to…
Q. I spent 20 years in the Navy and am currently receiving my pension from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and a 30 percent disability pension from the Veterans Affairs Department. In 1991, I began my employment with federal government under FERS. In 2009, I applied for disability due to my health condition. I spent 18½ years in federal service. In June 2009, I began receiving my disability pay from the Office of Personnel Management, computed based on 60 percent of my high-3 for the first 12 months and 40 percent thereafter until I reached age 62. I will…
Q. I served four years on Air Force active duty. I was hired for a federal civilian position and have been working for four years. I’m not sure if I’m going to stick it out for another 20 or 30. During my civilian employment, I bought back my military time. However, now I’m considering joining the reserve. Will my active-duty service time buyback affect my reserve retirement down the road? Will those four years of active-duty service count toward a reserve retirement? A. Making a deposit to get credit civilian for your active-duty service won’t have any effect on your…