Q. I can start drawing Social Security this year, but I am retired from the federal government under CSRS. I had eight years in the Marine Corps, which I got credit for at retirement, and I didn’t pay the deposit of 7 percent for those years. Will my government retirement check go down? I read that I am already being penalized 10 percent each year because I didn’t pay the deposit. A. If you are eligible for a Social Security benefit at age 62, those eight years for which you didn’t make a deposit will be eliminated and your annuity recomputed downward.
Browsing: military deposit
Q. I have paid the military buyback but am in the process of increasing my disability rating through the Veterans Affairs Department. This would not be advantageous for me to combine my military with civilian service in the federal government. Can I ask for a refund of the military buyback? What is the form or process I would use to do this? A. No, you cannot get a refund of your deposit.
Q. I’m a DoD federal employee with three years of military service included in my FERS retirement. I know the three years count toward my pension calculation, but do they count toward the supplemental Social Security benefit? I’m eligible to retire in October and will be 56 with just over 30½ years of service including my military time. Will the supplement be calculated at 27½ years or 30½? A. Your special retirement supplement will be based solely on your period of FERS employment. Unless you made a deposit for your three years of military service, they won’t be included when…
Q. I did nine years in the active-duty Navy. I did four years in the Navy Reserve, but the Reserve was nondeployable-only, stateside. I now have a federal job and am wondering if doing the post-56 is worth it. I am 44 years old. I got out of active duty as an E-5. The job I have now only pays $33,000 a year. A. If you made a deposit for your active-duty service, you would be credited with nine more years of civilian service and at retirement your annuity would be 9 percent higher. Note: Reserve duty is never creditable,…
Q. I began my federal service as an enlisted person attending the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on June 1, 1980. I was commissioned as an officer on May 25, 1984, and served continuously on active duty until my retirement Aug. 1, 2005. Before I retired, I started as a General Schedule employee on June 13, 2005, and am still a GS, never having any breaks in federal employment since June 1, 1980, when CSRS was in effect. So I am thinking I should be eligible to switch to CSRS from FERS. A. Absolutely not! To be covered by CSRS,…
Q. In making the military deposit, we have two years from the time it is due to make the payment without interest. After that, interest accrues until payment. Does the interest accrual start from the initial time it is owed (separation from military service), or does the interest accrual start at the end of the two-year interest-free mark? A. It starts at the end of the interest-free period. There isn’t any look back.
Q: I was active-duty Navy for five years, then worked for the U.S. Postal Service under the Federal Employees Retirement System for seven years, during which time I bought back my military time. After 9/11, I went back into military service (active-duty Army), and I will retire with 20 years active service. Who do I need to contact to get a refund of my deposit with the USPS? A: While you can’t get a refund solely of your deposit for active-duty service, you can get a refund of all your contributions and deposits to the retirement fund. Download a copy…
Q: Can a retired military member elect to buy back only a portion of his military time? A: If your active-duty service was continuous, the answer is no. If you were on active duty during separate, distinct periods of time, you can chose the period (or periods) of time for which you want to make a deposit.
Q: I just received my military service deposit amount plus accrued interest on my military time. The deposit amount for my service from August 1968 to August 1972 was $896, with $3,330.43 in accrued interest, for a total of $4,226.43. The accrued interest seems awfully high. The interest accrual history runs from October 1986 ($103.88) to October 2009 ($166.22). A: I can’t tell whether the final number you got is correct. What I can tell you is that annual interest rates have been high after Dec. 31, 1984. Before that, they were a flat 3 percent. After that, market rates…