Annuities, Withdrawals and More

This week, we’re back with a few more questions and comments from readers, covering everything from Civil Service Retirement System and Federal Employees Retirement System coverage to TSP withdrawals.

I was CSRS back in 1977 thru 1982. I received a refund of the retirement funds. I went back into the service in 1983, did my remaining years and retired. In 2000, I returned to civil service and I am now FERS. I am paying back the five years for CSRS. How will they calculate the five years?

First of all, if you had at least five years of prior CSRS coverage (whether or not you took a refund of retirement contributions), you should have been rehired under CSRS Offset retirement coverage and given a six-month opportunity to choose FERS coverage. If this is not what happened, you should contact your human resources office to find out if you were misclassified under FERS. If so, there’s a remedy under the Federal Erroneous Retirement Coverage Corrections Act, which allows you to go back to CSRS Offset coverage instead of FERS if you choose to.

If you remain under FERS and have more than five years of coverage under CSRS, then you will have a “CSRS component” to your retirement computation. That portion of your benefit will be computed under CSRS rules.

Keep in mind that since you received your refund of contributions prior to March 1, 1991, you can receive credit for this service without paying the redeposit. Your annuity will be subject to a permanent actuarial reduction based on the amount of the redeposit, interest due and your age at retirement. The actuarial reduction will not be applied to an annuity due your surviving spouse. You can avoid the reduction by repaying the refund.

I will have 24 years total at retirement at age 63. I have Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Coverage [at a level of] my salary times one. Lately, everyone is saying to keep it and eventually the government will pay for it. That's a new one on me.

You can continue basic FEGLI into retirement as long as you were covered for the five years immediately preceding your retirement. The premium is $.325 per $1,000 of coverage per month until you’re 65 and retired. Then, if you elect the 75 percent reduction option at retirement, the premium ends and the coverage begins to reduce by 2 percent per month until you’re left with 25 percent of your original coverage at no further premium. You can also choose no reduction or a 50 percent reduction if you’re willing to pay an additional premium. And you can continue optional FEGLI into retirement if you have been covered for five years and retire on an immediate retirement.

I don't understand why the federal government can't come up with an annual statement, like the Thrift Savings Plan gives you an estimate. Why can't you just go to the Office of Personnel Management website and get the info? I would think that would keep your information up-to-date and it wouldn't take so long to finally get your first retirement check.

The problem is that OPM doesn’t have access to your current information, since your personnel and payroll data is not transferred from your agency to OPM until you have separated for retirement. In many cases, agency payroll offices do provide an annual benefits statement so you can get a snapshot of your retirement and insurance benefits. For example, most federal employees who have their payroll processed through the USDA National Finance Center will receive an annual benefits statement. It describes the estimated value of your retirement benefit, your TSP account value, and when you’ll be eligible for Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Annuities begin on the first [of the month]. But if you retire on the fourth of any month, you will not start the annuity until the next month, and actually receive it the following month, so you will be out about seven weeks with no pay.

The start date of your retirement is the first day of the month after your last day on the job. (You’re paid your salary through close of business of the date you indicate for your separation on your retirement application.) There’s an exception for employees who retire under CSRS or CSRS Offset that allows retirement to start on the day after the retirement date if the date of final separation is the first, second or third day of the month. Regardless of whether you are retiring under CSRS or FERS, if you select June 15 as your retirement date, for example, this is the day your salary will stop accruing. Your first retirement benefit will be for the month of July, payable on Aug. 1. So you’ll get no compensation for June 16-30. This is why most employees try to retire on the last day of the month—or the first three days of the month in some cases under CSRS or CSRS Offset.

On the TSP issue of required minimum distributions, folks should notify the TSP to send your RMD distribution in mid-December so you can maximize those funds. If your RMD is 4 percent, and those funds gained 4 percent during the year, your TSP would not run out, because it would replenish itself. The RMD is based on the balance of TSP on Dec. 31 of the prior year, so you get another year of earnings on that RMD.

Here is an example of one of the loyal readers of this column who consistently provide supplemental information and insight that’s very helpful. I’d add this note: According to the TSP, if you’re already receiving a series of monthly payments from your account when you turn 70½, your monthly payments will be used to satisfy the IRS minimum distributions requirement. If the total amount of your monthly payments does not satisfy the requirement, the TSP will issue a supplemental payment for the remaining amount in December. This is automatic if your monthly payments are not high enough to satisfy your annual RMD. Your monthly payments can be as low as $25.