Retirement FAQs

If you receive a Federal pension and are also eligible for Social Security benefits based on your own employment record, a different formula may be used to compute your Social Security benefit. This formula will result in a lower benefit. The Windfall Elimination Provision affects workers who reach age 62 or become disabled after 1985 and are first eligible after 1985 for a Federal pension. The Windfall Elimination Provision does not apply if:

• You were eligible to retire before January 1, 1986; or,
• You were first employed by the government after December 31, 1983; or,
• You have 30 or more years of substantial earnings under Social Security.

You can keep your basic life insurance in retirement if all of the following conditions are met:

• You have coverage when you retire;
• You have not converted coverage to an individual policy;
• Your annuity begins within 30 days or, (However if you are retiring under the Minimum Retirement Age (MRA) plus 10 provision of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and you have postponed the commencing date of your annuity, health and life insurance coverage is suspended until your annuity begins) and,
• You were insured for life insurance for the five years immediately preceding retirement or the full periods of service when coverage was available.

You can keep your optional life insurance in retirement if all of the following conditions are met:

• You are eligible to continue your basic coverage; and,
• You were covered by the optional life insurance for the five years immediately preceding retirement or the full periods of service when coverage was available, if less than five years.

If you were under 62 when your disability benefit began, and were not eligible for a voluntary immediate benefit, your benefit will be recomputed after you have been retired for 12 months. The recomputed annuity will be 40 percent of your high-3 average salary minus 60 percent of your monthly Social Security benefit, or your earned benefit, whichever is higher. At age 62, your benefit is recomputed as though you had continued working until age 62. (Your average salary is increased by all FERS Cost-of-Living Adjustments paid while you were disabled.)

 If your 1099R Statement Box 2.a for the Taxable Amount is marked as 'Unknown'; this means that OPM did not calculate the tax-free portion of your annuity.   Some of the most common reasons for not calculating the tax-free portion of your annuity: 

• Your case is a Disability Retirement
• You retired prior to November 19, 1996
• You have Voluntary Contributions
• Apportionment was paid to your former spouse(s)
• Your case has not been finalized and you are in Interim pay status
• You have Survivor benefits payable and/or
• Your case is an Office of Workers Compensation case

OPM CAN NOT provide tax advice.  Please contact the Internal Revenue Service toll free at 1-800-829-1040 to speak with an agent who will provide free tax advice. 

We keep a separate mailing address to periodically send you information about your retirement and health and life insurance benefits. You can see the current record of your mailing address on Services Online. Please notify us if this address changes. (If you do not receive your payments through direct deposit, we ordinarily use the same address for mailings and payments.)

We will send you a personalized statement titled "Your Federal Retirement Benefits". It details, among other things, how much your monthly payment will be. It also confirms such things as health and life insurance coverage, and provides information you will need to prepare your tax returns.

Please select the retirement system and date of adjustment from this list.

Your personnel office will verify with your payroll office that the deposit to give you credit in your annuity for military service you performed after 1956 has been paid, or that arrangements have been made for complete payment before you leave the agency's rolls.

You should ask for a form SSA-7004-PC, Request for Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement, from your local Social Security Office or visit their website at http://www.ssa.gov. If you submit this form, you will get a statement that provides information on your future eligibility for Social Security benefits and estimates of these benefits at specified dates. These estimates do not reflect any reduction for the Government Pension Offset or the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).

At your request, your employer should provide you with any of the following estimates that apply to your circumstances. However, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management determines the actual amount of the benefit that is payable based on the laws and regulations and on the certified record of your employment.

• If you receive military retired pay, an estimate of your benefit with and without credit for military service.
• If you are considering deposit for military service after 1956, an estimate of your benefit with and without credit for the military service you performed after December 31, 1956.
• If you are considering a deposit, under the Civil Service Retirement System, for federal employment before October 1, 1982, estimates of the amount of the deposit and the amount of your benefit with and without the reduction for the deposit.

Deposit service ending before October 1, 1982 and covered by the CSRS.

• If you are considering a deposit, under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), for federal employment on/after October 1, 1982, estimates of the amount of the deposit and the amount of your benefit with and without credit for the employment period. Deposit service ending after October 1, 1982 and covered by the CSRS.
• If you are considering repaying, under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), a refund of retirement contributions for employment ending before October 1990, an estimate of the amount of the redeposit and your benefit with and without the actuarial reduction taken if the redeposit is not paid. Redeposit service ending before October 1, 1990 and covered by CSRS.
• If you are considering repaying, under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), a refund of retirement contributions for employment ending after October 1990, an estimate of the amount of the redeposit and your benefit with and without credit for the employment period covered by the refund. Redeposit service ending on/after October 1, 1990 and covered by CSRS.
• If you are considering a deposit, under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), for federal employment before 1989, estimates of the amount of the deposit and the amount of your benefit with and without credit for the employment period. Deposit service ending before January 1, 1989 and covered by FERS.
• If you are considering providing less than the maximum annuity payable after your death to a husband, wife, or ex-spouse, estimates of the amount of the survivor's annuity and the amount of your annuity with and without the reduction for full survivor's benefit. View information on family benefits.
• If you are considering providing a survivor annuity to someone who has a financial interest in your continued life, an estimate of your benefit with and without the reduction for this election. View information on family benefits.
• If you have made voluntary contributions and can elect to purchase additional annuity with those contributions, benefit estimates with and without credit for the voluntary contributions. View information about voluntary contributions.
• If you can elect to receive the alternative form of annuity, an estimate of your benefit with and without the lump sum payment of retirement contributions. View information about the alternative form of annuity.
• For employees, under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), who can elect to receive an annuity supplement, an estimate of the monthly amount payable to age 62.

You should apply to make a payment by completing a Standard Form 2803 if you are covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). You should use Standard Form 3108 if you are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). If you are within six months of retirement, you should submit your request to make the deposit or redeposit at the same time you submit your application for retirement. You can use a form or letter to do this. We will notify you of any amounts due so you can decide whether or not to make the payment. We cannot, however, authorize your regular annuity payments until we have your decision about the payment.

Check with your local personnel service center to verify that you have enough service and meet the age requirements for retirement eligibility. They can provide personalized assistance because they have your employment records. Your local personnel service center will also talk with you about the date your annuity payments can start based on the date you pick.

Your personnel office must take the following actions to process your retirement application:

• Complete the "Agency Check List of Immediate Retirement Procedures," Standard Form 2801, Schedule D (CSRS) or 3701, Schedule D (FERS);
• Prepare and obtain your signature on the "Certified Summary of Federal Service," Standard Form 2801-1 (CSRS) or 3701-1 (FERS);
• Verify any service not fully documented in your OPF; [Note:If documentation is missing, verification may be obtained by contacting federal record centers. If the personnel office is unable to obtain verification, we will complete verification upon receipt of your retirement application and records. This process will cause a delay in processing of your claim.]
• Certify and transfer your coverage under the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) program to OPM;
• Transfer your enrollment under the Federal Employees' Health Benefits (FEHB) program to OPM;
• Prepare Standard Form (SF) 50, "Notification of Personnel Action."; and
• Send all of your retirement materials to your payroll office.

The “Making Work Pay” tax credit expired December 31, 2010. As a result, you may see an increase in the amount of Federal income tax being withheld from your monthly annuity payments. The tax withholding tables published by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were adjusted to provide for the correct withholding amounts without this credit. The tax rates did not change; only the tax withholding tables changed. For more information concerning the 2011 Federal tax withholding tables go to IRS Notice 1036, TABLE 4—MONTHLY Payroll Period. For other questions on Federal taxes, go to www.irs.gov.