Q: I am looking at retirement in about 18 months. I am in CSRS offset. I’ll have 31.5 years total service and about 1,500 unused hours of sick leave. I left the government for about 10 years from June 1982 to February 1991 and took my retirement out. I owe about $25,000, but not real sure. I can repay it out of IRA and 401(k) accounts, I just don’t want to pay taxes on the withdrawals, since I cannot roll the IRA from the original withdrawal back into the CSRS retirement. Any thoughts?
A: Rules are rules. To the extent that your IRA or 401(k) balance exceeds any tax basis, your withdrawals will be taxed.
