Q. I worked for DoDDS schools from 1987 to 1990. At that time, vesting was five years with FERS. When I resigned, I believe I had to forfeit my retirement and was made to withdraw my Thrift Savings Plan. Would this have been correct for that time period with FERS? And DoDDS?
I came back to work for DoDEA in January 2001. I called to make certain that I was going to get credit for those three years. I wanted to redeposit my TSP money but was not allowed to, and was told there was no provision for repayment. It seems that I was also told that my forfeited retirement would now be reinstated and that the three years would be added to whatever time I worked. I am now ready to retire and this is causing some confusion.
A. Mike: If you withdrew your TSP money and did not roll it over to an Individual Retirement Account, you will not be allowed to redeposit this withdrawn money to your new TSP account. You may, however, roll untaxed IRA money into your TSP account at any time.
Reg: If you left your contributions in the retirement fund when you left, that period of service would be reinstated. If you didn’t, you’d have to redeposit that amount plus accrued interest to get credit for it.
