Q. I work for the U.S. Postal Service and would like to resign at 58 with 24 years of service. I will postpone my annuity date till I am 60 years of age, but I need to tap into my Thrift Savings Plan to tide me over for the two years I am waiting for my pension. Will I face the 10 percent penalty since I am not 59 1/2? I am retiring, but delaying the pension to avoid the 5 percent per year under 62. Would I need to use the lifetime average or could I set the amount I want to…
Browsing: early withdrawal penalty
Q. I am 60. I retired from the Federal Aviation Administration (air traffic controller) at 56. At that time, I set up the “Substantially Equal Payments” under the 72 t. That arrangement ends this September (5 years). In 2015, Congress passed the “Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act.” Will this allow me to take a disbursement in addition to my ongoing “Substantially Equal Payments” without the additional 10 percent tax? My financial adviser believes that by taking other disbursements, even given the 72 t (10), will trigger the penalty because it would make the “Substantially Equal Payments” different. A. Generally,…
Q. I will be 72 in November and will continue working for the government for another two years. Can I change my TSP contributions to a Roth IRA now and be able to withdrawn the money from the account without penalty when I retire in June 2021? A. A penalty will be assessed against any Roth TSP earnings that are withdrawn before age 59 ½ or less than 5 years after Jan. 1 of the year in which you made your first Roth TSP contribution, whichever is later.
Q. I am a FERS employee age 47 with 27 years of service. I am currently on FMLA and will be resigning and applying for medical disability retirement. I know I can withdraw from my TSP but am not clear on the annuity option tax penalty. I want to withdraw funds to sustain me while waiting for a decision on my disability retirement. A. If you receive a TSP distribution before you reach age 59 ½, in addition to the regular income tax, you may have to pay an early withdrawal penalty tax equal to 10 percent of any taxable…
Q. I already separated from federal service. I have $65,800 in my TSP account. I’m 49 years old. I want to receive substantially equal periodic payments (SEPP) until age 59 1/2 (to avoid the 10 percent penalty). I also want to be able to contribute to the TSP via IRA rollovers from time to time after age 59 1/2. I know I can do an IRA rollover into the TSP as a separated employee, but I don’t know if I can still do a rollover into the TSP after the substantially equal periodic payments have begun. The rationale for this…
Q. I separated from the U.S. Air Force on 12/31/2015 at the age of 53. I had a Uniformed Services TSP during the duration I was in the Air Force. On 01/01/2016 I took a job at the same overseas base and received a civilian TSP at that time. I worked that job until 12/31/2017 and left federal employee for full retirement at the age of 55. I am trying to find out if both the Uniformed Services TSP and the civilian TSP would be exempt from the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty since I stayed in federal service until…
Q. I’m 55 and a civilian employee. I’m retired Air Force, with a bit in my military TSP and a growing amount in my civilian TSP. I’ve just started converting all of my future TSP contributions to go to Roth, for one main reason: I plan to retire at age 62, and we’re going to take a lump-sum distribution of my TSP to purchase a house (won’t be eligible for a mortgage). The TSP balance at the time will be about $400,000 or so (hopefully closer to $500,000). I estimate that roughly 40-50 percent of it will be Traditional, and the rest Roth.…
Q. I retired under the CSRS at age 55 and understand I can withdraw my TSP funds without penalty. If I roll my TSP into an IRA, will I still be able to withdraw prior to age 59 1/2 without penalties?
Q. I accepted the VERA/VISP offer from my agency in 2017 when I was 54 years old. I will turn 56 in one month. Would I be subject to the 10 percent penalty if I withdraw funds from my TSP account? Are there any other options for me to withdraw funds before reaching the age of 59.5?
Q. Can I avoid the 10 percent penalty if I file with the IRS for money I need when I retire under disability? The rest of it I want hand over to a firm like Vanguard … will I be penalized?