Q. I understand the lump-sum annual leave payment at retirement cannot be put into the TSP for deferred tax or matching purposes. However, can you elect to defer to receive the lump-sum payment until the following calendar year, such that it counts as earned income in that following year rather than the year you retire? If nothing else, it would at least count as earned income on the basis of which I can make another year’s worth of contributions to my brokerage Roths.
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Q. Although we are not there yet, it seems the expense ratio gap between the Thrift Savings Plan and Vanguard is continuing to narrow. Vanguard recently lowered its expense ratios considerably on many of its funds. Admiral Share-class expense ratios on some funds are within a whisker of being the same as TSP. Do you think that a firm like Vanguard can now offer advantages to individuals who want to roll over their TSP balances to them? At the very least, it should serve as a wake-up call to BlackRock and TSP management that they need to not let the…
Q. I plan to retire May 31, 2017, at 51 years old. I am a federal law enforcement employee eligible to retire at age 50 (I have 22½ years as a law enforcement officer and 26 total years). I need to access my TSP immediately to pay emergency expenses. If I request a hardship withdrawal prior to my retirement date, will I be subject to the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty?
Q. If you retire under FERS disability, at what age can you withdrawal from TSP without penalty?
Correction: A previous version of this post misidentified the the tax-exemption characteristic of a Traditional IRA. This post has since been corrected to explain a Traditional IRA is not tax-exempt. Q. I’m retiring at 50 years of age after 22 years in federal law enforcement. I’m considering withdrawing all my TSP funds to a financial institution under a tax-exempt traditional IRA. I understand there’s no federal tax liability; however, I reside in the state of California. Is there a state tax liability for the withdrawal?
Q. I have recently retired from the U.S. Postal Service under CSRS. I had been contributing the maximum amount toward my TSP. When I left, I received my balance of annual leave in a lump payment. I am rolling my TSP over to a Fidelity account to have more choices with regard to withdrawal options. Since the money from annual leave pay is treated as earnings, can I place some of it in the IRA account?
Q. I am 72 and still working at the Veterans Health Administration. If i move an outside IRA into my TSP account, will I then avoid the required minimum distribution on the outside account?
Q. I will be retiring at age 57. I will be taking monthly payments from TSP at that time. I understand after monthly payments are started, the only other option left is a full withdraw. If I take monthly payments until age 59½, can I then roll over the balance into an IRA? Flexibility in withdraw choices is my goal. Is rolling over into an IRA still considered a full withdraw, and is this possible?
Q. I am 68 and plan to retire in two years from a civilian position with a district attorney’s office. I have a traditional IRA in a Vanguard account, which consists of both non-deductible and deductible contributions. I no longer contribute, and the IRS Form 8606 reflects a $99,000 non-deductible basis. I would like to move that portion to my Vanguard Roth IRA and direct transfer the remaining portion to my TSP account, mainly to take advantage of the G Fund. If I move the $99,000 to my Vanguard Roth IRA first and then request Vanguard move the rest to TSP, will…
Q. I plan to retire next year and am considering the transfer of my entire TSP into a tax-deferred IRA. Once I leave federal service, I will not be able to contribute to my TSP account any longer. If I make the transfer of my TSP into a tax-deferred IRA, can I still make contributions to the new IRA and reduce my taxable income in retirement? Or for tax purposes, would it be better for me to leave my TSP where it is and just withdraw an annuity directly from it?