Q. When I retire, I will be 59½ and will have 30 years of service at the Postal Service. I will not have any earned income from that point on. I understand federal and state taxes will be taken out of my FERS annuity and any money I take out of my Thrift Savings Plan. Will I also have Social Security deducted from these two sources? Also, will my special retirement supplement and — when I turn 62, my SSI benefit — also be subject to federal and state taxes? A. Mike: Your TSP withdrawals are subject to income taxation,…
Browsing: FERS
Q. When was the Thrift Savings Program added to CSRS? I have CSRS and FERS retirement components. And I don’t recall a TSP for CSRS during the late 1970s and early ’80s. A. TSP was established by Congress in the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986.
Q. I am a FERS employee who will turn 70 in September. I fully expect to be working at 70½. Will I be required to take the minimum withdrawal from my Thrift Savings Plan account if I’m still working? A. As long as you are still working for the federal government, distributions from your TSP account will not be required.
Q. I am being considered for disability retirement in the coming months. My application is pending consideration from the Office of Personnel Management. I am a GS-14 FERS employee, 54 years old, with about 32 years of service. I have approximately $250,000 in the Thrift Savings Plan, and my allocations are as follows: 15 percent C, 15 percent S and 70 percent I. I realize that is somewhat aggressive, but it has been like that for about seven years or so, and I have been hopeful of the international home run. Regrettably, this hasn’t necessarily come to fruition. I will…
Q. I am making payments to buy back my military deposit and I will also be making a redeposit of FERS funds. Can I transfer funds from the Thrift Savings Plan to military buyback and FERS? After all, these are both accounts for retirement and not money I’d be using now. A. No.
Q. My husband is putting in papers to retire after 40 years in civil service. He wants me to sign a paper saying that I agree not to accept his retirement if he dies before me. He said it would be less costly to get a good life insurance policy. We are both 61 years old and in good health. I have asthma and take medication for cholesterol. I have 21 years with the public school system. I hope to retire in the next year or two. Is it a good idea for me to sign this paper? He doesn’t…
Q. I am 57 years old. I have about a year and three months with the Defense Department (FERS). I am in the process of buying back 14.8 years of service, and I plan to retire in about 12 years. Will the buyback help with the Thrift Savings Plan? What is a good TSP investment option for someone in my situation? A. I’m not sure how the buyback will help your TSP account, since you will not be entitled to any additional contributions as a result. The investment strategy that you choose should be based on more information that you’ve…
Q. I am a federal law enforcement officer covered by FERS and, by Sept. 30, I will have more than 29 years of service plus more than a year of sick leave. To obtain my annuity beginning Oct. 1, I would like to retire on Sept. 30, but it is in the middle of a pay period. I plan on front-loading my Thrift Savings Plan and TSP catch-up contributions starting in April for the rest of this year to reach the maximum for both. Would there be any TSP match in my last, partial pay period, or should I just…
Q. I’m a 58-year-old FERS employee with 29 years of service. I have two years of leave without pay from while I was mobilized in the Army Reserve (2004-06). I am in the process of paying my military deposit to buy back this time. After returning to federal service, I did not identify that I wanted to catch up on the Thrift Savings Plan and get my TSP matching contributions. I recently read on the TSP website that I could still use the substantial contributions I made to the uniformed services TSP to request my civilian matching contributions. I have…
Q. I am a letter carrier, age 52, started in 1985 and have 28 years of creditable service. If I understand what I’ve gleaned from the posts here and the Postal Service were to offer me a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority this year, 1. Would I begin my annuity immediately? 2. Would I have no reductions in calculations of my annuity? (average high-3 x 1 percent x 28) 3. Would I receive credit for half of my sick leave and all of my annual leave? (How are these applied?) 4. Would I receive the special retirement supplement beginning at age…