Q. I am a firefighter with a county department, and also prior military. Since being discharged and starting my new career, I haven’t been able to figure out how to continue investing money into my TSP. Am I unable to do so, now that I am out of the armed services? Or am I just not looking in the right place?
Browsing: military
Q. I am in the National Guard and I am a civil service employee. Is the annual maximum contribution for the TSP the combination of the two, or is it for each individual account? Can I contribute in 2014 $17,500 to my Guard TSP, then $17,500 to my civilian TSP account as well? A. Unless there is a special exception for Guard pay, the limit is combined.
Q. I took my tax info to a professional to have them done this year. I’ve maxed out my Roth IRA with USAA. I’ve also contributed about $2500 to a traditional TSP as a uniformed service member. I’m being told I’ll be penalized for my contributions to my Roth account since I have an employer-based retirement plan. Is this accurate? Can I only contribute a total of $5500 for both accounts? I’ve always been told to contribute to both. A. The TSP contribution limit is fixed and not contingent on any other factor. Your eligibility to contribute to a Roth…
Q. I am an active-duty military officer with 17 years of service. I would like to convert my traditional Thrift Savings Plan account to a Roth 401(k) and pay taxes now. I want to see if it is possible to transfer my balance to a traditional 401(k) with my civilian investment company and then convert that account to the Roth 401(k). Additionally, I want to minimize my taxes by doing this during my deployment this year, because I will be receiving tax-free pay for most of this year. Is this allowed and/or possible? I would love to pay zero or…
Q. The Air Force is going through a drawdown because of sequestration. If a person has a current Thrift Savings Plan loan and is involuntary retired earlier than the minimum 20 years for military service, what are their TSP loan options? Are they required to immediately pay this back, or will they still have the option to pay the loan back over time? Also, how does joining the civil service affect the TSP account? A. You will be required to repay any outstanding loan balance within 90 days of separation, or the unpaid balance will be declared a taxable distribution.
Q. I was enlisted in the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008 and have been a full-time employee at the Social Security Administration since March 2012. So, I have a uniformed services Thrift Savings Plan account and a civilian TSP account (using pretax and Roth contributions). Nothing has been contributed to the uniformed services account since I left the Marines in 2008, so I asked someone in human resources here if I could combine the accounts. I was initially told this wasn’t possible, but after my own research, I found Form TSP-65 – Request To Combine Civilian and Uniformed Services…
Q. I retired under FERS two years ago, and I haven’t needed to touch my Thrift Savings Plan account so far. I am receiving Office of Personnel Management, Social Security and military retirements. I am 68½ years old. I just received a 100 percent Veterans Affairs Department disability award, which will change my taxable military retirement to a nontaxable VA retirement. I don’t think this will have any effect on my long-term life expectancy. I have determined that I do not want to elect an annuity on withdrawing from my TSP. I am considering immediately starting a monthly TSP withdrawal…
Q. I retired from active duty two years ago and have worked in civil service for one year. I am contributing 10 percent of my civil service base pay and have a fairly good amount in my active-duty military Thrift Savings Plan. I am entertaining the idea of consolidating my TSP plans for a couple of reasons. First, simplicity of managing one account. Secondly I believe, from what I have read on numerous sites, I will have greater control of current and future funds using the civil service side of TSP versus the active-duty military side. By this, I mean in-service withdrawals,…
Q. I retired from the Air Force Reserve last January and was transferred from Arizona to McChord Air Force Base, Wash. I also continue to work for the Defense Department. I plan on retiring as soon as possible from civil service. I contributed to a military Thrift Savings Plan and a civil service TSP. I cashed in both in December as I thought I was going to be able to retire this February. I planned to use the proceeds to purchase a home in Arizona. Now it looks like I have at least nine more months until I can retire. I spent some…
Q. I am an FERS employee and, for various reasons, have selected Nov. 28, 2015, as my retirement date, age 60+ with 21 years civil service and four years military, for which a deposit has been made. One of the many reasons that I selected this date was so that I could have a Thrift Savings Plan residential loan balance declared as a taxable distribution during the 2015 tax year, because I will have substantial withholdings by that time, and given my tax return history, would have a significant tax overpayment that would be useful in paying a portion of…