Q. I am a civilian FERS employee who will retire this summer at age 59 with 35 years of civil service. After retiring, I intend to start monthly withdrawals from my Thrift Savings Plan account ($2,000 per month). Even though I will have begun making monthly withdrawals from my TSP account, can the remainder of my money in the TSP continue to be invested in the various funds (G, C, F, S, I) and continue to grow via earnings within these funds? A. Yes.
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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 retired early with more than 20 years of service due to work-related injuries. I am 50. I have more than $314,000 in my Thrift Savings Plan. I want to withdraw either a partial or full amount but also want to avoid the 10 percent penalty tax. If I transfer my money to an IRA, then make a withdrawal, will I be able to avoid the penalty? What are my options? A. You should consult IRS Publication 590 for the exceptions to the early withdrawal penalty that apply to IRAs. See Page 7 of the notice at https://www.tsp.gov/PDF/formspubs/tsp-536.pdf for…
Q. I am married, 60 years old and a FERS employee. I am not sure when I plan to retire, but I have a Thrift Savings Plan account and other investments. I would like to transfer as much as I can to the TSP account to have the best return. How will I be taxed on the money if it is going from one investment company to my account and then directly into TSP? Will it be taxable income for 2014 even if it was just a transfer? A. Transfers from a retirement plan account into the TSP are not taxable.
Q. If I want to withdraw all of my Thrift Savings Plan account at 59½, do I have to retire? Or can I keep working? A. You may take one age-based in-service withdrawal from your TSP account while you are still working.
Q. Could you please explain the difference between the traditional Thrift Savings Plan and Roth TSP? I was told that the traditional TSP is taxed when you begin withdrawing it at retirement. And that only the government’s contribution to your retirement (let’s say they matched my 5 percent) is the only portion that is taxable when withdrawn; my contribution is not taxed at withdrawal. Is this correct? A. Basically, you fund the Traditional TSP with pretax deferrals from your paycheck and pay tax on money as it is distributed to you later. You fund the Roth TSP with post-tax deferrals…
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…
Q. A recent question read in part: “I have more than four years until military retirement (April 2018). At that time, will I be able to transfer all Roth TSP contributions to my Roth IRA? I have no plans of transferring the traditional TSP balance. The goal is to combine Roth TSP/Roth IRA contributions and pay cash for retirement home.” I agree that if you take a monthly withdrawal from the Thrift Savings Plan, they take from both traditional and Roth accounts. But I thought the TSP 90 form allowed transfer of Roth TSP contributions to a Roth IRA fund or…
Q. I’m planning on retiring this year at age 62 under FERS. I will have an outstanding Thrift Savings Plan loan balance of $16,000 and was not planning on repaying the rest of the balance and was needing to find out if the outstanding balance will be considered income and taxed with my other income for the year at the end of the year, since it will be tagged as taxable distribution? A. Yes, any loan balance outstanding 90 days after separation will be declared a taxable distribution at that time and reported as ordinary income for that year.
Q. I plan on retiring just after I turn 59 with 30 years as a federal employee. Do I have to wait until 59½ to take anything out from my Thrift Savings Plan account either via partial lump sum or monthly amounts to avoid the 10 percent tax penalty? A. Not if you wait until you’ve retired to request the withdrawal. You will be exempt from the early withdrawal penalty.