Retirement FAQs

Send your request by e-mail to screceipts@opm.gov and a response will be returned by e-mail.  Be sure to include your name, date of birth and CSD Claim Number.

You should contact the Social Security Administration at least three months before your 65th birthday to apply for benefits. The Social Security Administration will have records pertaining to your eligibility for Medicare coverage.  If they do not, and you or your employer need to get a statement of your earnings for this purpose, you can write to: General Services Administration National Personnel Records Center Civilian Personnel Records 111 Winnebago Street St. Louis, Missouri 63118 You should provide the following information in your request:

• your name, as shown on your payroll records;
• date of birth;
• Social Security Number;
• mailing address;
• years for which earnings are needed;
• name and location of employer for each year;
• reason for request;
• written signature; and,
• a statement that all other sources of information have been exhausted.

Contact your agency’s Benefits Officer.  A complete list of Benefits Officers by agency can be found at http://apps.opm.gov/abo/.

Yes. If your disability benefit stopped because you were found recovered either medically or administratively, your benefit can resume only if the disability recurs and you do not exceed the 80 percent earnings limitation. If your disability benefit stopped merely because you exceeded the earnings limitation, your benefit can resume effective the first of the year after you no longer exceed the 80 percent earnings limit.

Your agency will guide you through the retirement process, supplying all of the information you need about retirement and insurance. They provide the information you need to plan for retirement, but should not advise you on what to do. You should contact your local personnel service center for assistance because they have your employment records.

A court order following annulment of marriage, legal separation, or divorce can divide or apportion your annuity. The order must expressly direct OPM to pay a portion of your monthly benefit. The spouse's share must be stated as a fixed amount, a percentage or fraction of your annuity, or by a formula with a readily apparent value. The amount cannot exceed the money payable to you after deductions for taxes and insurance. A court order may provide for payment of all or part of a refund of your retirement contributions. It may also block the refund payment, but only if the order directs us not to pay the refund and grants a survivor annuity or a portion of your annuity to a legally separated current spouse or former spouse.

You can cancel or decrease your coverage at any time. You cannot increase your coverage.

OPM takes the following steps to process your claim for retirement benefits.

• Obtains missing information from your retirement documents;
• Determines your eligibility for an annuity and continued health and life insurance coverages;
• Computes the amount of your annuity;
• Sends you materials concerning:
  • your survivor benefit election;
  • the alternative form of annuity;
  • rollover to an IRA; or,
  • if you are a FERS MRA+10 retiree, your annuity commencing date.
• Authorizes your annuity payment by the Department of the Treasury; and
• Sends you an annuity statement.

If you are in good health and you retire for reasons other than disability, you may elect to provide a survivor annuity to someone with an insurable interest. You can elect to provide an insurable interest benefit and the maximum benefit for a spouse or an ex-spouse. Spousal consent is not required. However, if you are married and elect an insurable interest benefit for your spouse, spousal consent is required. If you elect an insurable interest benefit, you are responsible for arranging for and paying the cost of any medical examination required to show you are in good health. A report of the medical examination should be included with your retirement application. You can elect to provide an insurable interest annuity only for someone who has an insurable interest in you. "Insurable interest" is an insurance term which applies to someone who would reasonably expect to derive financial benefit from your continued life. For survivor benefit election purposes, an insurable interest is presumed to exist if you name as beneficiary of the insurable interest, any of the following individuals:

• a spouse;
• a blood or adopted relative closer than first cousins;
• an ex-spouse;
• a person to whom you are engaged to be married; or
• a person with whom you are living in a relationship that would constitute a common-law marriage in a jurisdiction that recognizes common-law marriages.

If the person named is not one of the above, you should submit affidavits with your retirement application from one or more people with knowledge of the individual's insurable interest. The affidavits should state:

• the relationship between you;
• the extent to which the person named is dependent on you;
• the reasons why the person named might reasonably expect to derive financial benefit from your continued life.

The reduction to provide an insurable interest benefit is computed as follows:

• If the person named is older, the same age, or less than 5 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 10 percent;
• If the person named is 5 but less than 10 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 15 percent;
• If the person named is 10 but less than 15 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 20 percent;
• If the person named is 15 but less than 20 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 25 percent;
• If the person named is 20 but less than 25 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 30 percent;
• If the person named is 25 but less than 30 years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 35 percent; or
• If the person named is 30 or more years younger than the retiree, the reduction is 40 percent.

The insurable interest automatically ends if the insurable interest dies, if you marry the insurable interest and elect to provide a spousal benefit, or if the named person is your spouse and you change your election to provide a spousal survivor benefit.

If you want to waive your military retired pay to receive credit for military service in the computation of your benefit, you should write the Retired Pay Operations Center at least 60 days before your planned retirement.  Send your waiver to: Defense Finance and Accounting Service U.S. Military Retirement Pay P.O. Box 7130 London, KY 40742-7130 You can "fax" your request to 1 (888) 469-6559. Suggested wording for your request is as follows: "I (full name and military serial number) hereby waive my military retired pay for Civil Service Retirement/Federal Employees Retirement System purposes effective (the day before your annuity begins). I hereby authorize the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to withhold from my CSRS or FERS annuity any amount of military retired pay granted beyond the effective date of this waiver due to any delay in receiving or processing this request."

Your retirement contributions are not taxable, but interest included in the payment is taxable. You should contact the Internal Revenue Service for additional tax information.

This list shows the possible withholdings from or adjustments to your CSRS or FERS annuity payment. The list provides a description of the withholdings or adjustments and the code that is used for listing them on your annuity adjustment notice. However, it does not include the enrollment codes for plans under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. See our web pages at http://www.opm.gov/insure/health/index.asp to obtain information about health insurance benefits online.

If you are leaving your Federal job and want a refund of your retirement contributions, you can get an application from your personnel office, complete it, and return it to them. If you are no longer in the Federal service, you can acquire the appropriate application from our website. The applications are shown below:

• "Application for Refund of Retirement Deductions (CSRS)," Standard Form (SF) 2802
• "Application for Refund of Retirement Deductions (FERS), " Standard Form (SF) 3106 (The SF-3106A, "Current/Former Spouse's Notification of Application for Refund of Retirement Deductions under FERS," is included with this form.)

If you are still working, submit your application to your servicing personnel office. If you have left Federal service, submit your application to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

If you are the survivor of a deceased retiree who was receiving military retired pay at the time of death, credit for military service cannot be included in your survivor annuity unless the retired pay was:

• Based on an disability incurred in combat with an enemy of the U.S. or caused by an instrumentality of war and incurred in the line of duty; or
• Granted under the provisions of Chapter 1223, title 10, United States Code, for reserve retirement. This is formerly under Chapter 67, title 10.

If you are the survivor of a deceased employee who was receiving military retired pay at the time of death, credit for military will be included in your survivor annuity unless you elect otherwise. However, if the military service is included in your survivor annuity, it will be reduced by the amount of your military survivor's benefit, excluding children's benefits. Post-56 Military Service Credited Under Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Rules- Military service performed on/after January 1, 1957 must be applied toward social security benefits. However, under certain circumstances, it may also be used to determine the amount of your Civil Service Retirement System survivor annuity. If your survivor annuity is based on service that ended before September 9, 1982, and you are eligible for social security benefits upon proper application, you will receive the greater of:

• an annuity reduced by eliminating the credit for military service performed after December 31, 1956, or
• an annuity reduced by the amount of the social security benefit attributable to the military service after December 31, 1956.

If you are not eligible for social security benefits, your survivor annuity will not be reduced. If your survivor annuity is based on service that ended after September 8, 1982, use of the deceased's post-1956 military service to determine the amount of your survivor annuity depends on when the deceased was first covered by the Civil Service Retirement System and whether or not a deposit was made to cover the service. If the deceased was first employed under the retirement system before October 1, 1982, and no deposit was made, we cannot use the post-1956 military service if you are eligible for social security benefits. If the deceased was first employed under the retirement system on/after October 1, 1982, and no deposit was made for the post-1956 military service, we cannot use the post-1956 military service to determine the amount of your survivor annuity regardless of whether or not you are eligible for social security benefits. Post-56 Military Service Credited Under Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Rules- If the post-1956 military service is creditable under FERS rules, a post-1956 deposit must be paid in order to credit the service for eligibility for annuity and computation purposes. If your spouse retired under FERS and performed military service on/after January 1, 1957, his/her post-1956 military service was credited in their annuity if they paid a deposit for the service prior to retirement.   In this case, it will also be used to compute the amount of your survivor benefit.  If the deposit was not paid before your spouse retired, it will not be included in your annuity computation. If you are the survivor of a FERS employee who died while still employed, you must pay the deposit for the post-1956 military service in order to receive credit for any military service performed after 1956. If you are a survivor of a former FERS employee who was eligible for a deferred annuity at the time of death, but not yet receiving an annuity, you cannot pay the post-1956 military deposit to receive credit for the service.  The former employee must have paid the deposit before he/she separated from Federal employment. When Deposit Can Be Made for Post-1956 Military Service- The deposit for post-1956 military service must be made by the employee to his or her employing agency before retirement. A survivor may make the deposit if the employee died while working for the Federal Government.