Frequently Asked Questions Retirement

If your employer sends us your retirement records electronically, via the Data Exchange Gateway (DEG), your account information for direct deposit will be sent to us automatically.  No further action from you is required. Otherwise, include your request to receive your payments by direct deposit with your retirement package.  You can do this by submitting a letter or a Standard Form (SF) 1199A with your application.  You must get the SF 1199A, Direct Deposit Sign-Up Form, from your financial institution.

Direct deposit is available to retirees residing in Canada but, generally, it is not available to those whose permanent address for receiving payments is outside the United States. However, retirees living outside the U.S. can arrange to have their payments electronically deposited in a U.S. bank.

A divorce, legal separation, or annulment court order may require that an employee or a retiree provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse. We will pay based on the court order after a death-in-service or after the death of an annuitant. If the benefit will be based on a court order, employees and retirees [or their former spouses] need to send us a court-certified copy of the court order. Send this to:

U. S. Office of Personnel Management
Retirement Services Program
Court-Order Benefits Branch
Post Office Box 17
Washington, DC 20044-0017

If you are still working for the Federal Government, you should also provide a copy of the court order to your personnel or human resources office. All court orders involving garnishments or allotments of your payments from us must be sent to the address given above.

Many forms are available at www.opm.gov/forms.  Most forms that active employees and annuitants will need are Standard Forms (SF) or Retirement and Insurance forms.

If you need a replacement CSA 1099R statement, you can download from the Services Online site. You will need your CSA or CSF number and password. Or, you can call us at (888) 767-6738.  Or, you can send us an email at retire@opm.gov. 

If you have questions or need additional assistance, please send an email to formsmanager@opm.gov.

If you are the surviving spouse of a deceased retiree, recurring monthly payments may be made to you if your spouse elected a reduced annuity to provide the benefit. To qualify for the monthly benefit, you must have been married to the retiree for at least nine months. A survivor annuity may still be payable if the retiree's death occurred before nine months if the death was accidental or there was a child born of your marriage to the retiree.

A court order awarding a former spouse a survivor annuity may prevent us from paying you the portion of the annuity awarded under the court order. However, if otherwise eligible, you may receive the complete annuity if the former spouse loses eligibility for benefits.

Read about survivor benefit elections.

If no survivor annuity is payable upon the retiree's death, any remaining portion, representing either the remaining annuity and/or retirement contributions not paid to the retiree, is payable to the person(s) eligible under the order of precedence.

See how the amount of the monthly survivor benefit is determined.

No unused sick leave can be used in the computation of the Phased Retirement annuity.  However, at full retirement the unused sick leave will be taken into account.  While the computational provisions are somewhat complex, the value of the sick leave in that computation will be the same as for an individual retiring from a full-time position.

Services Online is our online tool for annuitants.  You will need your CSA or CSF number and a password.  If this is your first time using Services Online, you will need to setup your personal security questions. 

Using Services Online, you can:

• View and print your annuity statement
• Start or change direct deposit and/or change financial institutions
• Start or change Federal Income Tax withholding
• Update your mailing address
• Update your email address

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.