You can ask that your retirement contributions be returned to you in a
lump sum payment, or you can wait until you are
retirement age
to apply for monthly retirement benefit payments. Receiving a refund of your
FERS retirement deductions will eliminate your rights to an annuity for the
period of service that the refund covers. However, you may redeposit the
refund with interest if you are later reemployed in the government. The
refunded FERS service cannot be used in computing annuity benefits unless
you pay the refunded amount back plus interest prior to retiring from
federal service. Refer to information about
FERS retirement
eligibility.
Before submitting your forms to request a refund, review the section on
FERS Deferred
Annuities to understand what you are giving up by requesting a refund.
If you transferred to FERS and also have service under the
CSRS retirement
system - When you apply for a refund, OPM will refund all retirement
deductions to your credit under both FERS and CSRS. You can pay back
the amount of both the FERS and CSRS deductions, plus interest, if you are
later reemployed in the federal government
If you are covered under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) and
you leave your government job before becoming eligible for retirement you
have the following options:
- You can ask that your retirement contributions be returned to you in
a lump sum payment, or If you have five or more years of civilian
service, you can wait until you are retirement age to apply for monthly
retirement benefit payments. This is called a deferred retirement.
For detailed information about deferred retirement, click on the
following link:
CSRS Deferred
Retirement
If you receive a refund of your retirement contributions now, you will no
longer be eligible to receive monthly payments when you reach retirement
age, unless you are later reemployed subject to the Civil Service Retirement
System or the Federal Employees Retirement System. Refer to
information about
CSRS retirement
eligibility.
If you are leaving your Federal job and want a refund of your retirement
contributions, complete the appropriate fillable form shown below:
If you have been separated for 30 days or less, submit your application
to your servicing Human Resource office. If you have been separated more
than 30 days, submit your application to the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM).
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Retirement Operations Center
Post Office Box 45
Boyers, PA 16017
If you retrun to Federal service and elect to make a redeposit, Interest
will accrue annually from the date the refund was paid until the redeposit
is paid in full.
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