Over the last two weeks, I’ve spelled out the rules governing employees who retire on an immediate annuity under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and those who aren’t eligible to retire when they leave but have enough years of service to receive a deferred annuity when they reach the right age.
Now I want to focus on a unique feature of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Whether or not you are offered an opportunity to retire early by your agency, you can retire under the MRA+10 provision of law. In other words, you can retire at your minimum retirement age with at least 10 but fewer than 30 years of service.
MRAs are based on your year of birth:
In you were born Your MRA is
Before 1948 55
In 1948 55 and 2 months
In 1949 55 and 4 months
In 1950 55 and 6 months
In 1951 55 and 8 months
In 1952 55 and 10 months
In 1953 thought 1964 56
In 1965 56 and 2 months
In 1966 56 and 4 months
In 1967 56 and 6 months
In 1968 56 and 8 months
In 1969 56 and 10 months
In 1970 and after 57
The good news is that you have more flexibility to retire than your co-workers covered by CSRS. However, there is a downside. If you retire under the MRA+10 provision, your annuity will be reduced by 5 percent for every year (5/12 percent per month) that you are under age 62. You can reduce or eliminate that penalty by postponing the receipt of your annuity to a later date.
To start your annuity, you’ll have to fill out Retirement and Insurance form RI 92-19, Application for Deferred or Postponed Annuity (available at www.opm.gov/forms), and send it to OPM.
Note: Even if you apply for a FERS annuity before age 62, you won’t be eligible to receive the special retirement supplement. No one who retires under the MRA+10 provision is entitled to the SRS.