You can withdraw your retirement application at any time before OPM has completed adjudicating your case - just make sure you have a job to go back to. Image: G.Tbov/Shutterstock.com
By: Reg JonesOver the last three weeks I’ve spelled out what you, your agency and OPM have to do to move you from being an employee to a retiree. However, what if you have second thoughts? That could happen for a number of reasons. For example, you suddenly realize that you aren’t ready to retire. Or, you find out that your annuity won’t be big enough for you to get by on. Or, you’ve heard that your agency will be offering a buyout and you don’t want miss out on it.
The good news about changing your mind is that you can do it and withdraw your retirement application at any time before OPM has completed adjudicating your case. However, if you received any interim annuity payments, you’ll have to pay that money back.
One problem with changing you mind is that you may not have a job to go back to. For example, if your position has been being abolished. Or, if your job hasn’t been abolished but someone has already been hired to replace you. Even if that person hasn’t come on board, your agency can still deny your request to go back to your old job. If it does, it will have to explain in writing why it denied your request.
If you haven’t changed your mind about retiring but want to reduce the amount of survivor annuity you elected to provide for your spouse, you can do that. However, since the law requires you to provide a full survivor annuity for him or her, you can only reduce (or eliminate) that amount if your spouse agrees to it in a notarized writing.
Still, there’s only a very short window of opportunity for you to make that change: no more than 30 days from the date of your first regular monthly payment, but less than 18 months from the beginning date of your annuity.
On the other hand, if your spouse agreed to a lesser amount of survivor annuity or none at all and you now want to increase the amount, you’ll have to make a one-time payment to OPM that equals the difference between the old and new election amounts and a percentage of your annual benefit. That percentage is 24.5 percent if you are changing from no survivor benefit to a full survivor benefit or 12.25 percent if you are changing from no survivor benefit to a partial one.
To make a change in your original survivor benefit election, you’ll have to send a letter requesting that change to OPM, Retirement Operations Center. P.O. Box 45, Boyers, PA 16017. Your request must include your claim number, the amount of your new survivor election, and your spouse’s name, social security number, date of birth, and a copy of your marriage certificate.
Now you know the possibilities and potential pitfall of changing your mind about retiring.
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