Some Misunderstanding on Catch-Ups Remains

Even though the catch-up program has been in effect since mid-2003, some employees apparently continue to have misconceptions regarding how it works; they believe that catch-ups are made through increasing their regular contributions. However, catch-ups cannot be made in that way–they can only be made by filing a TSP-1-C. In addition, for highly paid employees in the FERS system, increasing regular contributions could risk hitting the dollar limit before the end of the year, in which case both individual and agency matching contributions shut off for the rest of the year.