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Information on this page is provided by Roseanne Jefferson.
Roseanne is a retired USPS employee with an extensive background in USPS
retirement, disability retirement, OWCP, EEO, Labor Relations and HR.
She conducts individual and group counseling and is able to
comprehensively discuss the pros and cons of employees who are on OWCP,
disability retirement and regular retirement. Roseanne will be happy
to answer your postal retirement questions. Contact Roseanne at
roseanne.jefferson@icloud.com. |
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Postal Retirement
Q&A January 2014 |
Good Day Postal Employees�.and Happy
New Year!!
As always, I thank you
all for your continued prayers for Hope. We are
still at the same place we were last month, she is
taking daily radiation treatments. We all are
praying for a full recovery, and with all of the
prayers out there, I am sure of it!!!
When
I began writing this column, I was committed to
giving you the best information and the most
correct. I have said many times I don't know
everything�.almost, but not everything! And when I
am wrong, I am the first one to admit it�.so I
begin my January column by saying I gave a very
incomplete & incorrect answer last month to
question number 1, in the December 2013 column. My
head knew what I was saying, but I most certainly
did not type it that way.
This is an
excerpt from last month's column about
transferring money into TSP.
PART OF Q 1.
"also have heard that you can transfer your IRA�s
to the TSP Account. Would you have to pay taxes
first on any Traditional IRA transfer to the TSP".
PART OF A 1. "And to respond to your
second question, that is a flat out NO!! You can
NEVER EVER put money into the TSP account. That is
monitored money, because no taxes have even been
paid on that money".
That answer was wrong
in response. My intention was to communicate that
just MONEY cannot be put into the TSP account
because of the tax issues surrounding the money in
TSP, and the monitoring of that money. But, as a
couple of readers pointed out, transferring from
another IRA or Roth is permitted. Please see the
information below taken directly from the TSP
website. So thank you Wayne for keeping me on
track. I will sometimes sanitize an email, due to
an obvious link to an area or specific post office
that the question comes from, and may have dropped
off a piece of information that would have made my
answer correct, in "sanitizing" the email for that
purpose. BUT not in this case�..my intent was
right, my words were not�..please read below:
Whether you are a current Federal employee or
member of the uniformed services, or you've
already separated, you can move money from other
eligible plans to your TSP account.
Eligibility
Requirements
The TSP requires that:
You have an existing TSP account. You cannot
open a TSP account by transferring money into it.
The money that you intend to move is considered an
�eligible rollover distribution� for Federal
income tax purposes. You can verify this by
checking with the administrator of the plan or IRA
from which you are moving the money. You can also
consult a tax advisor.
The TSP will accept
into the traditional balance of your TSP account:
both transfers and rollovers of tax-deferred
money from traditional IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and
eligible employer plans.
The TSP will
accept into the Roth balance of your TSP account:
only transfers (i.e., direct rollovers) of
qualified and non-qualified Roth distributions
from Roth 401(k)s, Roth 403(b)s, and Roth 457(b)s.
If you don�t already have a Roth balance in your
existing TSP account, the transfer will create
one.
The TSP will not accept Roth rollovers
that have already been paid to you and it will not
accept transfers or rollovers from Roth IRAs.
Q 1. Hi Roseanne, I have been a postal
employee for 27 years, (I am a FERS employee), and
I have over 4 years of active military (Army) that
I did finally pay back. I really wish you would
have told me when I first started at the post
office about the advantage to paying back my
military, and the benefit of paying it back within
the first three years of employment. The initial
deposit was reasonable, however the accumulated
interest over 20+ years was outrageous. Of course
as many do, I did pay it back over the course of
several years through payroll deduction. But I
feel like, as do many of my co-workers, we should
not have to pay the interest if we were not
informed about it when we were hired. It seems
that it was deliberately missing from orientation,
and you did not, nor did anyone in the personnel
office ever sent out information, letting us
employees know if they have military time, that it
could "SHORTEN" the time we have to work until
retirement. We think it was purposeful that we
were not told, so we would HAVE to pay interest to
the post office. Is there anyway to find out if
the Post Office has some responsibility in not
giving us this information so we could have paid
it the first 3 years we were working. Thank you
for all that you do for us at the post office.
P'O'd
A 1. Hi P'O'd, Well you are not the
first person to ask me about this subject, nor
will you be the last either. However, let me
address this line "I really wish you would have
told me, when I first started at the post office
about the advantages�.." WOW!! I DIDN'T HIRE
YOU!!! (I know better than anyone where I have
worked, and based on your email of where you were
hired and where you still work, well �I have never
even been to your state)!!
I cannot say why
you were not told, because it was a part of
orientation when employees are first hired. I can
say that the time allotted for New Hire
Orientation has been dramatically reduced over the
years. When I was hired, orientation was 6 FULL 8
hour days�.what is it now�..6 hours, on one
day�.maybe. So that plays a huge part in employees
having a serious lack of understanding rights and
benefits in their employment. The closer to the
1980's that you were hired, versus being hired in
the years beginning around 2000, shows a marked
decrease in employee's understanding of employment
issues, which is really another way of saying less
time in orientation means less knowledge about
employee rights and benefits. As well as
understanding the rights of the Postal Service as
your EMPLOYER. The responsibility, it will ALWAYS
fall on the employee to find out what they need to
know about their employment. Every district in the
country can show over the years, attempts to
"inform" employees, in many different ways about
benefits, and other employee related issues. This
was the entire reasoning behind the "Career
Awareness Conferences" that were really big during
the 90's. The one's where you signed up, and there
were classes on subjects like "How to fill out a
991"; "Upward Mobility"; "Retirement"; "TSP" etc.
So if you are looking to apply or seek some way of
being refunded the interest you paid on your
military buy back, because as you say you were not
informed, (and I do believe you); that is just NOT
going to happen. Instead of looking at it that
way, as a negative, look at it another way, as a
positive�.you didn't even know that you could pay
it back, and then when you did, regardless of how
much it cost, it allows you to retire 4 years
earlier then you would if you didn't know, and
didn't pay it back.
PLAINLY SAID�.you are
not going to be refunded the interest. As you can
see, I did "clean up" the email you sent to me. I
could have NEVER reprinted that email as it was
written. Typically, readers know I do "sanitize"
their emails if I am going to use them in a
column. And by sanitize I mean I take out things
like "I work at the NDC in Whoville, USA", or "I
am a carrier at the ABC unit in, Junkville,
USA"�because I want there to be a sense of
confidentiality when writing me. BUT YOURS�.I
needed Pinesol. However, the subject matter of the
email was important enough for others to read and
know. Roseanne
Q 2. Roseanne, First off,
thank you for the much needed assistance you
provide. It is so very much appreciated. I just
wanted to get clarification: my situation in April
2014, I will have 30 years (27 actual USPS and 3
military buy back). In Sept 2014 I will turn 56,
which is my MRA. If I chose to retire after those
two milestones, would I qualify for the FERS
Supplement (paid until age 62) with amount based
on 27 work years in FERS? Again, thank you so much
Roseanne!!
A 2. Yes. You are paid your
supplement provided you retire with 30 years and
be your MRA. If you have 27 postal years and paid
for 3 military years, then yes you have 30 years
and are eligible. Do understand that your
supplement would be based on the 27 years of
postal service, and will paid until you are 61 and
11 months�.and then your eligibility begins for
Social Security and your eligibility ends for the
Special Supplement. Roseanne
Q 3. Hi
Roseanne, I have written to you before and you
helped me understand some really tough issues
about disability retirement, and I want to thank
you for that. I don't know where I would be if you
had not guided me in the right path. Well, I was
approved for disability retirement. I just
recently received a letter from Social Security
Administration that effective June 1, 2014, I will
be enrolled in Medicare A & B. I did keep my
health plan (BCBS) and that SS will be my primary
and BCBS will be my secondary. In your experiences
do you know any reason to enroll in Part B, this
will cost me an additional $125.00 per month, come
June 2014, since I have private insurance (BCBS).
Will I need to contact BCBS and find out if I have
to enroll in Part B? I read the book regarding the
penalties if I do or I do not enroll in Part B. Or
is this something new because of ACA. Look forward
to your advice. Thank you and Merry Christmas to
you and your family. TRS
A 3. Hi TRS, In so
many cases, as I always say, there are no cookie
cutter answers. In your case it just may be (if
you are a FERS employee) and you have been
approved for Disability Retirement AND approved
for Social Security disability (SSDI); that a
"requirement" of SSDI in conjunction with
disability from the OPM, that YOU HAVE to be
enrolled in Part B. I need to know this�.you
retired disability from the PO, but were you
approved SS disability? If not, did you begin your
SS at age 62. I need to know that before I can be
confident enough in my answer. Thank you, and have
wonderful Christmas at your house!!! Roseanne
Q 4. Hello Roseanne, I am sorry to bother you but
I've seen where you have helped out so many with
questions before. My dilemma is I retired with the
APWU Clerk early out on 1/31/2013. I turned 56
years old on 11/02/2013, and as of this date
12/04/2013, I haven't received any payment of my
FERS special supplement. do you have any direction
or information for me. Of course I tried to phone
and email OPM with no success. Any advice you can
give me would be greatly appreciated. Yours Truly,
J
A 4. Hi J, Well the first thing is, it
does takes longer for the Special Supplement to
begin!! Even if you were 56 when you retired, the
Special Supplement would have taken longer to
begin than the regular FERS retirement check, so
don't stress over that. AND�..Let me say this
first�.don't shoot the messenger!! If you turned
56 on November 2, then you are not eligible for
the supplement until December. That being said,
December's payment, just like your annuity is paid
one month in arrears�.so your Spec. Supplement is
not EVEN due until January. I am NOT saying that
is when it is coming, because they do take
longer�.but you're not due for a payment until
January. I said don't shoot the messenger. If you
don't have it by Feb or March, email me and we can
have another discussion about this, but I think
you will have it by then. Have a wonderful
Christmas!! Roseanne
R 4. Roseanne, thank
you so much for that quick answer. I appreciate
the candor and the honesty�..hard to find now a
days!! J
Q 5. Hi Roseanne, I would like for
you to do my retirement papers. Do you have an
address that I can mail something to you? DMR
A. 5. Hi DMR, "Jefferson's Chimes of
Knowledge" PO Box 212, Whitsett, NC 27377-0212
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE !!!! Till
we speak again�����Roseanne |
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