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Thread: FERs Retirees, anyone?

  1. #121

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by uscfanhawaii View Post
    whenever talking FERS, be sure to use correct terminology, or you will confuse yourself and others. ...
    Totally agree ! It's hard to answer questions when we mix up terminology !!! Social Security is a totally separate beast...the "3rd leg" of our FERS retirement stool !!!

    My pet peeve is when someone calls their FERS pension an "annuity" ! An annuity is what you can buy from TSP, with all or part of your balance


    Stoplight...
    Last edited by Stoplight; 02-24-2015 at 09:16 PM. Reason: added "annuity"
    "Too old to rock and roll...too young to die"... - I. Anderson

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  3. #122

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    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    STOOL, What an appropriate word!
    I spent part of the afternoon with Turbo Tax and calling OPM. Apparently you can't quite avoid the simplified plan for your Federal retirement which isn't really an annuity but they calculate it differently from the date of origin. The numbers don't matter too much but it is unexplainable and ridiculous.

    Does anyone know how to navigate Turbo Tax with OPM Federal Retirement? Thanks in advance.

    Pat

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  5. #123

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by pmaloney View Post
    STOOL, What an appropriate word!
    Pat,

    LOL !!! Hey...I'm just citing the propaganda they gave us about the 3 leg FERS Retirement System...pension, TSP, and Social Security...

    I don't use TurboTax, so no help from me...sorry !

    I DID go back and look at my 1099, and it IS labelled as an "Annuity Paid"...go figure...

    Well, I STILL think we should call it a "pension", just to keep terminology straight !


    Stoplight...
    "Too old to rock and roll...too young to die"... - I. Anderson

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  7. #124

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    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Well now, I'm all ears for the answer to that one. Not that I'm ready to apply it, but gathering information ahead of time saves time in the crunch later on. what you said above sounded like Greek to me at this point. "they calculate it differently from the date of origin" wait, whaaaat??? Who they? simplified plan for federal retirement? got me there too. how did "they" simplify it?

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  9. #125

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by pmaloney View Post
    STOOL, What an appropriate word!
    I spent part of the afternoon with Turbo Tax and calling OPM. Apparently you can't quite avoid the simplified plan for your Federal retirement which isn't really an annuity but they calculate it differently from the date of origin. The numbers don't matter too much but it is unexplainable and ridiculous.

    Does anyone know how to navigate Turbo Tax with OPM Federal Retirement? Thanks in advance.

    Pat
    Pat, Just went through it so I'll give it a go. Basically, the simplified method is just a method of recovering our contributions into CSRS. There used to be several options to recover this cost but several years ago they made it automatic to use the so called simplified method. If you look on your 1099 R it will be the difference between the gross amount received (Box 1) and the taxable amount. For TurboTax you just take the amounts from the 1099 R and put them in the appropriate boxes. Hope this helps!

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  11. #126

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    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by pmaloney View Post
    STOOL, What an appropriate word!
    I spent part of the afternoon with Turbo Tax and calling OPM. Apparently you can't quite avoid the simplified plan for your Federal retirement which isn't really an annuity but they calculate it differently from the date of origin. The numbers don't matter too much but it is unexplainable and ridiculous.

    Does anyone know how to navigate Turbo Tax with OPM Federal Retirement? Thanks in advance.

    Pat

    Being CSRS it was easy. OPM sends my pension information out as a 1098. Then I plug it into Turbo Tax as a 1098. What kind of form does a FERS pension show up as?
    May the force be with us.


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  13. #127

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by nasa1974 View Post
    Being CSRS it was easy. OPM sends my pension information out as a 1098. Then I plug it into Turbo Tax as a 1098. What kind of form does a FERS pension show up as?
    Fers is the same. Just enter in info when it asks about retirement income. The tax free part is included. For tsp info it asks if you are taking series of equal payments. Click yes and it takes off the 10% penalty. Very easy. Turbo tax makes it very easy.
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  15. #128

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by clester View Post
    Fers is the same. Just enter in info when it asks about retirement income. The tax free part is included. For tsp info it asks if you are taking series of equal payments. Click yes and it takes off the 10% penalty. Very easy. Turbo tax makes it very easy.
    Isnt' the nontaxable portion of your FERS pension very small? We only contribute 0.8% of our pay to FERS as opposed to the 7% CSRS people contribute.

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  17. #129

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by Skorcher View Post
    Isnt' the nontaxable portion of your FERS pension very small? We only contribute 0.8% of our pay to FERS as opposed to the 7% CSRS people contribute.

    S,

    Yes, it's small....in my case, it's around $630/yr. If I remember correctly, in the OPM Retirement package you receive, they have those numbers broken out. In any case, the 1099 does show the gross distribution and the taxable amount, so as Scout noted, you can compute that number if you need to...


    Stoplight...
    "Too old to rock and roll...too young to die"... - I. Anderson

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  19. #130

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    FYI - taxation on FERS Special Retirement Supplement (SRS) is treated the same as Social Security benefits.

    If your combined income is over $32,000, but below $44,000, then 50% of your FERS Supplement is subject to Federal income taxes.
    If you have a combined income greater than $44,000, then 85% of your Supplement will be subject to Federal income taxes.
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  21. #131

    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    Quote Originally Posted by Maricar19 View Post
    FYI - taxation on FERS Special Retirement Supplement (SRS) is treated the same as Social Security benefits.

    If your combined income is over $32,000, but below $44,000, then 50% of your FERS Supplement is subject to Federal income taxes.
    If you have a combined income greater than $44,000, then 85% of your Supplement will be subject to Federal income taxes.
    MC,

    Hmmmm...now that, there is an INTERESTING post ! On one hand, that kinda makes sense...

    OTOH, I've NEVER seen anything that indicates that to be true ! In my personal case : the OPM 1099 indicates the gross distribution amount, and that includes the SRS. The taxable amount box includes the deduction for the pension contribution spread over 30 years, as discussed above. Nowhere do you have your SRS broken out, too, except in your original OPM booklet on how they calculated your payment !

    How, and where, would you claim it on your tax return ? It's not on any tax form you get from OPM or Social Security ?? If you got some links to that info, I'm "all ears" !!! That WOULD be worth a couple of hundred bucks a year....

    Thanks !


    Stoplight...
    "Too old to rock and roll...too young to die"... - I. Anderson

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  23. #132

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    Default Re: FERs Retirees, anyone?

    I am so glad I won't have 20 years federal time until I am 65. I don't have to worry about all this SRS stuff and what to do about taxes and how to spend my time after MRA. I just have to worry about living long and prospering off that retirement pay. Or not and the spouse bitching about how small the SBP is. Hmmm I won't have to care about that. Life is OK.

    PO

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