Federal Retirement

CSRS Creditable Civilian Service

Creditable service under CSRS typically includes:

• Federal “covered service” or service in which the federal employee’s compensation is subject to CSRS retirement deductions, such as service under a career or career conditional appointment;
• Federal service in which a federal employee’s pay is not subject to retirement deductions, such as service under a temporary appointment;
• Service for which a specific statute allows credit, such as Peace Corps enrollment or certain pre-1969 National Guard technical service;
• Service for which a specific statute allows an employee to be subject to CSRS deductions during his/her employment with a specified entity or under a specific program or type of appointment, such as employees of Gallaudet University or D.C. Government, federal employees who receive assignments under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act, or employees serving as full-time officers or employees of an employee organization.

FERS Creditable Civilian Service

Creditable service under FERS typically includes:

• Federal covered service or service in which the federal employee’s pay is subject to FERS retirement deductions, such as service under a career or career conditional appointment;
• For annuity computation purposes only, unused sick leave under FERS can be used to increase an employee’s total creditable service;
• Federal service performed prior to 1989, when an employee’s pay is not subject to retirement deductions, including service under temporary appointment, as long as a deposit is paid. There are several exceptions to the rule pre-1989 service performance rule.

Deposit Service

A deposit is the payment of the employee’s retirement deductions, plus interest, that would have normally been withheld from the employee’s pay had the employee been covered under a federal retirement system (CSRS or FERS) during a period of employment when retirement deductions were not withheld from the employee’s salary. The rules vary regarding deposit payments depending upon the type of retirement system involved and when service was performed.

Redeposit Service

A redeposit is the employee’s repayment of retirement deductions that were previously withheld and refunded to the employee, plus interest. Again, the rules vary regarding redeposit payments depending upon the type of retirement system involved and when the refund was received.

There are also rules particular to individuals with a portion of their FERS annuity computed under CSRS rules. For instance, if you have a CSRS component with deposit or refund service, the CSRS rules will be used to compute the deposit or redeposit for the service in question.

Credit and Deposit Service for Military Service

Generally, military service in the U.S. Armed Forces is creditable for retirement purposes if the service was active service terminated under honorable conditions, and performed prior to the individual’s retirement. There are different rules governing military service deposits depending upon the type of retirement coverage and when the military service was performed. In addition, there are specific rules governing creditable military service under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA).

Military deposits include interest unless they are paid within a grace period. Payments must be made to the individual’s employing agency before separation.