Military Creditable Service Deposits
Who Must Pay and Deposit?
Criteria for Creditable Service
- Whether your discharge was “honorable”;
- When the military service was performed;
- Whether you are currently receiving military retired pay;
- When your civilian retirement coverage (FERS or CSRS) began; and
- Whether you have paid a deposit for military service to your retirement system.
- For most current federal employees, active duty military service from which you have been honorably discharged is creditable for retirement purposes if you are not receiving retired military pay for that service – and if a deposit to the appropriate civilian retirement system has been completed.
Benefits of Making a Deposit
- You could retire sooner, or
- You could increase your retirement annuity.
Retiring Sooner
Increased Annuity
High-three Salary
Military Deposit Amount
Retired Military
Making the military deposit is not right for everyone. If you are retired military and are receiving full military retirement pay, it is usually not advantageous to make a military deposit, because you must waive your military retired pay for your period of military service to be included in your civilian retirement annuity. Usually the full military retirement is of greater value than the civilian retirement annuity. Use the computation method above to determine if making the deposit would be beneficial or consult with your HR/Benefit Specialist.
Military Disability Retirement and Reserve Retirement:
You must waive your military retired pay in order to receive credit for military service in a civilian annuity, unless your military retirement is based on:
- A service-connected disability incurred in combat with an enemy of the US;
- A service-connected disability caused by an instrumentality of war and incurred in the line of duty during a period of war; or
- Under provisions of 10 U.S.C. 12731-12739 (retired members of the reserves).
Creditable Military Service:
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