Guide to getting your FERS contribution refund for former 18F employees

fers_contribution_refund_guide.md

For best results, all forms mentioned below must be printed out, filled out and signed in ink, and mailed directly to OPM at the following address:

U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Attn: Federal Employee Retirement System 
Post Office Box 45
Boyers, PA 16017-0045

In order to send directly to OPM, you must wait 30 days after your last day at GSA. However, because part of the process requires you to mail some forms to your financial institution and wait for them to send them back, you can start the process about 15 days after your last day.

Here is the step-by-step process:

1. Download and print out form SF 3106
2. Download and print out form TSP-60

How to fill out form SF 3106:

Page 1

Page 1 should be self-explanatory, but just in case, here is what I entered for the items that might be ambiguous:

Part 6:

• Department or Agency: General Services Administration, Technology Transformation Service/18F
• Title of Position: Innovation Specialist [c]
• Indicate whether retirement deductions were withheld from your salary: Withheld
• Have you paid deposit or redeposit...: Not Paid

Part 7:

No

Reverse of page 1

Pay the INTEREST PORTION (Taxable Portion) of my Refund:

• Pay ALL to my Thrift Savings Plan Account

Pay the CONTRIBUTION PORTION (After-Tax Portion) of my Refund

• Pay ALL by check made payable to my IRA or Eligible Employer Plan Name of Financial Institution of Employer Plan: Vanguard

• This rollover is to a Roth IRA

  Mail the check:

  • to the above institution or plan

Page 2

Just my wet signature and date

Current/Former Spouse's Notification...

My wife signed this page, then took it to her office and had 2 colleagues sign it as witnesses

Certification by Financial Institution or Eligible Employer Plan

I called Vanguard to find out where I needed to send this form, and they said to send it to the address below, along with instructions.

Vanguard Group
P.O. Box 1110
Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110

Here is the letter I sent:

Letter of Instructions for Vanguard pertaining to form SF3106 for rolling over the refund of 
retirement deductions to Moncef Belyamani’s Roth IRA account (my account number)

To Whom It May Concern,

Please fill out the top portion of the form labeled “Certification by Financial Institution 
or Eligible Employer Plan”, and please send the original signed form with wet signature back 
to me at the following address:

Moncef Belyamani 
my address

Thank you, 
Moncef Belyamani

In retrospect, I should have included more details because I got an email (or a call?) from Vanguard asking for more details. The person I spoke to wasn't familiar with SF 3106 and I had to explain that I was expecting $X amount to be transferred to my Roth IRA account from OPM. They asked if there was an account number the money was coming from and I explained that there wasn't.

By the way, the amount you should expect to receive is listed on your last paycheck in Employee Express at the top under Cumulative Retirement Agency.

How to fill out form TSP-60

Just fill out Part I (1-11) and include it with SF 3106 when you send it to OPM

How long does it take to receive the money?

YMMV, but I mailed everything on January 21 or a few days later, and I got an email from Vanguard about the transfer on February 26.

Hi,

What did you do with reverse of page 1?

1. I need additional information before I decide
2. Payment instructions
3. Direct Deposit

I left 1 and 2 blank and picked "Please send my annuity payments directly to my checking or savings account.

@Toastedcranium thanks for your detailed response. However, I still must be misunderstanding something. Which option did you choose on the SF3106 for your interest portion?

I don't want to choose "Pay ALL by check made payable to me, with 20% federal income tax withholding", because then I would have to come up with other money to make up that 20% to roll it over (see 2nd column of last page of SF3106, 2nd paragraph). But, if I choose "pay ALL to my Thrift Savings Plan account" it doesn't sound like they will send a check at all, and your instructions reference using a check from the US Treasury. Or did you choose that option and they sent a check anyway?

@Toastedcranium thanks for your detailed response. However, I still must be misunderstanding something. Which option did you choose on the SF3106 for your interest portion?

I don't want to choose "Pay ALL by check made payable to me, with 20% federal income tax withholding", because then I would have to come up with other money to make up that 20% to roll it over (see 2nd column of last page of SF3106, 2nd paragraph). But, if I choose "pay ALL to my Thrift Savings Plan account" it doesn't sound like they will send a check at all, and your instructions reference using a check from the US Treasury. Or did you choose that option and they sent a check anyway?

20% is only for the interest portion. You can pay yourself via check. Then OPM is required by law to withdraw 20% tax. You will get tax forms once you will be submitting your tax returns and will be able to get tax back if you are in lower bracket. Alternatively you can put it in ROTH IRA, which requires you to pay tax (whatever bracket you fall into). I don't know for sure but I suspect rolling over interest portion into ROTH IRA would count towards your annual IRA contribution limit.

@Toastedcranium thanks for your detailed response. However, I still must be misunderstanding something. Which option did you choose on the SF3106 for your interest portion?

I don't want to choose "Pay ALL by check made payable to me, with 20% federal income tax withholding", because then I would have to come up with other money to make up that 20% to roll it over (see 2nd column of last page of SF3106, 2nd paragraph). But, if I choose "pay ALL to my Thrift Savings Plan account" it doesn't sound like they will send a check at all, and your instructions reference using a check from the US Treasury. Or did you choose that option and they sent a check anyway?

I selected Pay the INTEREST PORTION (Taxable Portion) of my Refund:
Pay ALL to my Thrift Savings Plan Account

They directly sent me a check payable to my TSP that I had to send (take picture of the check) to the TSP to be deposited.