“I worked for TSA for 2.5 years and was wondering how long it takes to get the refund deposited into my personal IRA account. I have heard stories of it taking up to 6 months. Is that true even for people that only worked there for a little while? I know it’s not going to be a lot, but is there a way to find out how much it is after 2.5 years? This is the FERS, not the TSP.”

Reg’s Response

Yes, it could take quite a while to get a refund of your contributions. In part that’s because refunds fall at the lower end of the priority scale behind immediate retirements and payments to the survivors of current and retired federal employees.

Since your records have probably already been sent from the National Records Center in St. Louis to OPM, there are only two ways to estimate what your refund would be. First, you can look at your last payroll slip. It will have the total contributions you made to the retirement system before you left. If you don’t have that, you can multiply the annual amount of salary you were receiving when you left by 4.4 percent, which was the amount you were contributing to the retirement system.

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Got a question for the Federal Times expert? Send inquiries to: fedexperts@federaltimes.com.

Reg Jones, a charter member of the senior executive service, is the resident expert on retirement and the federal government at Federal Times. From 1979 until 1995, he served as an assistant director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management handling recruiting and examining, white and blue collar pay, retirement, insurance and other issues. Opinions expressed are his own.

Reg Jones, a charter member of the senior executive service, is our resident expert on retirement and the federal government. From 1979 to '95, he served as an assistant director of the Office of Personnel Management handling recruiting and examining, white and blue collar pay, retirement, insurance and other issues. Opinions expressed are his own.

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