Trifonenko/Getty Images

Waiting For That First Retirement Check

A primer on processing, payments and patience for those looking forward to getting their benefits. 

If you’re among the thousands of federal employees who retired on Dec. 31, 2022, congratulations! Right about now, you might be wondering how long it’s going to take to process your retirement benefit and when you’ll start receiving the payments you are due.

By now, some of you have received your last salary payment from your agency and maybe even the lump sum payment for the balance of annual leave in your account on the date of your retirement. Others may still be waiting. The retirement process involves many moving parts and does not follow an exact timeline. But knowing what to expect can help make the wait easier and provide some assurance that your retirement claim has not been forgotten, lost or misplaced.

Initial Processing 

Federal retirement benefits are paid monthly by direct deposit on the first business day of the month, covering the previous month. But if your retirement claim has not been finalized, the first payments may be delayed and may not be your regular payments. While your retirement is being processed, you will receive an interim benefit.

There may be delays in processing for a variety of reasons. For starters, some important information or documentation may have been missing from your retirement application when you submitted it to  your agency’s human resources office for initial processing. 

Your HR office also may have received many other applications at the same time you filed yours, so it may take time to process them all. And your application can’t leave your agency until after your retirement date. This is due to the fact that most retirements are considered voluntary, and employees can change their mind prior to their retirement date and withdraw their application. 

An HR specialist at your agency must review your application and other related information related to health and life insurance to prepare your retirement package for submission to the Office of Personnel Management. The HR office also must file a separation action for retirement and a time and attendance report flagged as final before the payroll cycle in which an employee separates.

Delays can also occur when your payroll provider prepares your separation from your agency. Staff in the payroll office must review your retirement package for completeness before it goes on to OPM. This generally occurs within 30 days of your separation date. Your payroll office is also responsible for your lump sum annual leave payment.

Your First Check

Delays also can occur once your retirement application gets to OPM, due to workload backlogs, missing information and processing issues that require additional steps or agency input. It’s wise to prepare for a wait that could be anywhere from three months to more than six months.

Once you’re assigned a Civil Service Active number, OPM personnel will determine if you’re eligible to receive interim retirement payments while your claim is in process. If that happens, you’ll be given instructions for signing into OPM Services Online, where you should find information about the status of your retirement claim.

The first interim payment generally will arrive in your bank by direct deposit about six weeks after your retirement date, but this is not guaranteed. Also, the first check could be significantly less than you are expecting. Interim payments, for example, do not include the Federal Employees Retirement System supplement, paid to those who retire under age 62 with immediate benefits, unreduced for age.

OPM only withholds federal income tax from the interim payments. You may find that the taxes withheld from your first interim payment will be higher than the federal tax withholdings from your subsequent interim payments and regular annuity. This is because OPM sometimes makes necessary tax withholding adjustments when they finish processing your retirement application.

When OPM finishes processing your retirement application, They’ll begin withholding health benefits and life insurance premiums retroactive to the start date of your annuity. You may be able to arrange for state tax withholding as well; check with OPM Services Online or your state tax office for more information. 

Prepare to Wait

Once your retirement has been finalized, you will receive a small personalized booklet with a blue and white cover that will summarize your monthly benefits and provide other essential information about your retirement benefits. If you have questions, you may need to contact your agency’s human resources office if your claim hasn’t been sent to OPM.

You may also need to get in touch with your payroll provider if you haven’t received a notice from them that your retirement has been transferred to OPM, or if you haven’t received your final payment for your unused annual leave. It’s a good idea to have contact information for your retirement specialist in your HR office and a payroll contact prior to your separation. 

For all of these reasons, you should be prepared for it to take more than 30 days to process your retirement claim. In addition to being patient with the whole process, it’s a good idea to have some cash on hand during the transition while you wait for the dust to settle.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.