Who gets it
| How you retire | Supplement? |
|---|---|
| Minimum retirement age with 30 years | Yes, until 62 |
| 60 with 20 years | Yes, until 62 |
| Special provisions (law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers, Capitol and Supreme Court Police, nuclear materials couriers, CBP officers) and military reserve technicians | Yes, until 62 |
| Early retirement (reorganization or involuntary) | Yes, from your minimum retirement age to 62 |
| MRA+10 (reduced annuity) | No |
| At 62 or later | No |
| Deferred annuity | No |
| Disability retirement | No |
How it's figured
By law, the supplement equals the Social Security benefit you would get at 62 based on your federal pay, times your years of FERS civilian service divided by 40. Years are rounded to the nearest whole year, and military service doesn't count. Your Social Security statement includes other jobs and assumes you keep working until 62, so it usually overstates the supplement. Use it as a ceiling, and ask your agency for its estimate.
The earnings test
If you work after retiring and your earnings from work go over the Social Security limit ($25,560 for 2027), the supplement is cut by 50 cents for every dollar over. The cut is figured from one year's earnings, using that year's limit, and taken from your payments from July of the next year through June. It can't be more than the supplement, and pay you earned before you retired doesn't count. If the supplement ends at 62 before the cut starts, nothing is taken. You report your earnings to OPM each year. Special-provision retirees aren't subject to the test until their minimum retirement age.
Estimate the rest of your pension with the FERS retirement calculator.
Questions
How is the FERS supplement calculated?
It is about the Social Security benefit you earned in federal service, as if you claimed at 62, times your years of FERS civilian service divided by 40. With 30 years and a $2,000 estimate at 62, that is about $1,500 a month.
Who gets the FERS supplement?
People who retire before 62 with an unreduced immediate annuity: at their minimum retirement age with 30 years, at 60 with 20 years, and special-provision and certain early retirees. It is not paid if you retire under MRA+10, on disability, at 62 or later, or take a deferred annuity.
Does the FERS supplement have an earnings test?
Yes. If you earn more from work than the Social Security limit ($25,560 in 2027), the supplement is cut by $1 for every $2 over, taken from July of the next year through June. Pensions, TSP withdrawals and investment income don't count.
When does the FERS supplement stop?
At 62, when you can first claim Social Security, even if you don't claim it then. It never gets a cost-of-living adjustment.
Updated November 6, 2026. Sources: 5 U.S.C. 8421 (annuity supplement); 5 U.S.C. 8421a (earnings test); OPM CSRS/FERS Handbook, Chapter 51; Social Security Administration, the 2027 COLA Fact Sheet. Estimates, not financial, tax or legal advice. Not affiliated with OPM.