5 U.S.C. § 8334 - Deductions, contributions, and deposits

• Cite as: 5 U.S.C. § 8334

(a)

(1)

(A) The employing agency shall deduct and withhold from the basic pay of an employee, Member, Congressional employee, law enforcement officer, firefighter, bankruptcy judge, judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, United States magistrate,¹ Court of Federal Claims judge, member of the Capitol Police, member of the Supreme Court Police, nuclear materials courier, or customs and border protection officer, as the case may be, the percentage of basic pay applicable under subsection (c).

(B)

(i) Except as provided in clause (ii), an equal amount shall be contributed from the appropriation or fund used to pay the employee or, in the case of an elected official, from an appropriation or fund available for payment of other salaries of the same office or establishment. When an employee in the legislative branch is paid by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives, the Chief Administrative Officer may pay from the applicable accounts of the House of Representatives the contribution that otherwise would be contributed from the appropriation or fund used to pay the employee.

(ii) In the case of an employee of the United States Postal Service, no amount shall be contributed under this subparagraph.

(2) The amounts so deducted and withheld, together with the amounts so contributed, shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the Fund under such procedures as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. Deposits made by an employee or Member also shall be credited to the Fund.

(b) Each employee or Member is deemed to consent and agree to these deductions from basic pay. Notwithstanding any law or regulation affecting the pay of an employee or Member, payment less these deductions is a full and complete discharge and acquittance of all claims and demands for regular services during the period covered by the payment, except the right to the benefits to which the employee or Member is entitled under this subchapter.

(c) Each employee or Member credited with civilian service after July 31, 1920, for which retirement deductions or deposits have not been made, may deposit with interest an amount equal to the following percentages of his basic pay received for that service:

Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this subsection and any provision of section 206(b)(3) of the Federal Employees' Retirement Contribution Temporary Adjustment Act of 1983, the percentage of basic pay required under this subsection in the case of an individual described in section 8402(b)(2) shall, with respect to any covered service (as defined by section 203(a)(3) of such Act) performed by such individual after December 31, 1983, and before January 1, 1987, be equal to 1.3 percent, and, with respect to any such service performed after December 31, 1986, be equal to the amount that would have been deducted from the employee's basic pay under subsection (k) of this section if the employee's pay had been subject to that subsection during such period.

(d)

(1) Each employee or Member who has received a refund of retirement deductions under this or any other retirement system established for employees of the Government covering service for which he may be allowed credit under this subchapter may deposit the amount received, with interest. Credit may not be allowed for the service covered by the refund until the deposit is made.

(2)

(A) This paragraph applies with respect to any employee or Member who-

(i) separates before March 1, 1991, and receives (or elects, in accordance with applicable provisions of this subchapter, to receive) a refund (described in paragraph (1)) which relates to a period of service ending before March 1, 1991;

(ii) is entitled to an annuity under this subchapter (other than a disability annuity) which is based on service of such employee or Member, and which commences on or after December 2, 1990; and

(iii) does not make the deposit (described in paragraph (1)) required in order to receive credit for the period of service with respect to which the refund relates.

(B) Notwithstanding the second sentence of paragraph (1), the annuity to which an employee or Member under this paragraph is entitled shall (subject to adjustment under section 8340) be equal to an amount which, when taken together with the unpaid amount referred to in subparagraph (A)(iii), would result in the present value of the total being actuarially equivalent to the present value of the annuity which would otherwise be provided the employee or Member under this subchapter, as computed under subsections (a)-(i) and (n) of section 8339 (treating, for purposes of so computing the annuity which would otherwise be provided under this subchapter, the deposit referred to in subparagraph (A)(iii) as if it had been timely made).

(C) The Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this paragraph.

(e)

(1) Interest under subsection (c), (d)(1), (j), (k), or (l) of this section is computed in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection and regulations prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management.

(2) Interest accrues annually on the outstanding portion of any amount that may be deposited under subsection (c), (d)(1), (j), (k), or (l) of this section, and is compounded annually, until the portion is deposited. Such interest is computed from the mid-point of each service period included in the computation, or from the date refund was paid. The deposit may be made in one or more installments. Interest may not be charged for a period of separation from the service which began before October 1, 1956.

(3) The rate of interest is 4 percent a year through December 31, 1947, and 3 percent a year beginning January 1, 1948, through December 31, 1984. Thereafter, the rate of interest for any calendar year shall be equal to the overall average yield to the Fund during the preceding fiscal year from all obligations purchased by the Secretary of the Treasury during such fiscal year under section 8348(c), (d), and (e) of this title, as determined by the Secretary.

(f) Under such regulations as the Office of Personnel Management may prescribe, amounts deducted under subsection (a) or (k) of this section and deposited under subsections (c) and (d)(1) of this section shall be entered on individual retirement records.

(g) Deposit may not be required for-

(1) service before August 1, 1920;

(2) military service, except to the extent provided under section 8332(c) or section 8334(j) of this title;

(3) service for the Panama Railroad Company before January 1, 1924;

(4) service performed before October 29, 1983,,² by natives of the Pribilof Islands in the taking and curing of fur seal skins and other activities in connection with the administration of the Pribilof Islands except where deductions, contributions, and deposits were made before October 29, 1983;

(5) days of unused sick leave credited under section 8339(m) of this title; or

(6) any period for which credit is allowed under section 8332(l) of this title.

(h) For the purpose of survivor annuities, deposits authorized by subsections (c), (d)(1), (j), and (k) of this section may also be made by a survivor of an employee or Member.

(i)

(1) The Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall pay to the Fund the amount which an employee may deposit under subsection (c) of this section for service creditable under section 8332(b)(12) of this title if such creditable service immediately precedes service as an employee subject to this subchapter with a break in service of no more than ninety working days. The Director shall pay such amount from any appropriation available to him as a necessary expense of the appropriation concerned.

(2) The amount the Director pays in accordance with paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be reduced by the amount of any refund to the employee under section 376 of title 28. Except to the extent of such reduction, the amount the Director pays to the Fund shall satisfy the deposit requirement of subsection (c) of this section.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the amount the Director pays under this subsection shall constitute an employer contribution to the Fund, excludable under section 402 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 from the employee's gross income until such time as the contribution is distributed or made available to the employee, and shall not be subject to refund or to lump-sum payment to the employee.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a bankruptcy judge or magistrate judge who is covered by section 377 of title 28 or section 2(c) of the Retirement and Survivors' Annuities for Bankruptcy Judges and Magistrates Act of 1988 shall not be subject to deductions and contributions to the Fund, if the judge or magistrate judge notifies the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts of an election of a retirement annuity under those provisions. Upon such an election, the judge or magistrate judge shall be entitled to a lump-sum credit under section 8342(a) of this title.

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a judge who is covered by section 7296 of title 38 shall not be subject to deductions and contributions to the Fund, if the judge notifies the Director of the Office of Personnel Management of an election of a retirement annuity under that section. Upon such an election, the judge shall be entitled to a lump-sum credit under section 8342(a) of this title.

(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims who is covered by section 178 of title 28 shall not be subject to deductions and contributions to the Fund if the judge notifies the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts of an election of a retirement annuity under those provisions. Upon such an election, the judge shall be entitled to a lump-sum credit under section 8342(a) of this title.