Regulations last checked for updates: Nov 25, 2024

Title 5 - Administrative Personnel last revised: Oct 24, 2024
§ 839.901 - When will my employer begin withholding Social Security taxes if I was erroneously in CSRS during my qualifying retirement coverage error and my corrected coverage will now require me to pay Social Security taxes?

(a) If you are in CSRS by mistake and belong in CSRS Offset, FERS, or Social Security-Only, your employer must begin withholding Social Security taxes by changing your retirement coverage to CSRS Offset. Your employer must begin this withholding as soon as possible after the error is discovered.

(b) Your employer will correct your retirement coverage back to the date the error first occurred once you are notified of the error and have an opportunity to make any elections that you are eligible to make.

§ 839.902 - Will my CSRS retirement deductions be used to pay the Social Security taxes for the period of the qualifying retirement coverage error if I was erroneously placed in CSRS and did not pay Social Security taxes?

(a) If your qualifying retirement coverage error was not previously corrected, the amount erroneously withheld for CSRS retirement deductions will be:

(1) Used to pay your new retirement deduction amount; and

(2) Applied toward any Social Security taxes you owe for the time you were in the wrong retirement plan.

(b) You will get Social Security credit for all the time you were erroneously covered by CSRS. Your employer will send the Social Security Administration a record of your earnings for all the years you should have had Social Security coverage.

§ 839.903 - What happens to the Social Security taxes I erroneously paid when my employer corrects my retirement coverage to CSRS?

(a) Except for the last 3 years, the money you erroneously paid into Social Security will remain to your credit in the Social Security fund. The Social Security Administration will include all but those last 3 years in determining your eligibility for, and the amount of, future benefits.

(b) The amount you paid into Social Security for the last 3 years will be used to help pay your CSRS retirement deductions.

authority: Title II, Pub. L. 106-265, 114 Stat. 770
source: 66 FR 15609, Mar. 19, 2001, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 5 CFR 839.903