FERS Supplement Calculator (2026)

The FERS Special Retirement Supplement (SRS) bridges your income from retirement until age 62, when Social Security can begin. It approximates the portion of your Social Security benefit earned during your FERS career — paid monthly, tax-withheld at source, and subject to an annual earnings test.

This calculator computes your gross supplement, any earnings test reduction from post-retirement work, your net monthly benefit, and the total projected value from retirement to age 62.

2026 Earnings test: how post-retirement work reduces your supplement

The earnings test applies to the FERS supplement from the first year of retirement — unlike Social Security's earnings test, which begins when you reach your applicable FRA. If you earn more than the 2026 threshold of $24,480, your supplement is reduced by $1 for every $2 of excess earnings.¹

OPM applies the reduction in July of the year following the year you earned the income. The mechanics:

1. Each spring, OPM mails you an Annuity Supplement Survey asking for the prior year's earned income.
2. If your reported income exceeds $24,480, OPM recalculates your supplement for the following July–June period.
3. The reduction is spread across 12 monthly payments — not a lump-sum hit.
4. If your earnings drop back below the threshold, OPM restores your full supplement the following July.

What counts as earned income for the earnings test?

• Counts: wages from a private employer, self-employment net earnings, consulting or freelance income, net rental income from active participation
• Does not count: TSP withdrawals, FERS annuity payments, Social Security, pension income from a previous employer, investment income (dividends, interest, capital gains), IRA distributions, passive rental income

The age 62 cliff: when the supplement stops

The supplement terminates in the month you turn 62 — whether or not you have filed for Social Security. There is no phase-out or gradual reduction; it stops completely at 62.²

If you plan to delay Social Security past 62 (many FERS retirees delay to 67 or 70 to maximize their benefit), you will have a gap period with no supplement and no SS income. Planning for this gap — and whether to accelerate TSP withdrawals or liquidate taxable accounts to fill it — is one of the highest-value planning conversations a federal benefits specialist handles.

Eligibility: who qualifies for the supplement

The supplement is only available to employees who retire on an immediate, unreduced annuity (or a VERA-reduced annuity, which is treated as an immediate annuity). MRA+10 retirees are explicitly excluded under 5 U.S.C. § 8421.³

Three things the supplement does not do

• No COLA. Your supplement amount is fixed at retirement and does not increase with inflation. The $1,350/mo you receive at age 57 is still $1,350/mo at age 61 — about 5% less in real purchasing power each year at typical CPI rates. This is a meaningful planning consideration for a 4-7 year supplement window.
• Not a substitute for Social Security filing. The supplement disappears at 62 whether or not you are ready to file for SS. Filing SS early at 62 reduces your lifetime benefit by ~26-30% relative to FRA. A specialist can model whether bridging the gap another way (TSP draw, part-time income) and claiming SS at 67 or 70 is worth more than the reduced SS benefit.
• Not available for CSRS or CSRS Offset employees. CSRS and CSRS Offset annuities are not eligible for the supplement. CSRS was designed with a more generous base annuity partly as a substitute for Social Security.