Special Retirement Supplement
Stands in for Social Security from your first month of retirement to age 62
SRS Calculator
The Special Retirement Supplement bridges the gap between your retirement date and your Social Security benefits at 62. You can think of your SRS amount as a prorated version of your age-62 Social Security benefit, with 40 years of service counting as a full career.
Unlike regular FERS retirees, you can earn unlimited second-career pay with zero SRS reduction until your MRA of 57 (rules below).
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Enter your civilian FERS years and age-62 SSA estimate to estimate your SRS.
Entered years above 40 are capped: the SRS proration never exceeds 40 ÷ 40.
Getting the age-62 estimate right
Use the headline age-62 figure from your statement exactly as printed, even though it assumes you keep working until 62. The SRS law computes your Social Security benefit as if you had already turned 62 when the supplement starts, with no zero-earning years in between (5 U.S.C. § 8421(b)). Dividing your years by 40 is the only adjustment for a career shorter than 40 years.
So don’t enter a reduced estimate here (for example, one recomputed with $0 future earnings): the ÷ 40 proration would then cut your short career out a second time. That lower figure answers a different question, the check you’ll actually collect at 62. Estimate your real benefit and claiming age →
How the SRS is calculated
The 40 in the denominator is a full career (roughly ages 22–62). Your years round to the nearest whole number and are capped at 40, and sick leave and bought-back military time are not included. Civilian FERS service only.
Estimate only, not financial advice. OPM computes your official figure at retirement.
What the SRS is
ATCs face mandatory separation at 56 and can retire at age 50 with 20 years of service, or at any age with 25. That leaves a significant gap before Social Security at 62. The SRS fills it: a monthly payment from OPM, not Social Security itself, that approximates the SS benefit you earned under FERS, prorated for your service. It appears as its own line on your annuity statement; OPM paperwork calls it the “FERS annuity supplement.” It's taxable as ordinary income, and OPM doesn't withhold taxes from it by default; see Taxes in Retirement.
Key SRS Rules
Four rules govern the supplement: when it ends, what it never gets, and how a second paycheck interacts with it.
Paid until 62, then gone for good
The SRS runs from your retirement date through the end of the month you turn 62 (one month earlier if your birthday falls on the 1st or 2nd), then terminates permanently. It can't be extended, and delaying Social Security doesn't continue it; be prepared for the gap between 62 and your SS start.
No COLA, ever
Your base FERS annuity gets a cost-of-living adjustment every January; the SRS is fixed from its first check to its last. Over a 6–15 year bridge, inflation can erode its purchasing power. How COLAs work →
No earnings test before your MRA
Because controllers retire under a special provision, the earnings test does not apply until your Minimum Retirement Age of 57 (a general-FERS milestone, not your ATC eligibility age). Separate at 50–56 and start a second career, and you can earn an unlimited salary with zero reduction to your SRS until then.
The earnings test, from your MRA on
From the year you reach your MRA (57), wages and self-employment income can displace the SRS. Earn above $24,480 (the 2026 exempt amount) and the SRS shrinks by $1 for every $2 over, applied the following year; earn enough and it drops to $0. Size the impact →