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Civilian Service Deposit

Creditable service under FERS usually includes:

Federal covered service, that is, service in which the individual's pay is subject to FERS retirement deductions, such as service under a career or career conditional appointment,

Unused Sick Leave under FERS can be used to increase an individual’s total creditable service for annuity computation purposes only;

Federal service performed before 1989, where an employee's pay is not subject to retirement deductions, such as, service under a temporary appointment, as long as a deposit is paid. There are a few exceptions to the rule that the service must have been performed before 1989. Those exceptions are:

  • Part-time, Intermittent, Temporary "PIT" service performed abroad after December 31, 1988, and before May 24, 1998, under a temporary part-time or intermittent appointment pursuant to sections 309 and 311 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980.
  • Service performed under the Foreign Service Pension System
  • Service as a Senate Employee Child Care Center worker
  • Service as a volunteer or volunteer leader in the Peace Corps
  • Service as a VISTA volunteer
  • Service before 12/31/1990 with either the Democratic or Republican Senatorial Campaign or National Congressional Committees
  • Service before 12/21/2000 with the Library of Congress Child Development Center
  • Service as a Senior Official
  • Congressional Employees that do no elect program coverage and are subject to the Social Security Amendments of 1983
  • Service performed under a Federal Reserve Bank Plan
  • Non-appropriated fund instrumentality (NAF) service under P.L. 107-107 that can be used for title to an annuity under the FERS, but not in the computation
  • CSRS refund service that flips to FERS

Exception for Individuals with a portion of their FERS annuity computed under CSRS Rules

If you have a CSRS component with deposit or refund service, the CSRS rules will be used to compute the deposit or redeposit for this service.

Making a Civilian Deposit
Deposit: A deposit is the payment for a period of employment when retirement deductions were not withheld from your salary. The deposit amount is, generally, 1.3% of salary plus interest. You are not required to make this type of payment. However, not making the payment will eliminate this service from being used for title or computation purposes.

You should apply to make a payment by completing a Standard Form 3108 Application to Make Service Credit Payment/FERS. You must begin the application process as an employee. Once you begin the application process as an employee, you may continue to make payments even after you separate as long as the separation is not for retirement. Contact your servicing Retirement and Benefits Specialist at Benefits@uscg.mil.

  • If you are a Federal employee, send your completed application to your department or agency because they must certify it. Please do not file an application if you plan to retire within six months. OPM will give you an opportunity to make payment when it computes our annuity
  • If you are within six months of retirement, submit your request to make the deposit or redeposit at the same time you submit your application for retirement.