The FERS Supplement, also called the special retirement supplement, approximates the Social Security you earned in federal service. It's paid from your retirement until age 62. It's valuable, often several hundred to over a thousand dollars a month, but it comes with a catch many new retirees learn about too late: if you work after retiring, an earnings test can shrink it or wipe it out.

Who gets the supplement

You receive it if you retire on an immediate, unreduced FERS annuity before 62:

  • MRA with 30 years of service
  • age 60 with 20 years
  • VERA or discontinued-service (involuntary) retirement, with payments starting once you reach your MRA
  • special-category retirements (law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers)

You don't get it with a reduced MRA+10 retirement, a postponed MRA+10, a deferred annuity, or any retirement at 62 or later.

How the earnings test works

The test uses the same annual exempt amount as Social Security's earnings test for people under full retirement age. For 2026 that limit is $24,480. For every $2 you earn above the limit, your annual supplement drops by $1.

Example: your supplement is $1,000 a month ($12,000 a year) and you earn $34,480 in wages in 2026. That's $10,000 over the limit, so your supplement is reduced by $5,000 for the year, to about $583 a month. Earn enough and the supplement can go to zero. Your basic FERS annuity is never reduced by the earnings test.

What counts as earnings

  • Counts: wages from any job, and net earnings from self-employment.
  • Doesn't count: your FERS annuity, TSP withdrawals, IRA distributions, interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income and other investment income.

That's why many early retirees who want to keep the supplement time part-time work, consulting or business income carefully. Investment and retirement-account income are fine.

Timing and the MRA exception

  • The earnings test applies once you reach your MRA. Special-category retirees who retire before their MRA are exempt until they reach it, then the test applies like everyone else.
  • OPM looks at whole calendar years. Earnings from your federal job earlier in the year you retire can count toward that year's test, so retiring mid-year after a full-salary stretch can reduce the supplement for that year. Ask OPM or HR how your first year will be treated.
  • Reductions happen after the fact. OPM sends an annual earnings survey, compares your reported earnings with the limit, and adjusts the supplement for the following period, usually starting mid-year.

Reporting to OPM

When OPM's annual survey arrives, report all wages and self-employment income for the prior year, even if you think it's under the limit. If you don't return it, OPM can stop your supplement. Overpayments from under-reporting are collected back, sometimes in a lump sum.

Planning tips

  1. If you plan to work, estimate your annual earnings against the limit before you retire.
  2. Consider retiring in January, or late in the year after leaving earlier, to manage that first calendar year.
  3. If your second career will far exceed the limit, don't count on the supplement in your budget. Use the Income Plan to see your paycheck with and without it.
  4. The supplement stops at 62 whether or not you claim Social Security, so plan your Social Security start date separately.

Check the FERS Supplement row on the Pension page to see your estimated amount, then decide how much work income is worth the trade-off.