Policy and Systems

Change of Address

Notify the nearest RRB office immediately if you change your address, even when your monthly annuity payments are going directly to your savings or checking account. All correspondence from the RRB is sent to your home mailing address on record. This mailing address is used to send any material other than your payments to you (such as notices of cost-of-living increases, Medicare information, new Annual Earnings Exempt Amounts, and tax statements).

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Receiving Your Payment

All applicants filing for RRB benefits must choose to receive their annuity payments by Direct Deposit to their financial institution or by the Direct Express® Debit MasterCard®.

Even though your payments are paid electronically be sure to keep your home address on our records current. See Chapter 28 for additional information.

A. Direct Deposit

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How Payments are Made

The first payment you receive from the RRB will be separate from your annuity award letter. Annuities are payable at the beginning of the month following the month for which the annuity accrued. The payment that you receive at the beginning of the month actually represents the annuity that accrued for the previous month.

Advance Filing Cases

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Notice of Decision About Your Application

When you are ready to retire, contact your RRB field office to file your spouse annuity application. Our goal is to process your application as quickly as possible. Claims for some benefits may take longer to handle than others if they are more complex, or if we have to get information from other people or organizations. If this happens, we will give you an explanation and an estimate of the time required to make a decision.

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After You Apply for Your Annuity

The information in this section explains what the Railroad Retirement Board does after you file your annuity application. Included is important information about how soon you can expect a decision on your application.

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Federal Income Tax Withholding

Withholding for Federal Income Tax may occur, either based on your election filed on IRS Form W-4V, Voluntary Withholding Request, and/or IRS Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for Periodic Pension or Annuity Payments, or, if you do not file IRS Form W-4P, based on a status of “Single with no adjustments.”

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Medicare Coverage

General Information About Medicare

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Deductions for Other Federal Programs

This section explains deductions from your monthly annuity for other Federal programs.

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Public Service Pensions

General

Effective January 1, 2024, any "Public Service Pension" (PSP) payable to you may have an effect on the amount of your spouse annuity Tier I component or your divorced spouse annuity. A PSP is retirement pay you receive for public service employment. This may either be monthly payments or a lump-sum payment. It may be administered by a government agency or a private insurance company.

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Other Railroad Retirement Annuities

If you are entitled to more than one Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) annuity, the other RRA annuity can have an effect on your spouse or divorced spouse annuity.

Spouse Annuity

If you are entitled to both an RRA employee annuity based on your own earnings record, and an RRA spouse annuity based on a different earnings record, the reduction to your RRA spouse annuity depends on whether or not there is railroad service before January 1, 1975 on either earnings record:

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