Policy and Systems

If you are entitled to more than one railroad retirement annuity, your employee annuity is not reduced for the other railroad retirement annuity. But your employee annuity can have an effect on the other railroad retirement annuity.

Spouse Annuity

If you are entitled to both a Railroad Retirement Act 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:

Read more about Other Railroad Retirement Annuities

Non-Covered Service Pensions

A Non-Covered Service Pension (NCSP) is any payment based on earnings for services performed after 1956 that are not covered as employment under the Social Security (SS) Act or the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA). This payment may either be a monthly check or a lump-sum payment. This information is important because it may reduce the amount of your Tier 1 component.

Exceptions for Non-Covered Service Pension Reduction

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Social Security Benefits

If you are entitled to Social Security (SS) benefits based on any wage record, your Tier 1 component will be offset for those SS benefits (before any withholding under the SS Act for your earnings over the Annual Earnings Exempt Amount). This is why your SS benefits may be certified to the RRB for payment. If you have already filed for your SS benefits, it is important to include the SS benefit information on your annuity application. This will help to prevent an overpayment of your annuity.

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Reductions for Other Benefits

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Tier II and Supplemental Annuity Work Deductions

Any earnings from your Last Pre-Retirement Nonrailroad Employer (LPE) in or after the month your annuity begins will reduce your tier IIcomponent, your spouse's tier II component, and any supplemental annuity. The reduction is $1 for each $2 earned (subject to a maximum reduction of 50 percent of the tier II and the supplemental annuity).

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Last Pre-Retirement Nonrailroad Employment

Definition

Your Last Pre-Retirement Nonrailroad Employment (LPE) is defined as any nonrailroad individual, company or institution for whom you are working on the date your employee annuity begins or for whom you stopped working in order to receive an annuity. A few exceptions for types of nonrailroad work are listed below.

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Part I - Applying For Your Annuity

Requirements The Employee Must Have Met

The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) can pay a survivor annuity only if the employee:

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Survivor Annuity

Introduction

This booklet contains important information regarding your railroad retirement annuity, including information you will need to know in order to complete your application. We recommend that you read it before you start filling out your application.

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Tier I, Vested Dual Benefit or Special Guaranty Work Deductions

Tier I, Vested Dual Benefit, or Special Guaranty Computation work deductions do not apply for any months you are Full Retirement Age (FRA) or older. If you are FRA, or older, on your annuity beginning date, you may skip to tier II work deductions.

Read more about Tier I, Vested Dual Benefit or Special Guaranty Work Deductions