3. What are some examples of how age reductions are applied to the annuities of employees with less than 30 years of service who retire before attaining full retirement age?
Consider an employee who was born on March 2, 1960, and retired in 2022 at the age of 62. Assume this employee was eligible for monthly tier I and tier II benefits, before age reductions, of $1,800 and $1,200, respectively, for a total monthly annuity of $3,000.

Upon retirement at age 62, the employee’s tier I benefit and tier II benefit were reduced by 30.00 percent, the maximum age reduction applicable in 2022. This yielded a tier I amount of $1,260 and a tier II amount of $840, for a total monthly annuity of $2,100. However, if the employee had railroad service before August 12, 1983, the tier II amount would be subject to a maximum reduction of only 20 percent, providing a tier II amount of $960, and a total monthly annuity of $2,220.

As a second example, if the same employee had been born on March 2, 1959, and retired in 2022 at the age of 63, the employee’s tier I benefit and tier II benefit would be reduced by 24.167 percent. This would yield a tier I amount of $1,364.99 and a tier II amount of $910, for a total monthly annuity of $2,274.99. However, if the employee had railroad service before August 12, 1983, the tier II amount would be subject to a maximum reduction of only 20 percent, providing a tier II amount of $960, and a total monthly annuity of $2,324.99.

4. How are railroad retirement spouse benefits affected by these requirements?
If an employee retiring with less than 30 years of service is age 62, the employee’s spouse is also eligible for an annuity the first full month the spouse is age 62. However, early retirement reductions are applied to the spouse’s annuity if the spouse retires prior to her or his full retirement age. 

Beginning in 2000, the full retirement age for a spouse gradually began to rise to age 67, just as for an employee, depending on the spouse’s year of birth. While reduced spouse benefits are still payable at age 62, the maximum age reduction is 35 percent in 2022. 

As with employee annuities, age reduction percentages are applied separately to the tier I and tier II benefits of a spouse annuity. However, the tier I reduction is 1/144 for each of the first 36 months the spouse is under full retirement age when her or his annuity begins, and 1/240 for each additional month (if any). This has resulted in a gradual increase in the annuity reduction percentage at age 62 to 35 percent for a spouse, now that the age 67 retirement age is in effect. (See chart below.) However, if an employee had any creditable railroad service prior to August 12, 1983, the spouse retirement age for tier II purposes is age 65, and the maximum age reduction percentage applied to tier II would only be 25 percent. Age reductions are not applied to spouse annuities based on the spouse’s caring for the employee’s child.

The following chart shows the gradual increase in full retirement age and the corresponding increase in the age reduction percentages applied to the applicable spouse annuities.

Spouse Age Reductions

5. What are some examples of how age reductions are applied to the annuities of the spouses of employees with less than 30 years of service whose spouses retire before full retirement age?
Consider the spouse of a railroader with less than 30 years of service, none of it prior to August 12, 1983, who was born on April 2, 1960, and is retiring in 2022 at age 62, with monthly tier I and tier II benefits, before any reductions for age, of $700 and $300, respectively, for a total monthly benefit of $1,000.

Upon retirement at age 62, the spouse’s tier I benefit and tier II benefit would be reduced by 35.00 percent, the maximum age reduction applicable in 2022. This would yield a tier I amount of $455 and a tier II amount of $195 for a total monthly annuity of $650. However, if the employee had any rail service before August 12, 1983, the tier II benefit would be subject to a maximum reduction of only 25 percent, providing a tier II amount of $225, and a total monthly annuity of $680.

As a second example, if the same spouse had been born on April 2, 1959, and retires in 2022 at age 63, the spouse’s tier I benefit and tier II benefit would be reduced by 29.167 percent. This would yield a tier I amount of $495.83 and a tier II amount of $212.50, for a total monthly annuity of $708.33. However, if the employee had any rail service before August 12, 1983, the tier II benefit would be subject to a maximum reduction of only 25 percent, providing a tier II amount of $225, and a total monthly annuity of $720.83.

6. Are age reductions applied to employee disability annuities?
Employee annuities based on disability are not subject to age reductions except for employees with less than 10 years of railroad service, but who have 5 years of service after 1995. Such employees may qualify for a tier I benefit before retirement age based on total disability, but only if they have a disability insured status (also called a “disability freeze”) under Social Security Act rules, counting both railroad retirement and social security covered earnings. Unlike with a 10-year employee, a tier II benefit is not payable in these disability cases until the employee attains age 62. And, the employee’s tier II benefit will be reduced for early retirement in the same manner as the tier II benefit of an employee who retired at age 62 with less than 30 years of service.

7. Do these changes to full retirement age affect survivor benefits?
Yes. The eligibility age for a full widow(er)’s annuity has gradually risen and is age 67 for those born in 1962, or later. A widow(er), surviving divorced spouse or remarried widow(er) whose annuity begins at full retirement age or later will generally receive an annuity unreduced for early retirement. (However, if the deceased employee received an annuity that was reduced for early retirement, a reduction would be applied to the tier I amount payable to his or her widow(er), surviving divorced spouse, or remarried widow(er).) For widow(ers) who retire before attaining their full retirement age, the maximum age reduction percentages will vary, depending on the widow(er)’s date of birth, and is 20.36 percent for those born in 1962, or later. These age reductions apply to both tier I and tier II. For a surviving divorced spouse or remarried widow(er), the maximum age reduction is 28.5 percent. For a disabled widow(er), disabled surviving divorced spouse, or disabled remarried widow(er), the maximum reduction is also 28.5 percent, even if the annuity begins at age 50.

8. Does the increase in full retirement age affect the age at which a person becomes eligible for Medicare benefits?
No. Although the age requirements for some unreduced railroad retirement benefits have risen just like the social security requirements, railroad retirement beneficiaries are still eligible for Medicare at age 65.

9. Do these increases in full retirement age also apply to the earnings limitations and work deductions governing benefit payments to annuitants who work after retirement?
Like social security benefits, railroad retirement tier I benefits paid to employees and spouses, and tier I and tier II benefits paid to survivors, are subject to deductions if an annuitant’s earnings exceed certain exempt amounts. These earnings limitations and work deductions apply to all age and service annuitants and spouses under full retirement age regardless of the employee’s years of service. Although employees retiring at age 60 with 30 years of service have no age reduction, these earnings limitations and work deductions still apply until they reach their full retirement age, which, like other employees, is determined by the year they were born. These earnings limitations also apply to survivor annuitants, with the exception of disabled widow(er)s under age 60 and disabled children.

Likewise, while special earnings restrictions apply to employees entitled to disability annuities, these disability earnings restrictions cease upon a disabled employee annuitant’s attainment of full retirement age. This transition is effective no earlier than full retirement age even if the annuitant had 30 years of railroad service.

The additional deductions applied to the annuities of retired employees and spouses who work for their last pre-retirement nonrailroad employer continue to apply after the attainment of full retirement age.

10. How can individuals get more information about railroad retirement age reductions?
Individuals with questions about railroad retirement age reductions can send a secure message to their local RRB office by accessing Field Office Locator and clicking on the link at the bottom of their local office’s page. If a customer needs to talk to an RRB representative, they can call the agency’s toll-free number (1-877-772-5772) between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. each weekday, except on Federal holidays. However, customers are asked to be patient because of the increase in call volume due to the closure to the public of RRB offices during the COVID-19 pandemic.