MRA+10 Retirement: How the 5% Per Year Reduction Really Works (Full Months, Postponing, the 20-Years-at-60 Exception)

Updated 2026-10-12 · Based on OPM's CSRS/FERS Handbook and 5 U.S.C. · Estimate, not advice

An MRA+10 retirement is the FERS route for someone who reaches the minimum retirement age (MRA) with at least 10 years of service but does not have 30 years, and is not yet 60 with 20. It is available, and the annuity is permanent, but it is cut for every month you are short of 62 when the annuity starts. Most of what people get wrong about it comes down to two details: how a "month" is counted, and the fact that you can choose when the annuity starts. This guide works OPM's own example through line by line, then shows the reduction table, the exceptions and what postponing does.

The rule in one paragraph

Under 5 U.S.C. 8415(h), a FERS annuity that starts under MRA+10 is reduced by 5/12 of 1% for each full month the retiree is under age 62 on the date the annuity commences. That is 5% for each full year. The reduction is a single multiplier (OPM calls it the age reduction factor), and it is applied to the unreduced basic annuity before any survivor election. It applies for life; it does not drop away when you turn 62. The source is the handbook's Chapter 50 (computation under the general formula), section 50B3.1-3B, and OPM's types of retirement page.

Your MRA depends on your birth year. If you were born before 1948 it is 55. For 1948 through 1952 it is 55 plus two months for each year after 1947 (born 1948 is 55 and 2 months, born 1952 is 55 and 10 months). For 1953 through 1964 it is 56. For 1965 through 1969 it is 56 plus two months for each year after 1964 (56 and 2 months through 56 and 10 months), and for 1970 and later it is 57. OPM publishes the same table on its eligibility page.

A worked example from OPM's handbook

The handbook's second FERS example follows Lea Williams, born September 10, 1975. Her MRA is 57 (born 1970 or later). She plans to separate on September 30, 2033 with 13 years and 6 months of service and a high-3 of $93,781.

OPM then applies a partial survivor election, which reduces the annuity by 5% of itself (10% of a base equal to half the annuity): $9,672.05 a year, or $806 a month with the monthly figure rounded down to the whole dollar. Her survivor would receive $212 a month. The age reduction came first and the survivor election second; reversing the order gives a different number. You can load this example into the free calculator with the Lea Williams button and see $10,181.11 on the "Annuity payable" line.

What "full months" means (and why 47 is the right count)

Lea is 58 years, 0 months and 21 days old on the day her annuity starts. She is 3 years, 11 months and 9 days short of 62. The reduction counts only complete months, so those nine days do not add a 48th month: the count is 47, not 48. This is the detail that most often produces a wrong answer, because a simple "years under 62 times 5%" shortcut would give 4 x 5% = 20% off and a factor of 0.80, and an approach that rounds a partial month up would give 48. OPM's Chart 8 lists each age as "and at least 1 day over", which is the same rule written another way.

The boundary is sharp. Someone who is exactly 58 years, 0 months and 0 days on the commencing date is 48 full months short of 62 and gets a factor of 0.800000. One more day of age and the count becomes 47 and the factor 0.804167. For Lea's $12,660.44 that single day is the difference between $10,128.35 and $10,181.11, a gap of $52.76 a year. In the same way, someone who is 61 years 11 months and 5 days old has no full month under 62 and takes no reduction at all.

A related detail is the day count. OPM counts service in 30-day months with the retirement day included, and when the last day of any month is the separation date it is written as 31. Age is measured the same way, which is why the calculator reports Lea's age as 58 years 0 months 21 days rather than a calendar-day figure.

The reduction at each age

For a commencing age of exactly a whole number of years plus one day (so no partial month beyond the day), the factors are:

The rows use Lea's unreduced $12,660.44 so you can compare dates directly. The 58-year row matches OPM's example because her 21 extra days do not change the month count. The 56-year row is below her own MRA of 57, so she could not use it, but the pattern is the same for everyone: each year of waiting adds 5 percentage points of the unreduced annuity.

The two ways the reduction does not apply

The reduction is waived in two cases, both of which depend on service that counts toward eligibility. Unused sick leave is not part of that service (5 U.S.C. 8415(m)(2)(A)).

• 30 years of service at your MRA. That is an immediate unreduced retirement, not MRA+10, and no age reduction applies.
• 20 years of service and the annuity starts at 60 or later. This is the 60-with-20 retirement. If you are 60 and have 20 years, you can retire on the unreduced route, and if you have 20 years and choose a commencing date at or after 60 under an MRA+10 retirement the factor is 1.000000.

The line is as sharp as the month count. With 20 years 0 months and a commencing age of 60 years 0 months and 1 day the factor is 1.000000. With 19 years 11 months at the same age the factor is 0.904167, because 23 full months remain. A month of service on one side of 20 years is worth about 9.6% of the annuity, which is why checking the exact service computation date on your SF-50 matters more than any other input.

Postponing: you choose the start date

MRA+10 has a feature the other immediate retirements do not: you can separate when you are eligible and ask for the annuity to begin later, up to the day you turn 62. The reduction is computed at the age you start receiving it, not at the age you left. Lea's choices are a good illustration. Starting at 58 gives the $10,181.11 reduced annuity. Postponing to 62 gives the full $12,660.44, and OPM's fifth example runs exactly that case: with the same partial survivor election, the annual figure is $12,027.42, or $1,002 a month, and her survivor would receive $263 a month. Compared on the same footing (both with the partial survivor election), $9,672.05 a year at 58 becomes $12,027.42 a year at 62, a difference of $2,355.37 a year.

Postponing costs the years of annuity you do not collect, and the rules add three more consequences. There is no FERS annuity supplement on an MRA+10 retirement, whether reduced or postponed. Cost-of-living adjustments begin only after the annuity commences. And while you wait you are no longer building service or high-3, so the comparison is between a smaller check now and a larger one later, not between working and not working. The rules say what each choice pays; they do not say which is better, and the app and this site do not either.

Using this on your own case

Three inputs drive almost everything here: your birth date (for your MRA and age), your service computation date (for the 10, 20 and 30 year tests and the accrual factor), and the date the annuity starts. Change the retirement date in the calculator and watch the "Age reduction" line; set it a month later and see whether the month count steps down. The two figures people most often misjudge are the service count (sick leave helps the computation but not the eligibility tests) and the commencing date (the first of the month after separation, unless you postpone it).

For citations, the rule is in the handbook's Chapter 50 (PDF) and the statute is 5 U.S.C. 8415(h). If you are close to a boundary, such as the 20-year line or a month-count threshold, ask your agency's HR office to run the official computation before you rely on any estimate.

More guides

• FERS Supplement in 2026: Who Gets It, How It's Computed, and the $24,480 Earnings Test
• The 2,087-Hour Sick Leave Chart: What Your Balance Adds to Your Annuity
• What Counts in Your High-3 (and What Doesn't)
• FERS vs CSRS: The Formulas Side by Side (1%/1.1% vs 1.5/1.75/2%, the 80% Cap, Special Provisions)