Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 16-301 Date: February 2016

United States

Office of 

Personnel Management 

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Subject: Instructions Regarding Requirement for Agencies’ Payments to the Civil Service 

Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) for VSIPs and VERAs Processing Costs for FY

2016 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. 

INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE

The purpose of this announcement is to advise you that processing cost payments to the CSRDF 

for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) retirements and retirements with a Voluntary

Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) are to continue under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2016 (Public Law (P.L.) 114-113). For Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, the average unit cost of processing 

VERAs and retirements with a VSIP that must be used to determine the amount the employing

agency must pay into the CSRDF, is $124.48

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 continues agency payments to the CSRDF for VERAs 

and retirements with VSIPs. Section 734 of Title VII, Division E (Financial Services and General 

Government Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016) of P.L. 114-113 requires that during 

FY 2016 agencies remit to the CSRDF an amount equal to the Office of Personnel Management’s

(OPM’s) average unit cost of processing a retirement claim for the preceding fiscal year ($124.48)

for each employee who retires under 5 U.S.C. § 8336(d)(2) or § 8414(b)(1)(B) (VERA) or who 

retires under any other provision of subchapter III of chapter 83 or chapter 84 of title 5, United 

States Code, and receives a payment as an incentive to separate (VSIP).

This BAL provides the FY 2016 remittance amount and instructions on the methods available for

your agency to remit payment in FY 2016 to the OPM for deposit into the CSRDF for VSIPs and 

VERAs processing costs. For reconciliation purposes, the monies for prior years must NOT be 

commingled with FY 2016. Each year MUST be reported separately (i.e., FY 2013, FY 2014, FY

2015, and FY 2016).
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR AGENCY REMITTANCES IN FY 2016 UNDER THE

CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2016 FOR VSIPS AND VERAS 

PROCESSING COSTS

Remittance Amount for FY 2016 

The amount for agencies to remit to OPM for deposit into the CSRDF for FY 2016 is an amount 

equal to the FY 2015 average unit cost of processing annuity cases ($124.48). 

Please Note: We prefer to have individual agencies submit the remittances rather than payroll 

providers to facilitate the reconciliation of payments. If payroll providers submit payments, it is 

important that they indicate the ALC(s) and Payroll Office of the agency(ies) for which they are 

submitting the remittance. Also, in addition to IPAC, there are two other payment methods for 

non-IPAC users, FEDWIRE and ACH Credit. 

Remittances via IPAC 

Agencies having access to Treasury’s Intra-governmental Payment and Collection (IPAC) 

Systems must remit $124.48 per VERA and VSIP case to OPM using the following IPAC 

parameters:

Agency Location Code (ALC): 24000002

Receiver’s Treasury Account Symbol (TAS): AID: 024 Main: 8135 A: X Sub: 000

Receiver’s Business Event Type Code (BETC): COLL

Receiver’s Standard General Ledger: Debit 1010 and Credit 5400

Description: VERA/VSIP and total amounts applicable to CSRS and FERS respectively.

Point of Contact: Include the name and email address of the person who is familiar with paying 

the VERA/VSIP costs.

In addition, a scanned copy of the remittance, along with the appropriate Remittance Report, (See 

Attachments 1A, 1B, and 1C) must be sent to the email addresses identified in the “Remittance 

Report” section of this BAL. 

Remittances via FEDWIRE

Agencies that do not have access to IPAC should remit via FEDWIRE for the amount due. A 

scanned copy of the remittance, along with the appropriate Remittance Report, must be sent to the 

email addresses identified in the “Remittance Report” section of this BAL. FEDWIRE

instructions are included as Attachment 2. 

Remittances via ACH Credit

Agencies that do not have access to IPAC or FEDWIRE should remit via ACH Credit. To 

validate proof of payment, please submit a scanned copy of the remittance, along with the 

appropriate Remittance Report, to the email addresses identified in the “Remittance Report” 

section of these BAL. ACH Credit instructions are included as Attachment 3.

Payment Timing

Payments, regardless of the method, should be sent no later than 45 calendar days after the end of 

the month in which the employee retires. Payments should be submitted monthly. For example, 
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payments for retirements between December 1 and December 31, 2015, should be sent by 

February 15, 2016. 

Individual Retirement Records

Agencies must annotate the Individual Retirement Records (SF 2806 and SF 3100) in the remarks 

column under the “Service History” section with the legal authority for each VERA or VSIP when 

submitting retirement paperwork.

Remittance Report

All agencies must submit certified Remittance Reports using the Attachments, which show the 

payroll office number(s) and Agency Location Code (ALC) for which the remittance is being sent. 

Please note – the 3-page Enclosure has separate Remittance Report forms for FY 2016 VERAs, 

FY 2016 VSIPs, and FY 2016 VERAs with VSIPs. The totals on each Remittance Report must 

agree with the amount of the IPAC, EFT, or check remittance. OPM will use these reports for 

validation purposes to ensure payments have been remitted correctly. 

All reports, along with a copy of the remittance, must be emailed to OPM within five (5) business 

days from the date of the IPAC, EFT, or check remittance using the following email addresses: 

Priscilla.Holland@opm.gov, with a cc: to FinancialBALs@opm.gov. 

Inquiries

If you have any questions about this requirement, please call us on (202) 606-0606 or send an 

email to FinancialBals@opm.gov. 

Sincerely,

Kolo Babagana 

Acting Associate Chief Financial Officer 

Financial Services

Attachments: 1A, 1B, 1C, 2 & 3