United States

Office of

Personnel Management

The Federal Government’s Human Resources Agency

Benefits Administration Letter

Number: 20-303 Date: March 2020 

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

Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) for VSIPs and VERAs FY 2020 Processing Costs 

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020

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, 

2020 [Public Law (P.L.) 116-93]. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, the average unit cost of processing 

VERA retirements and retirements with a VSIP is $481.62 per claim; this unit cost is used to 

determine the amount the employing agency must pay into the CSRDF. 

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 continues agency payments to the CSRDF for VERAs

and retirements with VSIPs. Section 734 of Title VII, Division C of P.L. 116-93 requires that during 

FY 2020, 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 ($481.62) 

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 2020 remittance amount and instructions on the methods available for 

your agency to remit payment in FY 2020 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 2020. Each year MUST be reported separately (i.e., FY 2016, FY 2017, FY 

2018, FY 2019, and FY 2020).
INSTRUCTIONS FOR AGENCY REMITTANCES IN FY 2020 UNDER

THE CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT 2020 FOR VSIPs and VERAs

PROCESSING COSTS

Remittance Amount for FY 2020

The amount for agencies to remit to OPM for deposit into the CSRDF for FY 2020 is an amount

equal to the FY 2019 average unit cost of processing annuity cases ($481.62).

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 Agency Location Codes and Payroll Office of the agency or 

agencies for which they are submitting the remittance. Also, in addition to Intra-governmental 

Payment and Collection (IPAC), there are two other payment methods for non-IPAC users, 

FEDWIRE and Automated Clearing House (ACH) Credit.

Remittances via IPAC

Agencies having access to Treasury’s IPAC Systems must remit $481.62 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 Benefits Administration Letter.

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 this 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,

payments for retirements between December 1 and December 31, 2019, should be sent by 

February 15, 2020. 

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 2020 VERAs,

FY 2020 VSIPs, and FY 2020 VERAs with VSIPs. The totals on each Remittance Report must 

agree with the amount of the IPAC, Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), FEDWIRE, ACH Credit, 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, FEDWIRE, ACH Credit, or check remittance using the 

following email addresses: Kamini.Mathur@opm.gov and Rosetta.Goode@opm.gov, with a 

copy: 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,

Dennis Coleman

Chief Financial Officer

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

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