For best results, all forms mentioned below must be printed out, filled out and signed in ink, and mailed directly to OPM at the following address:
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Attn: Federal Employee Retirement System
Post Office Box 45
Boyers, PA 16017-0045
In order to send directly to OPM, you must wait 30 days after your last day at GSA. However, because part of the process requires you to mail some forms to your financial institution and wait for them to send them back, you can start the process about 15 days after your last day.
Here is the step-by-step process:
Page 1 should be self-explanatory, but just in case, here is what I entered for the items that might be ambiguous:
- Department or Agency: General Services Administration, Technology Transformation Service/18F
- Title of Position: Innovation Specialist [c]
- Indicate whether retirement deductions were withheld from your salary: Withheld
- Have you paid deposit or redeposit...: Not Paid
No
- Pay ALL to my Thrift Savings Plan Account
-
Pay ALL by check made payable to my IRA or Eligible Employer Plan Name of Financial Institution of Employer Plan: Vanguard
-
This rollover is to a Roth IRA
Mail the check:
- to the above institution or plan
Just my wet signature and date
My wife signed this page, then took it to her office and had 2 colleagues sign it as witnesses
I called Vanguard to find out where I needed to send this form, and they said to send it to the address below, along with instructions.
Vanguard Group
P.O. Box 1110
Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110
Here is the letter I sent:
Letter of Instructions for Vanguard pertaining to form SF3106 for rolling over the refund of
retirement deductions to Moncef Belyamani’s Roth IRA account (my account number)
To Whom It May Concern,
Please fill out the top portion of the form labeled “Certification by Financial Institution
or Eligible Employer Plan”, and please send the original signed form with wet signature back
to me at the following address:
Moncef Belyamani
my address
Thank you,
Moncef Belyamani
In retrospect, I should have included more details because I got an email (or a call?) from Vanguard asking for more details. The person I spoke to wasn't familiar with SF 3106 and I had to explain that I was expecting $X amount to be transferred to my Roth IRA account from OPM. They asked if there was an account number the money was coming from and I explained that there wasn't.
By the way, the amount you should expect to receive is listed on your last paycheck in Employee Express at the top under Cumulative Retirement Agency.
Just fill out Part I (1-11) and include it with SF 3106 when you send it to OPM
YMMV, but I mailed everything on January 21 or a few days later, and I got an email from Vanguard about the transfer on February 26.
My experience with this: I mailed my SF3106 form to FERS at the end of November 2022. I didn't pay for tracking (huge mistake) so I was unsure if my application ever actually made it there. I called several times in December and early January, but always got the eternal hold. Over the course of this entire process, I must have called FERS over 50 times and never was able to get through to a human. I also sent many emails to [email protected] simply asking if my application had made it into their system and if it was going to be processed. They always respond, but they always request you send your SSN to them via email which I didn't feel comfortable doing. Sometime between January and February incoming calls to the FERS number (888-767-6738) were not being accepted at all due to high call volume. This was true at any time of day, even the ones noted here. In March, I got out the old pen and paper and wrote a handwritten letter, which was delivered on March 13, 2023. On their website it said: "We usually respond within 1 to 3 weeks after we receive your mail" so almost four weeks later I followed up via email to just see if they had received a letter from me. Again, they requested SSN via email. Attempts to call were still being disconnected after the high call volume automated message. Finally, on May 15th I received an email from a Program Manager at OPM 🙏 saying that my application had indeed been received in December and that they were currently working through November applications. So, someone would be getting to my application within a few weeks. In late June the money showed up in my account (I elected to have contributions paid out rather than transferred). I didn't receive a receipt or letter about it which I would have liked, since I wanted to confirm the expected amount, but I guess that's fine. So it was 7 months for me.
Suggestions for anyone doing this: