Your Past Public Service May Count Toward Your Retirement
As a VRS member, you can purchase eligible service from previous public employment, military service or a period of approved leave. Buying service may help you become vested for retirement sooner and enhance your benefit payment in retirement.
Initiate Purchase Online
Log in to myVRS to review prior service in your record, report other eligible service and see how purchasing will impact your future retirement benefit. You’ll also want to evaluate the time it will take to recover the purchase cost in retirement. Counseling tips within myVRS will guide you through each step of the process. In some cases, the employer with which you earned the service will need to verify it before it appears in myVRS. Purchases of VRS refunded service are unlimited; other types of service purchases are limited to a combined total of 48 months.
You can purchase service using a lump-sum payment to VRS, including plan-to-plan transfers and rollovers from other retirement accounts, or after-tax payroll deduction or pretax salary-reduction agreements set up for six to 12 months through your employer.
Purchase Early to Maximize Service Value
Although you can purchase your prior service at any point while you are an active VRS member, generally, the cost increases the longer you wait. You have a two-year window to purchase most types of service at approximate normal cost. Your two-year window begins upon employment in a VRS-covered position or following an eligible period of leave.
After this period, the cost changes to an actuarial equivalent cost.
VRS-refunded service can be purchased at any time while actively employed. The purchase cost is based on the refund amount, plus interest compounded annually from the date of the refund to the date you buy back the service. The interest rate is 6.75%, which is the assumed rate of return of the VRS fund.
In addition, you can receive prior service credit at no cost for each occurrence of active-duty military leave from a VRS-covered position, and you have the option to purchase other previous periods of military service.
For details, read Purchasing Prior Service and the related chapter in your plan handbook.
