Updated October 7, 2026. Quick answer: A Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System member retiring on a normal or early pension can elect a Joint and Last Survivor Option that leaves a spouse 50%, 66 2/3%, 75% or 100% of a reduced benefit, and the handbook says it cannot be added after retirement. The DROP credits the benefit to an account at 5% for up to three years, then pays a lump sum, a rollover or a higher monthly annuity, and the election is irrevocable. A refund of contributions ends all benefit rights, and a check has 20% federal and 4% Virginia tax withheld.
What this page covers and what it does not
This page works from two documents published by Fairfax County Retirement Systems: the Employees’ Retirement Handbook for Active Employees and the booklet Preparing for Normal, Early and Deferred Vested Retirement, both stamped “Revised April 2024”. The booklet says “This retirement handbook is for members of Fairfax County Employees’ Retirement System”. Only the Employees’ system (FCERS) is covered. The handbook names the “Fairfax County Police Officers Retirement System” and the “Fairfax County Uniformed Retirement System” as separate systems whose members are not eligible for this one.
Hire date sets the plan: Plans A and B for hires before January 1, 2013, Plans C and D for later hires, and Plan E for the newest cohort. “All eligible employees whose county or school board employment commenced by reporting to work on or after July1, 2019, will be automatically enrolled in Retirement Plan E.” Every figure here is the system’s, or is labeled as a computed example from assumed inputs. State tax questions are on Virginia retirement taxes and does Virginia tax pensions; members of the state plan should see Virginia VRS retirement decisions.
When a pension can start, and what it pays
Normal retirement is open “On your 65th birthday or thereafter if you have at least five years of eligibility service”. Plans C, D and E start later (Plans A and B start at 50): “on your 55th birthday if you have 30 years or more of eligibility service or at any time thereafter when your age plus years of eligibility service total 85 or more”. Early retirement is stated two ways. The handbook says “You are eligible to retire early on your 50th birthday if you have 25 years or more of eligibility service or at any time thereafter when your age plus years of eligibility service total 75 or more”. The booklet says “If you wish to retire early, you must be at least 50 years old and your age and service must equal 75 or more”. The pages read do not reconcile the 25 year route with the single test; confirm it with the office.
The booklet gives the Plan A and C formula as “1.8% times your FAS times your Benefit Service, and then increased by 3%” (with a further 0.2% layer on pay above the Social Security breakpoint) and the Plan B and D formula as “2.0% times your FAS times your Benefit Service, and then increased by 3%”. Plan E carries no step: the handbook notes “No 3% increase for Plan E” beside its disability and deferred vested entries, and its Plan E normal example omits the 1.03 factor. Recomputed from the handbook’s example inputs (a final average salary of $7,000 a month and 30 years of benefit service), 2.0% times $7,000 times 30 times 1.03 is a computed $4,326.00 a month for Plan B or D, and 2.0% times $7,000 times 30 is a computed $4,200.00 a month for Plan E, matching the handbook.
A temporary add-on exists for Plans A through D. “If you retire on a normal service retirement BEFORE you are eligible for unreduced Social Security benefits, you will receive an additional temporary benefit.”
Early retirement: the reduction table
The handbook multiplies the normal benefit by a percentage that rises with age: 33.3% at 50, 50.0% at 55, 60.0% at 58, 66.7% at 60, 80.0% at 62 and 93.3% at 64. Its example, a Plan B member at 56 with 20 years and $74,000 average final compensation, recomputes as 2.0% times $74,000 times 20 times 1.03, a computed $30,488 a year, times 53.3%, a computed $16,250.10 a year or $1,354.18 a month.
The survivor election at retirement
The main election is the Joint and Last Survivor Option. “You may elect a Joint and Last Survivor Option if you retire under normal, early or deferred vested retirement provisions. If you do not make such an election before your retirement, you cannot do so thereafter.” The shares are a percentage of that reduced benefit: the handbook prints 50%, 662/3%, 75% and 100%, read here as 50%, 66 2/3%, 75% and 100%.
| Choice | What the member is paid | What the surviving spouse receives |
|---|---|---|
| No survivor option elected | The full benefit | A beneficiary receives contributions plus interest less benefits already paid, if any remain |
| 100% option, spouse the same age | 85.0% of the normal benefit | 100% of the reduced benefit for life |
| 75% option, spouse the same age | 89.0% of the normal benefit | 75% of the reduced benefit for life |
| 66 2/3% option, spouse the same age | 90.0% of the normal benefit | 66 2/3% of the reduced benefit for life |
| 50% option, spouse the same age | 92.0% of the normal benefit | 50% of the reduced benefit for life |
The age gap changes the cut. “The amount of reduction to your benefit depends on the difference between your age and your spouse’s age”. For the 100% option the printed rows run from 78.0% with a spouse 10 years younger to 92.0% with a spouse 10 years older.
A computed example from an assumed $2,000 normal monthly benefit, not a Fairfax figure, with a same-age spouse: the 100% option pays a computed $1,700 a month (85.0% of $2,000) and leaves the spouse the same $1,700. The 75% option pays $1,780 (89.0%) and leaves 75% of that, a computed $1,335. The 50% option pays $1,840 (92.0%) and leaves a computed $920. The $2,000 is invented. Weighing the protection against the cut is the question on single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension.
What is irrevocable, and where the documents differ
The election has to be made at retirement and then stays. The handbook says “The Joint and Last Survivor Option may not be changed once you have retired except in the event of the death of your spouse or divorce”. If the spouse dies first, the handbook says “If your spouse should die before you, your benefit will be increased to an amount equal to the monthly benefit you would have received if you had not elected the joint and last survivor option”.
The documents differ on who may elect. The handbook opens the option to a member who retires under normal, early or deferred vested provisions, while the booklet says “If you retire on a normal or early retirement you may elect a Joint and Last Survivor Option” and does not mention deferred vested retirement in that passage. A deferred vested member should ask the office whether it is open. For the couple’s side of the decision see survivor benefit with a government pension.
If the member dies before retiring, a spouse can still receive a pension. “The spouse’s benefit is equal to 50% of a benefit calculated under the normal retirement formula, not including the additional Pre-Social Security Benefit.” “Your spouse elects in writing to receive the spouse’s benefit within 180 days after your death” The booklet states a five year route with the spouse named as sole primary beneficiary; the handbook adds “or your death occurs after you have completed fifteen years of eligibility service and your current spouse is the only beneficiary eligible to receive a refund of your contributions”.
The DROP: a lump sum, a rollover or a bigger annuity
FCERS has a Deferred Retirement Option Program. “Only members eligible for Normal Retirement may elect to enter the DROP.” “At the point of DROP entry, you are agreeing to participate in the DROP for a maximum of three years.” “Your account balance is credited at an annual rate of 5% interest, compounded monthly.” “At the end of the DROP period, you MUST terminate employment with the County” The exit menu: “Upon DROP exit, you can elect to receive the balance of your DROP account in the form of a lump sum distribution, a rollover to another qualified plan (or IRA), or you may have added to your monthly retirement annuity, an increase of the actuarial equivalent of the lump sum balance in your DROP account, thereby receiving a higher lifetime monthly benefit.”
A computed example from assumed figures, not a Fairfax figure: an assumed $3,000 monthly benefit credited for 36 months is a computed $108,000 before interest. With 5% compounded monthly and each credit assumed to land at the end of its month (the handbook does not state the timing), the balance would be about a computed $116,260. For the lump sum against annuity choice see pension lump sum versus monthly annuity break-even.
Inside the DROP, Plans C, D and E members “are NOT eligible to receive the Pre-Social Security Benefit during their time in the DROP”.
DROP deadlines and what is locked in
“If you would like to participate in the DROP, you must file an application with Retirement Systems not less than 60 days prior to your DROP entry date.” On exit, “You must provide a completed DROP Exit Notification form to the Retirement Systems office no less than 60 days prior to your intended DROP exit date”. “If we do not receive your DROP Exit paperwork, your DROP account balance will be paid to you as a lump sum, with applicable taxes withheld.”
“Your election to participate in the DROP is irrevocable, (the one exception being that if you revoke your election prior to the commencement of your DROP period; you must wait at least 12 months from the date of revocation to re-apply).” “You may participate in the DROP only once”. “You cannot add or remove a spouse at a later date.” “Your choice regarding a Joint and Last Survivor option or single life annuity is made at the time of DROP entry. If you do not make such an election at the time you enter the DROP, you cannot later make such an election.”
If the member dies during the DROP, the handbook says “If, at the time you entered DROP, you elected a Joint and Last Survivor Option, your spouse would also be entitled to receive the benefits that would be payable under that election”.
Leaving before retirement: deferred vested benefit or refund
A deferred vested benefit needs three things: “You terminate employment before you retire”; “You have at least five years of eligibility service”; and “You leave your contributions in the System”. “You may start to receive a deferred vested benefit at age 65 (or earlier after meeting the age and service requirements for early retirement).” The handbook adds “if you start to receive benefits before age 65, your benefit will be reduced in the same way that early retirement benefits are reduced”.
The alternative is a refund. “In lieu of a deferred vested benefit, you have the option to request a refund of your contributions at any time prior to reaching age 65 or receiving retirement benefits.” “Interest on the contributions you make each year is credited at an annual rate of 5% starting with the year after the contributions are made.” Under five years: “Refunds are required if you have less than five years of service”, though a member “may elect in writing to leave your contributions in the System for up to five additional years after you terminate employment”. The highlights page separately says a member “You must request a return of your contributions in writing”; the pages read do not explain how that fits the word required. Whether to leave money in is the choice on pension refund versus leaving it.
Taking a refund: what is forfeited and what is withheld
“Any member who elects to withdraw his or her contributions is no longer eligible for any benefits from the Retirement System.” “If you accept a refund of your member contributions plus interest, you forfeit all prior service credit in the Employees’ Retirement System for that previous period of employment.” If benefits are already due, the handbook says “Once benefits have started, however, you may not withdraw your contributions”.
For a check, the handbook says the taxable part “will be taxed as ordinary income the year you receive it, and may be subject to an additional 10% penalty imposed by the IRS”, and that refunds paid to the member “will have 20% withheld for federal taxes unless certain conditions are met”. “Another 4% will be withheld for Virginia state taxes.” A computed example from an assumed $10,000 refund paid by check, not a Fairfax figure: 20% federal withholding is a computed $2,000, 4% Virginia withholding is a computed $400, and the cash received before any other tax is a computed $7,600. See 20% withholding on a pension lump sum.
Buying back service
If the contributions were refunded after a break, “If you withdrew your accumulated member contributions, you may receive membership service credit for periods in which you received compensation and were a member of this System, provided that you purchase membership service credit by paying into the System all accumulated contributions that would have been collected from you during your prior period or periods of membership, plus interest at the rate or rates established by the Board, for the entirety of any period of prior service for which membership service credit is sought”. “You may not purchase credit for only a portion of any prior period of service, but may only purchase credit for an entire prior period of service.” For a Plan A or B member who refunded and seeks to buy on or after January 1, 2013, “you may only become a member of, and purchase membership service credit in, either Plan C or Plan D, by paying into the System all accumulated contributions which would have been collected from you during your prior period or periods of membership, plus interest at the rate or rates established by the Board, for the entirety of any period of prior service for which membership service credit is sought”.
“If the buy-back or purchase of service is started within the first twelve (12) months of re-employment, the interest rate charged will be the current actuarial assumption rate (7.25% currently).” After the first twelve months of re-employment the handbook’s rate is 15%, and “This interest rate is established by the Board of Trustees”. Estimating what a purchase adds is covered by the pension buyback calculator.
Cost-of-living adjustments
“The standard annual COLA is the lesser of 4% or the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) for the period ending in March of each year.” The first year is pro-rated, and the handbook prints a table: retirement dates April 1 to June 30 carry 0%, January 1 to March 31 carry 25%, October 1 to December 31 carry 50% and July 1 to September 30 carry 75%. The questions page says: “If your retirement were effective on or before July 1 of a particular year, you would be entitled to a full cost-of-living adjustment to your retirement benefit on July 1 of the following year.”
What the IRS adds on tax
A refund or lump sum from a public pension is a distribution, so the IRS rules apply on top of FCERS’s own. On withholding, the IRS says that a taxable eligible rollover distribution paid to you “is subject to mandatory income tax withholding (generally at a rate of 20%), even if you intend to roll it over later”, and that if you roll it over yourself “you’ll have to add funds from other sources equal to the amount withheld”. The handbook describes the same direct transfer and a 60 day window. The rollover clock, if the money is paid to you: “you have 60 days from the date you receive it to roll it over to another eligible retirement plan”.
On early distributions the IRS says “the law imposes a 10% additional tax on certain early distributions from certain retirement plans”. Its list of exceptions includes “Distributions made to you after you separated from service with your employer after attainment of age 55” and “Distributions made to a qualified public safety employee from a governmental plan” if the employee separated from service during or after the year they attained age 50 or 25 years of service under the plan, whichever is earlier. Whether an exception fits a particular refund depends on your own plan and facts, so confirm it with a tax preparer before you take one.
A conflict on the 10% additional tax
The handbook’s FAQ says “If you withdraw your contributions before age 55 and request payment directly to you, the payment will be subject to regular income tax plus an additional 10% penalty imposed by the IRS. This additional penalty will not apply if the money is distributed due to retirement, termination, disability or death”. The IRS exceptions quoted above are tied to separation from service at 55 or later and to public safety employees, and the text read lists no general exception for termination before 55. This page does not resolve the difference; confirm with a tax preparer before taking a refund under 55.
What this page could not settle
- The printed survivor table lists selected age gaps only, and the pages read do not give every one.
- The handbook opens the Joint and Last Survivor Option to deferred vested retirees, while the booklet names only normal or early retirees; the pages read do not reconcile the two.
- The separate DROP Exit handbook on the same site is a scanned image with no text layer, so it was not read.
- The pages read do not state when in the month DROP credits are applied, how the Plan E early age option is priced, or how buy-back interest accrues over time.
- The retirement application deadline is worded as a 60 day window on the questions page; the pages read do not say whether that is a minimum or a maximum notice.
- The COLA proration table and the July 1 sentence on the questions page are not reconciled, and the County Code was not read.
Common mistakes
- Treating the Joint and Last Survivor Option as changeable after retirement; the handbook allows a change only on a spouse’s death or a divorce.
- Entering the DROP without choosing the survivor option on the application; the handbook says that election cannot be made later.
- Taking a refund without weighing the pension it ends.
Related on this site: Virginia retirement taxes, does Virginia tax pensions, Virginia VRS retirement decisions, pension refund versus leaving it, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, pension buyback calculator, 20% withholding on a pension lump sum, pension lump sum versus monthly annuity break-even, survivor benefit with a government pension and public pension retirement decisions by system.
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Answer againSources
- Fairfax County Retirement Systems, Employees’ Retirement Handbook for Active Employees (Revised April 2024): https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/retirement/sites/retirement/files/Assets/ERS%20ACTIVE%20RETIREMENT%20HANDBOOK%204-26-24.pdf
- Fairfax County Retirement Systems, Employees’ Preparing for Normal/Early/Deferred Vested Retirement (Revised April 2024): https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/retirement/sites/retirement/files/Assets/ERS%20NORMAL%20Prep%20HB%204-26-24.pdf
- IRS, Topic no. 413, Rollovers from retirement plans (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc413
- IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans other than IRAs (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 7, 2026. General information from each system’s own published materials, not legal, tax or financial advice. Your own member statement and the system’s current rules decide your benefit, and a pension counsellor at the system or a fee-only adviser is the right place to confirm anything consequential.