Updated October 29, 2026. Quick answer: Partly, through the general exclusion. The 2025 IT-511 booklet prints no rule for federal civilian annuities. “The maximum retirement income exclusion is $65,000” at 65 or older, and $35,000 at ages 62 to 64.
What Georgia does with a FERS or CSRS annuity
| Question | What the Georgia documents say |
|---|---|
| What the source says | The 2025 Georgia instructions do not name federal civil service, CSRS or FERS annuities at all; they print one retirement income exclusion that applies to taxable pensions in general, so a taxable federal civilian annuity would appear to fall under that same capped exclusion, though no sentence says so. |
| Amount or limit | A retirement income exclusion of up to $35,000 for taxpayers age 62 to 64 (or under 62 and permanently disabled) and up to $65,000 for taxpayers age 65 or older, claimed separately by each qualifying spouse, with no more than $5,000 of the cap usable against earned income. |
| Age or other test | Age 62 to 64, or under 62 and permanently disabled so as to be unable to perform any gainful employment, for the lower cap; age 65 or older for the higher cap. |
| State rate printed | The booklet says the Georgia income tax rate is 5.19% effective January 1, 2025. |
| Change for 2026 | No 2026 change is printed in the state documents cited here. |
In the Georgia documents’ own words
- “Up to $5,000 of the maximum allowable exclusion” (2025 IT-511 Georgia Individual Income Tax Forms and Instructions Booklet)
- “the income tax rate is 5.19%” (2025 IT-511 Georgia Individual Income Tax Forms and Instructions Booklet)
- “are the same for Georgia and the Internal Revenue Service” (2025 IT-511 Georgia Individual Income Tax Forms and Instructions Booklet)
- “Income from pensions and annuities Interest income Dividend income” (Retirement Income Exclusion)
- “Taxpayers who are 62 or older, or permanently and totally disabled” (Retirement Income Exclusion)
How this differs from other pensions in Georgia
The state documents cited here do not treat a federal pension differently from any other pension, so the same age-based exclusion cap appears to apply to it as to private pensions; Social Security and Railroad Retirement Board benefits are excluded from the calculation separately. See also Does Georgia tax pensions? and military retirement pay.
FERS, CSRS and your TSP
The state documents cited here do not address TSP withdrawals, though they say the taxability of traditional IRA distributions and Roth conversions is the same for Georgia and the IRS and list taxable IRA distributions as retirement income on Schedule 1. For the Thrift Savings Plan itself, see state tax on TSP withdrawals and the TSP calculator.
What the Georgia documents leave open
The booklet never mentions civil service, CSRS, FERS or the TSP, so applying the general exclusion to a federal annuity is an inference from the general rule. The statute text was not available from a primary source and is not cited.
Common mistakes
- Taking the exclusion before age 62. Under 62 it applies only to someone permanently disabled so as to be unable to perform any gainful employment.
- Forgetting that no more than $5,000 of the cap can be used against earned income.
Related: Does Georgia tax pensions?, Georgia military retirement pay, and FERS, TSP and Social Security sequencing.
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Answer againSources
- 2025 IT-511 Georgia Individual Income Tax Forms and Instructions Booklet: https://dor.georgia.gov/document/document/2025-it-511-individual-income-tax-booklet/download
- Retirement Income Exclusion: https://dor.georgia.gov/retirement-income-exclusion
Read from the state documents linked above on October 29, 2026. General information, not tax advice.