Director's Message

Greetings from Cleveland, where we are enjoying some crisp fall days now and then, perfect for enjoying football, and pumpkin spice.

We are busy making improvements to how we take care of you, our retiree and annuitant customers. Our focus is offering more services online for faster response times and added convenience for you. The articles in this edition further detail our efforts to better serve you. 

For example, we recently enhanced our askDFAS online tools to deliver more functionality and ease of use. The enhanced tools also provide the opportunity for you to ask a question about your account at a time when it’s convenient for you instead of needing to call our Customer Care Center. Check out the article in this issue for the good news!

Did you know that there are special rules for military retirees regarding employment or compensation from a foreign government? Please read this article and share with your retiree community. It’s important.

We have a number of options for reporting the death of a military retiree or SBP annuitant, including new options on askDFAS for reporting the death of a SBP annuitant. We also have a new checklist and website information to help your loved ones understand what happens when the death of a SBP annuitant is reported, similar to the checklist and website information we have for the loved ones of a military retiree who passes away. Please make sure your loved ones know about the resources available to them.

If you are a Gray Area Retiree, please check out our Spotlight article to learn about the unique requirements for receiving retired pay earlier than age 60.

Lastly, tax season will soon arrive, so please read our helpful article about how to prepare and avoid unnecessary hurdles to completing your annual filing. 

We continue to add helpful information and resources to our website. For example, our Quick Tools webpage is the quick and easy way to get to our askDFAS online upload tools, Form Wizards, checklists, guides and other helpful tools. https://www.dfas.mil/raquicktools. 

Thank you for reading about what we are doing to provide you with the best customer service possible.

From all of us at Retired & Annuitant Pay, please know your service to our country is greatly appreciated. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming Retirement Appreciation Day. 

Note: The information on this website is provided to explain typical situations regarding retiree and annuitant benefits. For details and exceptions, please see applicable laws, financial management regulations, and instructions.

Page Updated Sep 25 2024