USPS VERA Service Computation Date: Verifying Your SCD and Military Service Deposits

Your Service Computation Date determines whether you're eligible for a VERA and how much your annuity will be. If it's wrong — and postal SCDs have errors more often than you'd think — you could miscalculate your pension or miss the eligibility threshold entirely. Audit this before you touch any retirement paperwork.

Where to Find Your SCD

Your Service Computation Date appears on your most recent PS Form 50 (Notification of Personnel Action) in your electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), accessible through LiteBlue. Two dates matter:

• Line 14 — Leave SCD: Determines your annual leave accrual rate. Not used for retirement eligibility.
• Line 15 — Retirement SCD (sometimes labeled SCD-Retirement or SCD-CSR): This is the date that counts. It reflects the start of your creditable federal service for retirement purposes.

Your Retirement SCD should account for all creditable civilian service, any military time for which deposits have been completed, and any adjustments for breaks in service or non-career time.

Common SCD Errors to Check

Pull every PS Form 50 in your eOPF and verify the Retirement SCD. If any of these apply to you, there may be an error:

Military service before postal career: The rules for post-1956 military service depend on your retirement system and service history. FERS generally requires a deposit for retirement credit. For CSRS or CSRS Offset, whether a deposit is required depends on when you first entered CSRS coverage; ask HRSSC how your service is treated. If a required deposit is incomplete, the service may not count toward VERA eligibility or your annuity.

Pre-career temporary or non-career service: Time as a Transitional Employee (TE), Casual, or other non-career appointment may or may not be creditable depending on when it occurred and whether deposits were made. Pre-1989 temporary service has different rules than post-1989.

Breaks in service: If you left USPS and returned, the break period is excluded from your SCD — but the prior service should still be credited. Verify that your returning PS Form 50 correctly adjusted the SCD to account for your earlier creditable time.

Correction errors on PS Form 50 history: Each personnel action generates a new PS Form 50. If a correction was applied at any point and the SCD was transcribed incorrectly, every subsequent PS Form 50 carries the error forward.

Military Service Deposits (SF 3108)

If your post-1956 military service requires a deposit, act before your separation date. Use Standard Form 3108 (Application to Make Deposit or Redeposit — Federal Employees Retirement System) for FERS or SF 2803 for CSRS.

When a deposit is required, the amount is generally 3% of your military base pay for FERS employees or 7% for CSRS employees, plus applicable interest. Interest timing depends on your retirement system and service dates; it is not simply triggered by separation. Ask HRSSC for an estimate based on your record.

The deposit goes to HRSSC. Processing takes time, so don't wait until the week before your separation date. If a required deposit isn't complete before you separate, the military time may not count toward VERA eligibility or appear in your initial annuity calculation, and OPM may need to adjust the record later.

To estimate your deposit amount, request a military service credit estimate from HRSSC. Your DD-214 helps document your service and military basic pay, while HRSSC can calculate any interest that applies.

Why the SCD Matters for VERA

VERA requires either age 50 with 20 years of creditable service, or any age with 25 years. Your Retirement SCD is the start date that determines your total creditable service. A SCD that's off by even a few months could mean:

• You don't actually meet the 20-year threshold (SCD is later than you thought because military time wasn't deposited)
• You qualify under the 25-year rule but not the 50/20 rule, or vice versa
• Your annuity is calculated on fewer years than you expected

One more: unused sick leave adds service credit for annuity computation but does not change your SCD. If you have 24 years and 8 months of actual service and 700 hours of sick leave (about 4 months of credit), your annuity computation uses 25 years — but you still don't meet the 25-year eligibility requirement.

How to Fix an SCD Error

If you find a discrepancy, contact HRSSC immediately. Bring specific documentation:

• Your DD-214 for military service discrepancies
• Prior PS Form 50s showing the correct SCD before the error was introduced
• Pay records for periods of non-career service

HRSSC can issue a corrected PS Form 50 with the accurate SCD. But corrections during a VERA window take time, and if the window closes before the correction is processed, you could lose the offer. Start your audit now, not after the offer letter arrives.

For a complete pre-VERA record verification checklist — including the SCD audit, military deposit check, eOPF review, and PSHB enrollment verification — the USPS Early Out: The Postal VERA & VSIP Decision Guide walks through each step with the exact forms and contacts.

See more United States guides →