May 2003

In April, two other Branch representatives, and I were sent to Washington, DC as part of the Western States delegation that lobbied your Congressional leaders on Letter Carrier and postal issues.

While in Washington, I was able to visit NALC National Headquarters. I made a special effort to visit the office of the NALC National Director of Retirees.  I explained a problem that CSRS retirees were having in California: there is personal state withholding tax. OPM has no automatic withholding for state tax from CSRS retirement checks. I was told that state taxes can be withheld for certain states.  I was given two phone numbers to call and see if California was a participating state. One number is for an automated system and the other is for hearing impaired.

When I returned home, I called the automated system number. It allowed me to establish state tax withholding from my CSRS retirement.  The process was fairly simple. All that is needed is your OPM retirement number and your social security number.

The system did ask about a “pin”number, however, as I was unaware of any “pin”number, I just entered my social security number, the OPM retirement number, and that was suffi cient to continue the process.

If this is something that would benefit you, the phone numbers for state tax withholding are:

Automated service: 1-800-409-6528. To talk to a representative: 1-888-767-6738

In Solidarity

FRANK THOMASY -Retiree and Branch 782 President