Well, I did something stupid. Former federal employee who departed this past year after nearly 5-years of Service. At the time of my exit, I was brash and I chose on my SF3106 to have my FERS Refund (both my contributions and interest) just issued to me as a lump-sum payment. I received the lump sum payment only few days ago (presumably with the 20% federal income tax holding applied).
Now that I'm in a new role in the private sector post-government insanity and DOGE, I am realizing I let my emotions at the time cloud my judgment. I want to see if it is still possible to roll my contributions to my Roth 401k and the interest it garnered to pre-tax contributions.
I do not have a letter from OPM indicating the contribution vs interest split, and the payout was deposited direct to my bank account.
- Can I undo my mistake and still attempt to roll this over?
If yes...
Besides calling OPM (which I attempted to today and could not reach...), is there any way to certify what the breakdown of the sum was Roth/contributions and what was pre-tax/interest?
My 401k (Vanguard) typically requires a letter from the institution (in this case, would be OPM) made out to them. Since I'm now in possession of the funds, what are my options here? Cashier's checks look to only be useable for pre-tax dollar contribution roll-overs.
If no...well, it's a giant silver bullet to my remaining student loans at least.