Former IRS worker says months after retiring, she's still waiting for money she's owed
Source: Scripps News
Posted 9:00 AM, Dec 26, 2025
For 33 years, Donna Talbott worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), spending the majority of her years working remotely. “I absolutely loved my job," Talbott said. "I helped taxpayers, I always said I worked for the good side.” However, Talbott said the past year has been hard for federal workers. That includes a lot of questions over job security, as some federal jobs face staff reductions amid restructuring.
In April, federal workers were offered a voluntary exit through the deferred resignation program (DRP). Those who opted in to DRP would be placed on paid administrative leave through Sept. 30. For Talbott, it wasn’t an easy decision, but one she felt would benefit her and her husband. It also aligned with her retirement plans. In addition to opting in to DRP, she chose to retire. She said she was paid through September. Since then, she hasn't seen a dime of the money she's owed.
"It's the end of December now, and I have not received anything," Talbott said. Talbott said she's still owed thousands of dollars from unused vacation hours. She said she also hasn't received any money from her retirement pension. She said she's tried to get answers on what's taking so long, but said she's only been told to wait. "I'm not even out of HR," Talbott said. "HR is still reviewing."
Talbott isn't alone with delayed payments. Hundreds of thousands of federal employees opted into DRP, and Talbott said many others are still waiting for payments.
Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/former-irs-worker-says-months-after-retiring-shes-still-waiting-for-money-shes-owed
I know when I was preparing to retire, I was assigned someone in OPM to work with me on my package. When I retired, I got my lump sum for unused Annual (vacation) leave fairly quickly (IIRC, the lump sum was actually included in my final paycheck that came a couple weeks after my retirement date).
OPM then started what were basically "partial/estimated' annuity payments the month after I retired and adjusted it the following month, until the final amount came about 3 months after the retirement month (including any designated deductions for taxes, health insurance, life insurance, etc). I was under CSRS-Offset so not sure how they work that with FERS but it should be similar and I expect the employee would need to decide how much to include from their TSP Thrift Savings Program.
Between all the gutting of agencies including OPM (and office which Muskrat took over for his DOGEshit stuff) and the shutdown, the backlog is probably unbelievable due to that "Fork in the road" crap.
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