SF 3107 Instructions: How to Fill Out the FERS Retirement Application

What Is SF 3107 and Why Does It Matter?

Standard Form 3107 is the official application for immediate retirement under the Federal Employees Retirement System. Every FERS employee who wants to retire with an unreduced or reduced immediate annuity submits this form — either through OPM's Online Retirement Application (ORA) portal or, in limited remaining cases, on paper. Since OPM's "Last Day of Paper" milestone on July 1, 2026, more than 95% of retirement applications are processed digitally, but the underlying data fields are identical regardless of format.

Getting SF 3107 right matters because errors in any section can stall your application in OPM's adjudication queue. The average digital claim takes about 98 days to process; paper claims average 156 days. A missing signature, a mismatched date, or an incomplete schedule can push you further toward the longer end of that range — all while you're living on interim pay at 60–80% of your estimated annuity.

Section-by-Section Walkthrough

Section A: Identifying Information

Enter your legal name exactly as it appears in your electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF). OPM cross-references this against agency payroll records, and even small discrepancies — a middle initial versus a full middle name, a hyphenated surname that doesn't match — can trigger a manual review. Include your Social Security number, date of birth, and current mailing address.

Section B: Federal Civilian Service

List your current position, employing agency (including bureau or division), and service computation date. The service computation date drives your entire annuity calculation, so verify it against your SF-50s in your eOPF before completing this section. If you have periods of temporary service, FICA-only coverage, or breaks in service, those will surface here.

Section C: Marital Information

Declare your current marital status and provide details on any prior marriages that ended in divorce, annulment, or death. If a former spouse is entitled to a share of your annuity under a court order (COAP), you must check "Yes" and attach a certified copy of the divorce decree. Leaving this section incomplete — or checking "No" when a court order exists — can result in OPM suspending your entire application until the issue is resolved.

Section D: Annuity Election

This is the binding survivor benefit election. Married employees choose from three options:

• Full survivor annuity: Your surviving spouse receives 50% of your unreduced annuity. Your monthly payment is reduced by 10%.
• Partial survivor annuity: Your surviving spouse receives 25% of your unreduced annuity. Your monthly payment is reduced by 5%.
• No survivor annuity: No benefit passes to your spouse upon your death.

If you elect anything less than the full survivor annuity, your spouse must sign SF 3107-2 (Spouse's Consent to Survivor Election) before a notary public.

Section E: Insurance Information

Indicate whether you want to continue Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) or Postal Service Health Benefits (PSHB) and Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) coverage into retirement. The five-year continuous enrollment rule applies to both — you must have been enrolled for the five years immediately preceding retirement, or since your earliest opportunity to enroll, whichever is shorter.

Section F: Payment Instructions

Enter your direct deposit routing and account numbers. Under Treasury regulations, all federal annuity payments must be made electronically via direct deposit or a Direct Express debit card. Double-check the routing number against a voided check or your bank's official documentation.

Required Schedules and Attachments

SF 3107 includes several conditional schedules that apply depending on your service history:

Schedule A (Active Military Service): Required if you have active, honorable military service. Attach DD-214 (Member Copy 4). For FERS credit, your post-1956 military service deposit must be paid in full to your employing agency before separation. If the deposit remains unpaid, that military service will not count toward your annuity.

Schedule B (Military Retired Pay): Required if you receive or have applied for military retired pay. Generally, you must waive military retired pay to receive FERS credit for that service — unless the retired pay is for a service-connected disability or under reserve retirement provisions.

Schedule C (Workers' Compensation): Required if you have received or applied for OWCP benefits. You cannot collect both a FERS annuity and OWCP wage-loss benefits simultaneously — you must elect the more advantageous one.

SF 3107-1 (Certified Summary of Federal Service): Your agency's HR office completes this form, summarizing all periods of civilian and military service, retirement coverage codes, and sick leave balances. Review it line by line, sign Section E, and return it.

Common Mistakes That Cause Delays

Five errors appear most frequently in OPM rejection notices:

1. White-out or cross-outs on SF 3107-2: The spousal consent form must have no physical corrections whatsoever. If your spouse makes an error, start with a fresh form.
2. Mismatched dates on the notarization: The spouse's signature and the notary's signature on SF 3107-2 must carry the exact same date. A one-day discrepancy is grounds for rejection.
3. Missing military deposit proof: Completing Schedule A without attaching the paid-in-full receipt from your payroll office. OPM will not credit that service until proof of payment arrives.
4. Leaving Section C blank instead of checking "No": An unanswered question about prior marriages reads as incomplete, not as "none."
5. Wrong SF 3107 version: OPM requires the current revision (05/2014 as of 2026). Download it directly from the OPM Standard Forms Directory to avoid outdated versions circulating online.

How the Guide Helps You Avoid These Pitfalls

The FERS Retirement Application Guide walks through each section and schedule of SF 3107 with a cross-reference audit system — you check your eOPF records against the form fields before submitting, so discrepancies surface while there's still time to fix them rather than three months into adjudication.

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