Press Releases

 WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman James R. Walkinshaw (VA-11) and Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) are leading members of Congress in demanding immediate action from the Trump Administration after retirees across the country reported they never received their required Form 1099-R tax documents from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and were unable to reach live assistance to resolve the issue. When OPM fails to deliver required tax documents or provide live assistance, retirees are left at risk of filing late, incurring IRS penalties, or losing access to refunds they rely on to cover everyday expenses.

In a letter to Trump’s OPM Director Scott Kupor, the lawmakers pressed for answers after constituents said they did not receive their Form 1099-R, the document required to report federal retirement income, despite OPM’s stated policy that physical copies would be mailed to annuitants without an email address on file after January 31.

“It is unacceptable for the federal agency responsible for the tax documentation of millions of retired Americans to fall short in providing timely, reliable service to all of them. We strongly urge you to address this serious gap in support and ensure that every impacted retiree can obtain the documents they need to file their taxes,” the lawmakers wrote.

Constituents report waiting well beyond the two-week delivery window communicated by OPM. Many who attempted to contact the agency’s Retirement Services helpline encountered jammed phone lines, excessive wait times, or were unable to reach a representative at all.

In their letter, the members requested detailed information on how many 1099-R forms remain unmailed, current call wait times, customer service performance metrics, and what corrective actions OPM plans to implement.

The letter is also signed by Wesley Bell (MO-01), Donald S. Beyer, Jr. (VA-08), J. Louis Correa (CA-46), April McClain Delaney (MD-06), Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), and Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10).

Full text of the letter is here and below:

Director Scott Kupor

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

1900 E Street NE

Washington, D.C. 20415

Director Kupor,

We write regarding the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) online platform, Retirement Services Online (RSO), and the significant difficulties our constituents have encountered when  requesting physical copies of their tax documents. We urge you to immediately expand support services for impacted retirees who require access to their own tax documents. 

Each year, OPM states that it will mail physical Form 1099-R documents to any annuitant who does not have an email address on file after January 31.[1] Despite this policy, we have heard from numerous constituents who still have not received their Form 1099-R or annuity statements, even after waiting well beyond the maximum two-week delivery window communicated by your staff.

Many of these individuals subsequently attempted to contact OPM through your phone help line but were unable to reach a representative. This has been a persistent and deeply frustrating problem for retirees who call repeatedly without ever receiving assistance. OPM is required to provide retirees with their tax documents and there is absolutely no justification for your failure to uphold this basic service.[2]

We are requesting the following information to ensure our constituents are receiving the best possible service from your office:

What is the current status of mailing Form 1099-R to retirees, including statistical information on how many have yet to be mailed?

What is the current average call and wait times at the Office of Retirement Services’ help line?

Does OPM collect customer service satisfaction data for the ORS help line and, if so, what metrics does OPM use to gauge successful outcomes?

What measures, if any, is OPM planning to take to ameliorate these issues and improve its overall customer satisfaction with the retirees it serves?

It is unacceptable for the federal agency responsible for the tax documentation of millions of retired Americans to fall short in providing timely, reliable service to all of them. We strongly urge you to address this serious gap in support and ensure that every impacted retiree can obtain the documents they need to file their taxes.

We look forward to your timely response.

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