Last Updated: September 27, 2026 Reading Time: 10 min

The best dates to retire in 2027 come down to three calendars that never quite agree: the pay-period calendar, the month-end calendar, and the leave-year calendar. In 2027 they line up cleanly on exactly two Saturdays, May 29 and October 30, and one of those costs you a holiday. The December question, retire on December 31, 2027 or hold on eight more days until January 8, 2028, reduces to one line of arithmetic. Below is every 2027 pay-period end date, a candidate-date matrix worked in dollars, and the CSRS rule FERS employees do not get.

The 2027 Candidate-Date Matrix

The dates and the money are usually published separately. This table puts them together. Inputs, stated so you can rerun it: hourly rate $60.00 (about $125,200 a year at 2,087 hours), an annual leave balance of 320 hours on the separation date, 15 or more years of service so 8 hours accrue per pay period, a monthly gross FERS annuity of $3,500, and a 2028 pay adjustment of R, which does not exist yet and is carried as a variable. No taxes, no survivor reduction. FERS unless the row says CSRS. Pay-period numbers and dates use GSA's standard biweekly calendar; confirm your agency's calendar.

Separation date Pay-period end? Annuity commences Unpaid gap Final accrual Lump-sum projection starts Share paid at 2028 rates First COLA fraction
Fri Apr 30, 2027 No (PP 9 ends May 1) Sat May 1 0 days Forfeited Mon May 3 0% 7/12
Sat May 1, 2027 Yes, PP 9 Tue Jun 1 30 days Captured Mon May 3 0% 6/12
Sat May 29, 2027 Yes, PP 11 Tue Jun 1 2 days, 0 workdays (May 30 is Sunday, May 31 is Memorial Day) Captured Tue Jun 1 0% 6/12
Mon May 31, 2027 (holiday) No (PP 12 ends Jun 12) Tue Jun 1 0 days Forfeited Tue Jun 1 0% 6/12
Sat Oct 30, 2027 Yes, PP 22 Mon Nov 1 1 day, 0 workdays (Oct 31 is Sunday) Captured Mon Nov 1 0% unless the balance exceeds about 400 hours 1/12
Fri Dec 31, 2027 (in-lieu holiday) No (period ends Jan 8, 2028) Sat Jan 1, 2028 0 days Forfeited Mon Jan 3, 2028 All but the first 40 hours 11/12
Sat Jan 8, 2028 Yes, 2028 PP 1, and the 2027 leave year ends Tue Feb 1, 2028 23 days (15 workdays) Captured Mon Jan 10, 2028 100% 10/12
CSRS only: Mon Nov 1, Tue Nov 2 or Wed Nov 3, 2027 No Day after separation 0 days Forfeited Next workday 0% 1/12

FedTools 2026 analysis. Annuity commencing dates from 5 CFR 842.204(b)(1) (FERS) and 5 CFR 831.701(a) and (b)(3) (CSRS); pay-period ends and numbering from GSA's 2027 payroll calendar; holidays from OPM's 2027 federal holiday table; lump-sum projection and re-rating mechanics from OPM's lump-sum fact sheet; COLA proration from 5 U.S.C. 8462(c)(1). The weekday, gap, month-end and re-rating columns are FedTools arithmetic. The COLA fraction is the share of the first adjustment an annuity captures, one-twelfth per month in effect, for a FERS annuity subject to the adjustment.

October 30: The Only Clean Date of 2027

Three things make a retirement date clean for a FERS employee. The pay period ends that day, so the last accrual is credited. It falls at the end of the month: for October 30 the one-day gap is Sunday, with no scheduled workday lost (May 29 also gives up the Memorial Day holiday), and the annuity starts on the first of the next month. And no holiday is wasted in between.

Of the 27 pay-period boundaries in the 2027 payroll year, only two also close out a month. May 29 qualifies because May 30 is a Sunday and May 31 is Memorial Day, but it hands back a paid holiday. October 30 (a Saturday) qualifies because October 31 is a Sunday: the last workday is Friday, October 29, and the annuity commences Monday, November 1. Nothing is given up.

It is the best clean date. It is not the best date for everyone. Someone whose annuity is small relative to salary, or who is carrying a large leave balance into a pay raise, may do better in January, which is the next section.

December 31, 2027 vs. January 8, 2028: One Line of Arithmetic

Two facts make this year's December decision unusual.

First, December 31, 2027 is a Friday, and January 1, 2028 falls on a Saturday. OPM's rule is that "if a holiday falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday will be treated as a holiday for pay purposes." So December 31, 2027 is a paid federal holiday for most employees, and a December 31 retiree's last day in pay status is a day off. OPM has not yet printed a 2028 holiday table; this is FedTools arithmetic from the 2027 table and the published rule.

Second, the 2027 leave year does not end with the calendar year. It runs January 10, 2027 through Saturday, January 8, 2028, and the 2028 pay adjustment, whatever it is, takes effect on Sunday, January 9, 2028, the first day of the first full pay period of the year.

Put those together with OPM's lump-sum projection rule. The agency projects your leave forward from the first workday after separation, counting workdays and holidays, and must re-rate any hours that fall on or after a pay adjustment's effective date.

A December 31 retiree's projection starts Monday, January 3, 2028. January 3 through 7 are five workdays, 40 hours, paid at 2027 rates. Everything from the 41st hour falls on or after January 10 and is paid at the 2028 rate. A January 8 retiree's projection starts Monday, January 10, so the entire balance is paid at the 2028 rate, plus one more 8-hour accrual for finishing the pay period, plus five days of January salary.

Subtract one from the other and the 40 hours of January salary exactly cancels the 40 hours the December 31 retiree was paid at the old rate. What remains:

Net value of waiting = 48 × hourly rate × (1 + the 2028 raise), minus one month's gross annuity.

At $60 an hour with no raise, the 48 hours are worth $2,880. A December 31 retiree's annuity starts January 1; a January 8 retiree's starts February 1, so the wait costs one monthly payment. Break-even is an annual gross annuity of 576 times your hourly rate times (1 + R). For a FERS retiree at the 1.0% multiplier whose high-3 is close to current pay, that tipping point sits at roughly 27 to 28 years of service. Below it, wait for January 8. Above it, take December 31. At the 1.1% multiplier for retiring at 62 with 20 or more years, the tipping point drops to about 25 years.

Assumptions carried in that line: 15 or more years of service, no survivor reduction, no tax modeling, both lump sums landing in tax year 2028, and no value assigned to five extra days of FEHB and TSP participation. If the 2028 adjustment is zero, the formula still holds with R at zero. The pay freeze: retire in 2027 or work one more year post covers the raise question itself.

Every 2027 Pay-Period End Date

Under the standard biweekly cycle GSA and NFC publish, every pay period ends on a Saturday. The dates below apply to that cycle, so confirm your agency's own calendar; the numbers are GSA's. NFC's numbering runs one behind for the same dates in 2027, so the period ending October 30 is GSA pay period 22 and NFC pay period 21. The federal pay period calendar and the NFC pay period calendar carry the provider-specific pay dates.

GSA pay period Ends Last workday of the month? Note
1 Sat Jan 9, 2027 No 2026 leave year ends; last day to cash out 2026 use-or-lose
2 Sat Jan 23 No First full period of the 2027 leave year began Jan 10
3 Sat Feb 6 No
4 Sat Feb 20 No
5 Sat Mar 6 No
6 Sat Mar 20 No Q1 end
7 Sat Apr 3 No
8 Sat Apr 17 No
9 Sat May 1 No The April 30 vs May 1 trap
10 Sat May 15 No
11 Sat May 29 Effectively May 30 Sunday, May 31 Memorial Day
12 Sat Jun 12 No Q2 end
13 Sat Jun 26 No
14 Sat Jul 10 No
15 Sat Jul 24 No
16 Sat Aug 7 No
17 Sat Aug 21 No
18 Sat Sep 4 No
19 Sat Sep 18 No Q3 end
20 Sat Oct 2 No
21 Sat Oct 16 No
22 Sat Oct 30 Effectively Oct 31 Sunday; the clean date
23 Sat Nov 13 No
24 Sat Nov 27 No 2027 use-or-lose scheduling deadline
25 Sat Dec 11 No
26 Sat Dec 25 No Christmas observed Fri Dec 24
2028 PP 1 Sat Jan 8, 2028 No 2027 leave year ends; maximum leave payout

Dates as printed on GSA's 2027 payroll calendar. Month-end column: FedTools arithmetic from OPM's 2027 holiday table. 2027 is a 26-period year on GSA's calendar; 2026 was the 27-period year.

The April Trap and the Leave-Year Rules Behind the Matrix

April 30 versus May 1. Pay period 9 ends Saturday, May 1. Retire Friday, April 30 and the annuity starts May 1 with no gap, but the accrual for that pay period is forfeited. Retire Saturday, May 1 to bank the 8 hours and the annuity waits until June 1, a 30-day gap against 8 hours of leave. At $60 an hour that is $480 of leave against a month's annuity. Take April 30.

Accrual is credited at the end of the period. Under OPM's table, employees with 15 or more years earn 8 hours per pay period. Employees with 3 to under 15 years earn 6 hours, except 10 hours in the last pay period of the leave year. Employees under 3 years earn 4 hours. Separate mid-period and the pending accrual is gone.

The carryover ceiling bites on January 9, 2028. Under 5 U.S.C. 6304, unused annual leave carries into the new leave year up to 30 days for most employees, 45 days for qualifying employees stationed overseas, and 90 days for SES, SL and ST positions: 240, 360 and 720 hours at 8 hours a day. OPM's table is titled "Maximum Annual Leave That May Be Carried Over into the New Leave Year." The ceiling is on what carries over, not on what you may hold during the year. Separate on or before January 8, 2028 and the entire balance, including hours above the ceiling, is cashed out under 5 U.S.C. 5551.

Holidays inside the projection do not extend it. The statute says the leave period "shall not be extended due to any holiday occurring after separation." A holiday in your projected window consumes leave hours; it does not push the window out. Christmas 2027 is observed Friday, December 24.

Sick leave is never cashed out. Unused sick leave is credited toward the annuity computation at 100% for FERS separations on or after January 1, 2014, and at the full balance for CSRS, per OPM's sick leave fact sheet. The Sick Leave Conversion Calculator turns a balance into months of service credit.

The CSRS Rule FERS Employees Do Not Get

A FERS immediate annuity commences "on the first day of the month following separation" under 5 CFR 842.204(b)(1). The one exception in that regulation is a separation that occurs "upon the expiration of a term," the regulation's phrase, which starts the annuity the next day. Special-category retirees under 5 CFR 842.208, including law enforcement officers, firefighters and customs and border protection officers, follow the same first-of-the-month rule.

CSRS has a second door. The default is the same, but 5 CFR 831.701(b)(3) provides that an employee "retiring after serving three days or less in the month of retirement" has the annuity commence the day after separation. A CSRS employee can therefore separate Monday, November 1, Tuesday, November 2 or Wednesday, November 3, 2027 and start the annuity the next day, collecting one to three extra days of salary with no gap. The operative test is days served in pay status that month, which is how OPM writes it.

CSRS employees separated involuntarily, other than for cause, and CSRS disability retirees also start the day after separation under 5 U.S.C. 8345(b)(2). The FERS equivalents for those situations are not covered here.

One more CSRS mechanic worth knowing: under 5 U.S.C. 8345(a), the annuity is paid "on the first business day of the month after the month or other period for which it has accrued." An annuity that commences November 1 is first paid on the first business day of December. The commencing date and the payment date are different things, and the gap between them is the cash-flow bridge to plan for.

Your First COLA Depends on the Date Too

The first cost-of-living adjustment on a new annuity is prorated. Under 5 U.S.C. 8462(c)(1) for FERS, and the parallel text in 8340(c)(1) for CSRS, it equals one-twelfth of the adjustment for each month the annuity has been in effect, capped at twelve, counting any part of a month as a month. An annuity that commenced May 1, 2027 captures seven-twelfths of the December 2027 adjustment; one that commenced November 1 captures one-twelfth. Which retirees get a COLA at all, and the 2027 figure, are in the 2027 COLA tracker.

Check Your Own Dates

Use the free FERS Retirement Date Optimizer to compare candidate dates against your salary, leave balance, accrual rate and planned leave use, and see which one leaves the most on your side of the table. Try it now. The Annual Leave Payout Calculator prices the lump sum for any balance, and the FERS Retirement Calculator gives you the monthly annuity figure the break-even formula needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best date to retire from federal service in 2027?

October 30, 2027, for most FERS employees. It is the Saturday that ends a pay period, so the final leave accrual is credited; the last scheduled workday is Friday, October 29, and October 31 is a Sunday, so no workday is given up; and a FERS annuity commences the first day of the month after separation, which is Monday, November 1. It is the only 2027 date that lines up all three without costing a holiday.

When does the 2027 federal leave year end?

Saturday, January 8, 2028. OPM's leave-year table runs the 2027 leave year from January 10, 2027 through January 8, 2028. January 9, 2028 is the first day of the 2028 leave year, and the carryover ceiling applies on that day.

Should I retire December 31, 2027 or wait until January 8, 2028?

Waiting is worth 48 hours of pay, which is 40 hours of January 3 to 7 salary plus one 8-hour leave accrual, re-rated at whatever the 2028 pay adjustment turns out to be. It costs one month of annuity, because the annuity starts February 1 instead of January 1. Waiting pays off when your annual gross annuity is below 576 times your hourly rate times (1 + the 2028 pay adjustment), under the stated assumptions.

Is December 31, 2027 a federal holiday?

For most employees, yes. New Year's Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, and OPM's rule treats the preceding Friday as the holiday for pay purposes. That makes Friday, December 31, 2027 a paid day off, and a paid last day for anyone who retires on it. OPM has not yet printed a 2028 holiday table, so this is FedTools arithmetic from OPM's published rule.

Can a January pay raise increase my annual leave payout?

Yes. Your lump sum is projected forward from the first workday after you separate, and the agency must re-rate the hours that fall on or after the effective date of a pay adjustment. The 2028 adjustment takes effect Sunday, January 9, 2028, so a December 31, 2027 retiree has the first 40 projected hours paid at 2027 rates and everything after at 2028 rates. A January 8, 2028 retiree has the whole balance paid at 2028 rates.

Do CSRS employees have different best dates than FERS employees?

Yes. Under 5 CFR 831.701(b)(3), a CSRS employee who serves three days or less in the month of retirement has the annuity commence the day after separation, so November 1, 2 or 3, 2027 works for CSRS with no gap. FERS has no equivalent rule: the annuity waits for the first of the next month.

Why does retiring at the end of a pay period matter?

Annual leave is credited at the end of the pay period, not during it. Employees with 15 or more years bank 8 hours per period. Employees with 3 to under 15 years bank 6 hours, and 10 hours in the final pay period of the leave year. Separate mid-period and that accrual is forfeited.

How much annual leave can I carry into the 2028 leave year?

240 hours (30 days) for most employees, 360 hours for qualifying overseas employees, and 720 hours for SES, SL and ST positions, under 5 U.S.C. 6304. Ordinary leave above your ceiling is forfeited when the 2028 leave year begins on January 9, 2028, unless you separate on or before January 8, 2028, in which case the whole balance is cashed out; restored leave and a protected higher ceiling can change that arithmetic, so verify the balance eligible for payout.

Does my retirement date change my first COLA?

Yes. Under 5 U.S.C. 8462(c)(1) the first adjustment on a new annuity is prorated at one-twelfth for each month the annuity has been in effect, capped at twelve, counting any part of a month as a month. An annuity that starts earlier in the year captures a larger slice of its first adjustment.

Which FedTools calculator tells me my own best date?

The FERS Retirement Date Optimizer compares candidate dates against your salary, leave balance and accrual rate. The Annual Leave Payout Calculator prices the lump sum for any balance and hourly rate, and the Sick Leave Conversion Calculator turns your sick-leave balance into service credit.

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