§1460. Supplemental spouse coverage: reductions in retired pay

(a) Reduction Required.-The retired pay of a person who elects to provide a supplemental spouse annuity shall be reduced each month as required under regulations prescribed under subsection (b).

(b) Regulations Determining Amount of Reduction.-Regulations for the purposes of subsection (a) shall be prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. Those regulations shall be based upon assumptions used by the Department of Defense Retirement Board of Actuaries in the valuation of military retirement and survivor benefit programs under chapter 74 of this title (including assumptions relating to mortality, interest rates, and inflation) and shall ensure the following:

(1) That reductions in retired pay under this section are made in amounts sufficient to provide that the Supplemental Survivor Benefit Plan operates on an actuarially neutral basis.

(2) That such reductions are stated, with respect to the base amount (under the Survivor Benefit Plan) of any person, as a constant percentage of that base amount and, in the case of a person providing a supplemental spouse annuity computed under section 1457(b) of this title, a constant percentage of such person's base amount for each 5 percent increment specified in accordance with that section.

(3) That the amounts of such reductions in retired pay of persons participating in the Supplemental Survivor Benefit Plan (stated as a percentage of base amount)-

(A) are based on the age of the participant at the time participation in that Plan is first effective under this subchapter; and

(B) are not determined by any other demographic differentiation among participants in the Plan.

(4) That such reductions are otherwise determined in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and practices.

(c) Suspension of Reduction When There Is No Spouse Beneficiary.-A reduction in retired pay under this section shall not be made in the case of any person during any month in which there is no eligible spouse or former spouse beneficiary.

(d) Adjustments in Amount of Reduction.-Whenever the amount of the reduction in retired pay of a participant in the Survivor Benefit Plan is increased under section 1452(h) of this title or recomputed under section 1452(i) of this title, the amount of the reduction in that retired pay under this section shall be increased or recomputed, as the case may be, at the same time and in the same manner as that increase or recomputation.

(e) Administrative Provisions.-The provisions of subsections (d) and (f) of section 1452 of this title apply with respect to the participation of a person in the Supplemental Survivor Benefit Plan in the same manner that those provisions apply under the Survivor Benefit Plan.

(Added Pub. L. 101–189, div. A, title XIV, §1404(a)(1), Nov. 29, 1989, 103 Stat. 1584 ; amended Pub. L. 102–190, div. A, title VI, §653(b)(2), Dec. 5, 1991, 105 Stat. 1388 .)

Amendments

1991-Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 102–190 inserted before period "and, in the case of a person providing a supplemental spouse annuity computed under section 1457(b) of this title, a constant percentage of such person's base amount for each 5 percent increment specified in accordance with that section".

Effective Date of 1991 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 102–190 effective Apr. 1, 1992, see section 653(b)(3) of Pub. L. 102–190, set out as a note under section 1457 of this title.