Does anyone’s husband work for the irs

amother

Sun, May 05 2024, 11:04 am

amother Eggplant wrote:

spouse of a federal employee here. In regards to dental and vision, I think most plans will cover vision as a specialist copay but that won't include glasses. And some plans might include dental cleanings but not more than that afaik. We have separate vision and dental, it's not all that expensive. I want to say about 20 for vision and 40 for dental per pay so that's every 2 weeks. For that we get free eye exam and a free pair of glasses or lenses each yr pp. and for dental there is some braces coverage in addition to percentage of filling costs etc.
we chose the carefirst high deductible plan. it's cheaper premiums and the plan GIVES you 1800 towards medical expenses so it's like the deductible is half as much. it has free primary care dr visits. copays on specialists is $35. health care is a huge benefit for someone who otherwise doesn't get from their work. ex: someone who is self employed. If he currently has good health insurance from his work it might not be as attractive. I don't know where you live, how many kids you have and what standard of living, but if you were planning to be a sahm it will be tight. if you work too it could be a decent salary. also with it being a 9-5 he can take on extra work during tax season for a private accounting company (IF the IRS allows, I'm not sure if this would be allowed if it's a conflict of interest etc. I know federal employees do take on side jobs which they can manage how much work they take on to still have the life/work balance BUT I don't know how this works as an IRS employee doing taxes)

Thanks this is helpful. I’m not so encouraged but we will see what happens.

amother

Yellow

Mon, May 06 2024, 5:20 am

amother Whitesmoke wrote:

I am a federal employee

All the benefits are the same across the board.

He will be earning anywhere between 75k and 150k depending on his GS level. Most likely he will earn between 100k and 120k as those are the salaries for GS 12 and 13. Most people dont get higher than that unless they go into management.

Every year or two the salary goes up by a few thousand when the step level increases within his GS level. There are also annual COLA increases. These increases are not so significant unless he goes up a GS level which requires getting a promotion. At some point the steps end and you dont get automatic raises.

Health insurance is excellent but not as good as state insurance. You will pay about 4 to 5 hundred a month for a good plan. And there are copays and sometimes deductibles depending on the plan you pick. Compared to private, your insurance is cheap but not free. Most people get the blue cross blue sheild federal employee program standard or basic option but there are dozens of plans to choose from.

There is a 401k with a 5% match. There is also a pension plan that keeps going on the chopping block by congress so I am not sure if new people are getting that anymore. Probably they still are but you have to pay in about 5% also. There is vision and dental plans available to purchase but cost is fully on the employee.

There is a really good leave package plus opportunity to earn all kinds of additional time off like credit and comp time.

Overall, its not a good salary for a frum guy with a house full of kids unless both parents are working full time but the benefits are good and you probably wont be overworked. The major benefit is job security and predictability and decent benefits.

The downside is the pay, beaurocracy, and being at the mercy of congress and the changing administration every few years which until you deal with it you never realize how much politics affects your daily life. (Ex: I recently had to stop my full time work at home because its election year and the administration wants to look productive. Now half my team is out sick constantly and we get much less work done in name of productivity)

Top of gs scale is approximately 192k with locality. No idea how hard to reach at irs but plenty of frum families are ok on gov salaries (most of the dc area etc). Flexibility and w/l balance is great. At least our agency job will work you hard but not more than 40 hours.
Benefits may be comparable to big four or worst (thought health benefits were worse when we left). Benefits are stability and flexibility. Downsides are accurate in previous post

amother

Yellow

Mon, May 06 2024, 5:25 am

amother Eggplant wrote:

Can't imagine irs would allow working for accounting. Can't do anything related to federal law or your field. You are able to get a side job with no conflicts if approved by ethics and not on government time. Common ones real estate agent Trust and estates lawyer etc at different Federal Job

amother

Cadetblue

Mon, May 06 2024, 7:25 pm

amother Yellow wrote:

It's a conflict of interest to do taxes during tax season as an IRS employee. A common side job is teaching in a local college - that's usually approved and can help supplement income, if necessary.

amother

Whitesmoke

Mon, May 06 2024, 8:54 pm

amother Yellow wrote:

Most people do not get GS 15s. They usually max out at 13 or maybe 14.

A GS 13 step 1 in the DC area earns about 120k.

192K is a GS 15 step 10. It takes 17 years from step 1 to get to 10.

Lets not give OP unrealistic expectations.