§7447A Retirement for special trial judges

Summary

Special trial judges can retire if they meet age-and-service rules: age 65 with 15 years, 66 with 14 years, 67 with 13 years, 68 with 12 years, 69 with 11 years, or 70 with 10 years. All time served as a special trial judge counts, even if it was not continuous. A special trial judge who becomes permanently disabled must retire. Retired judges can be asked by the chief judge to do Tax Court work, but without the judge’s agreement those recalled cannot work more than 90 days in a year and cannot work while sick. A judge who chooses the retirement pay option gets a pension that starts the day after regular pay ends and is paid like salary for life. The pension for normal retirement is the judge’s current salary multiplied by (years served ÷ 15). For disability retirement, the pension is the full salary if the judge had at least 10 years, or half that salary if under 10 years. Parts of a year under 6 months are dropped; 6 months or more count as a full year. Time spent working full-time while recalled counts as service. The retirement pay choice must be filed in writing with the chief judge while still serving (or within 60 days after leaving if not reappointed), and it cannot be changed once made. Some other rules that apply to Tax Court judges also apply here, with any mention of the President read as the chief judge.