The Office of Personnel Management wants retirees who ask to change the contact details on their federal annuity to prove who they are on a brand-new form. The agency published its proposal in the Federal Register on October 19, 2026, and is taking public comments until December 18, 2026. Nothing is required yet, because the form is still a proposal.
The paper is called Form RI 20-129, the Annuitant Verification Form. OPM’s notice says it was created to verify the identity of an annuitant who has requested changes to contact information, and that the verification decides whether the person gets access to the annuitant’s account.
The people affected are federal retirees who draw an annuity through OPM Retirement Services and need to update an address, phone number or similar detail. If the form is approved, a change request could come with a second step. The notice does not say what happens to a request when the form is not returned.
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How big is the proposed collection?
OPM expects the form to reach a small slice of its retirees. The notice estimates 750 respondents, each spending 15 minutes, for a total burden of 188 hours. The affected public is listed as individuals or households, and the form would be filled out on occasion, meaning whenever a retiree asks for a contact change rather than on a yearly schedule.
The collection carries the placeholder number 3206-NEW, which signals that it is a new information collection and not an update to an older form. OPM published the notice as a 60-day request for comments, the first public step before the agency seeks final approval.
Why would a contact change need a form?
The notice answers that in a single sentence: OPM has created the form to verify the identity of an annuitant who has requested changes to contact information. In the agency’s telling, the check settles whether the person making the request gets access to the annuitant’s account.
That puts the new step at the moment a retiree asks to update something as ordinary as a mailing address or a phone number. A retiree who moves, or who switches phone numbers, is the person who would meet the form, assuming OPM adopts it.
The notice appears at 91 Federal Register 66172 as document 2026-21378, issued by OPM’s Retirement Services office. It describes a proposed information collection under the paperwork review process, not a final requirement, and the consequences of not returning the form are not spelled out.
How can a retiree comment before December 18?
The notice says comments “will be accepted until December 18, 2026,” and it lists four ways to send them:
- The Federal Rulemaking Portal at regulations.gov, under docket OPM_FRDOC_0001-4636.
- Email to [email protected].
- eFax to [email protected].
- Mail to the Retirement Services Publications Team, OPM, 1900 E Street NW, Room 6500-AS, Washington, DC 20415, Attention: Cyrus S. Benson.
The notice was signed by Alexys Stanley, Federal Register Liaison for OPM. Because it was published on October 19 as a 60-day request, the December 18 date falls exactly two months later, which leaves retirees, retiree groups and anyone else with an interest the full window to weigh in on the form, its estimated 15-minute completion time and the 188-hour total burden OPM has put on paper.
What is still undecided?
Several details are open. The notice does not lay out when the form would take effect, how a retiree would receive it, or what OPM would do if it never came back. Those answers would come after the comment period closes on December 18 and the agency decides whether to move ahead with the collection.
Until then, a federal retiree who needs to change an address would follow OPM’s current process. The new form is an idea on paper, with the Federal Register notice as the place where the details and the comment channels are laid out.
Updating a federal annuity record this fall?
A federal retiree who would have to prove identity to change an address is already managing a stack of paperwork, and several benefits that help with household costs also depend on income limits that must be applied for.
The Benefits Checklist scans 11 benefit programs, including Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help for prescriptions and SNAP at 60 and up, with the 2026 income limits and a 50-state phone directory. A printable application tracker comes with the download, a place to keep each application straight.
Track the 11 programs behind a retiree’s paperwork with The Benefits Checklist →
More Financial Reading
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
