26 U.S.C. § 7447A — Retirement for special trial judges

(a) In general: (1) A special trial judge appointed under section 7443A may retire from that role once they meet an age-and-service table: age 65 with at least 15 years served as a special trial judge, 66 with 14, 67 with 13, 68 with 12, 69 with 11, or 70 with 10. (2) When figuring years of service, every period served as a special trial judge counts, whether or not the periods were consecutive.

(b) Retirement upon disability: A special trial judge appointed under section 7443A who becomes permanently disabled from doing the job must retire from that role.

(c) Recalling of retired special trial judges: An individual who retired under (a) may be called back by the chief judge to perform judicial duties for whatever period the chief judge specifies. But the total of those periods in any one calendar year can't (without the individual's consent) exceed 90 days, and the individual is excused during any illness or disability preventing performance of the duties. Acts (or failures to act) done while performing recalled duties carry the same legal force as if done by an active special trial judge. A recalled individual is paid the same compensation and travel and expense allowances as an active special trial judge, instead of retired pay.

(d) Retired pay: (1) An individual who retires under (a) and elects retired pay under (e) receives, during retirement, retired pay at a rate that is the same fraction of an active special trial judge's salary as (A) the years served as special trial judge bears to (B) 15 — capped at the full salary rate. (2) An individual who retires under (b) for disability and elects retired pay receives it (A) at the full salary rate if they had at least 10 years of service before retiring, or (B) at half that rate if they had fewer than 10 years. (3) Retired pay begins accruing the day after the individual's salary as special trial judge stops, continues for the rest of their life, and is paid the same way as an active special trial judge's salary. (4) When computing years served under paragraph (1), a leftover fraction of a year under 6 months is dropped, and 6 months or more counts as a full year. (5) Time spent substantially full-time on recalled duty under (c) also counts toward years served.

(e) Election to receive retired pay: Any special trial judge may elect to receive retired pay under (d). The election can be made only while the individual is serving as a special trial judge — except that someone not reappointed may make it within 60 days after leaving office — once made it's irrevocable, and it must be filed in writing with the chief judge, who sends the Office of Personnel Management a copy of each notice filed.

(f) Other rules made applicable: The rules in section 7447 covering forfeiture and freezing of retired pay (subsection (f)), coordination with civil service retirement (subsection (g)), disability certification and the President's disability finding (the first sentence of subsection (h)(1) and all of subsection (h)(2)), revoking a retired-pay election (subsection (i)), and the Thrift Savings Plan (subsection (j)) all apply to a special trial judge the same way they apply to a Tax Court^* judge. Wherever those subsections mention the President, that reference means the chief judge instead, for purposes of this section.