State Agencies Bulletin No. 1255

Subject
New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) Tier 6 Contribution Rate Changes
Date Issued
June 19, 2013

Purpose

To describe the agency responsibility regarding Tier 6 contribution rates for the New York State Teachers Retirement System.

Affected Employees

Employees enrolled in Tier 6 in the NYS Teachers Retirement System (7X)

Effective Date(s)

Paychecks dated July 3, 2013 for Administration cycle and July 11, 2013 for Institution cycle

Background

On March 16, 2012, the Governor signed legislation creating a new Tier 6 that applies to employees joining a retirement system after March 31, 2012.

The New York State Teachers Retirement System operates on a July Fiscal Year. Effective the first check in July, the Retirement System is updating the participants’ contribution rates.

The employee contribution rates are:

Wages Contribution Rate
$45,000 or less 3%
$45,000.01 to $55,000 3.5%
$55,000.01 to $75,000 4.5%
$75,000.01 to $100,000 5.75%
More than $100,000 6%

Agency Actions

Agencies that have Tier 6 employees enrolled in the New York State Teachers Retirement should have received an email from this retirement system on 6/4/2013. The email contained a link and instructions to enter projected salaries for these employees in the NYSTRS portal.

OSC has been advised SUNY administration will be emailing agencies the projected salaries to be used to update the NYSTRS portal.

There are currently no Education (11xxx) Tier 6 employees enrolled in the New York State Teachers Retirement System.

The NYS Teachers Retirement System defines salary for percentage employees as:

Annual Salary multiplied by percentage if applicable.

Example: 50 % employee with the annual salary of $75,000.00

  • $75,000.00
  • *50%
  • $37,500.00

Contribution percentage rate would be 3%.

After the projected salary has been saved in the NYSTRS portal, the rate for the fiscal year 2013-14 will appear.

After updating the NYSTRS portal, the agency must verify that the contribution rate returned by the NYSTRS portal matches the current payroll record. If the rate entered does not match the employees’ current payroll record, the agency must update the new rate in PayServ.

  • Enter the new rate (if required) in the Retirement Plans page in PayServ to ensure the correct contribution rate is calculated in the employee’s paycheck.
  1. Open the Retirement Plans page. (Home>Benefits>Enroll In Benefits>Retirement Plans).
  2. Enter employee's Empl ID in search box.
  3. Click Search.
  4. Select the correct Empl Rcd # for the corresponding Job Record (if multiple records exist).
  5. Enter a row under Coverage
  6. Enter the payroll period begin date in the Deduction Begin Date field.
  7. Enter the employee’s Date of Membership “Election Date”.
  8. Tab to the Percentage field and enter the contribution rate based on the employees’ annual salary.
  9. Click Save.

Questions

Questions concerning this bulletin should be emailed to the Deduction mailbox.

Questions regarding projected salaries provided by SUNY Administration can be directed to Gina Blume at (518) 320-1194 or by e-mail [email protected].

Questions concerning the NYSTRS portal and questions requiring TRS assistance can be directed to the New York State Teachers Retirement Systems Employer Reporting Unit at 1-800-356-3128 ext. 6220.