 DECEMBER 2017 | VOLUME 148
The Division of Retirement and Benefits (DRB) has been
working on clarifying the requirements for retirees to return to work with the
same employer. The inception of this
project was announced at the Employer Conference held in October of 2016. After working with our tax counsel, the DRB
issued clarification for employers in August 2017 in the form of a Retiree
Return to Work Policy. This policy
document was distributed to all participating employers and the DRB web site.
On September 20, 2017, the DRB published intent to adopt
regulations formalizing the Retiree Return to Work Policy and a public comment
period was held from September 20 to October 20, 2017. During the public comment period, the DRB
received requests for clarification as well as comments. All comments were analyzed and the
regulations were edited for clarity. The
regulations were adopted by Commissioner of Administration Leslie Ridle on
November 22, 2017 and will go into effect for members retiring or rehiring on
or after January 1, 2018 who wish to rehire with the same employer.
One comment was a recurring request for exemption of
retirees working as substitute teachers with the same employer the school year
following retirement. The DRB
specifically addressed this issue with tax counsel who indicated no exceptions
exist to the IRS bona fide separation of employment requirements and the
regulations were subsequently adopted without this exception. However, Commissioner Ridle proposes to send a
letter to Alaska’s Congressional delegation requesting an exception be
granted for Alaska due to our unique teacher recruitment situation.
As an additional result of the public comment review, the
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) have been amended to reflect changes or
clarifications requested by employers that were permissible.
Read more in these FAQs
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The Internal Revenue Service recently announced
cost-of-living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and
other retirement-related items for tax year 2018. Many of the pension plan
limitations will change for 2018 because the increase in the cost-of-living
index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. Read More>>
Source:IRS
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The Employer Payroll Section will soon restructure
their section. Due to this restructure, you may have a different payroll
contact. The employer payroll section will send an email to each employer
regarding this change once we are closer to implementation of this
restructure.
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The December edition of both the PERS and TRS Newsbreaks are in the mail and available online now. Check them out!
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Did you know most PERS and TRS documents, including financial publications, are
available online? You can find the latest Actuarial Valuation Reports for PERS
and TRS at the following links:
PERS Publications
·
Actuarial Valuation Report as of June 30, 2016
TRS Publications
·
Actuarial Valuation Report as of June 30, 2016
The PERS and TRS 2017 Financial
Statements and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) will be
available by the end of the month or soon after.
To request a hard copy of these
reports, contact the Division at (907) 465-5711.
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