At this time of year you may be processing terminations. You can help employees make a smoother transition out of your reporting unit by checking on any existing TDP agreement they may have.
A terminating employee with a TDP agreement may not be aware of their options, and this is one area of retirement that doesn’t automatically transfer from one employer to another. Please tell them they have only 90 days from their termination date to transfer their agreement to a new Michigan public school, using the Tax-Deferred Payment (TDP) Agreement Addendum (R0625C).
Most members are no longer eligible to purchase new service credit (since September 30, 2017), so if the current agreement lapses, they may be unable to complete their planned purchase, which could impact their retirement timeline.
If a terminating employee wants to pay off or pay down their TDP agreement with cash or check, advise them that they must make the payment to ORS before their termination date. (The required forms, R0518C and R0718C, are found on the MPSERS member website under Forms and Publications. Please provide them the remaining balance on the TDP as they prepare to leave employment.
For any terminating employee who is not transferring to another Michigan public school and has a sizable TDP agreement balance, ORS advises them to review the MPSERS member website for more information and contact ORS with any questions before the termination date.
Included with the May School Aid Fund payment is the third-quarter (January – March) reimbursement for the 2018-19 school fiscal year for increased retirement costs due to the passage of Public Act 92 of 2017.
(Note: Universities and libraries don't have Pension Plus 2 members or DC qualified participants, so they don’t receive this reimbursement for increased costs.)
The state’s reimbursement consists of the 4-percent contribution for participants in the Defined Contribution (DC) plan, and the difference between Pension Plus and Pension Plus 2 employer normal cost contributions (3.13 percent for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019).
This amount will not appear on your employer statement, and ORS will not invoice you for it, because it is a reimbursement for contributions you have reported through the fiscal year.
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A history of reported wages and hours and posted member and employer contributions for employees of your reporting unit can be found on the View Employee Information screen on the Employer Reporting website. Data is available from October 2002 through present day for data reported by your reporting unit (RU).
Not only can you see exactly what posted to the employee account, the information is invaluable when you need to make adjustments to prior posted information.
Edits and validations for adjustment records require that record begin and end dates, wage codes, and class codes on an adjustment record be compatible with the originally posted data or the adjustment record could suspend.
The View Employee Info screen displays data by fiscal year, and each fiscal year is divided into three sections:
Wage Record Details: Information reported on a Detail 2 (DTL2)-Wage and Service record.
DC Contribution Record Details: Wage information reported, and contribution amounts posted from a Detail (DTL4)-DC Contribution Record.
TDP Details: Information reported and posted from a DTL3-TDP Deductions record.
To view all additional links you can access from the Wage Record Details, DC Contribution Record Details and TDP Details screens, visit the View Employee Information section of Employer Reporting website.
We’ve all done it - mistyped a number. Often such errors can be spotted and corrected without too much fuss. An error in a social security number (SSN), however, is hard to spot. Even worse, getting that number wrong in retirement reporting leads to much work and frustration. The error ripples through the system and affects the member, the reporting units, and ORS.
ORS must be involved in any SSN corrections. If you believe someone has been reported under an incorrect SSN, contact Employer Reporting. You may be doing more harm than good if you attempt to change anything without ORS involvement.
How does a single mistyped number ripple through the system? Using an incorrect SSN for a new MPSERS member can cause the person to miss the benefit plan enrollment window and result in a default to a plan the new hire didn’t want. The reporting unit now must make positive and/or negative adjustments for those first pay cycles.
Using an incorrect SSN can lead to multiple member accounts created for the same person. This complicates their plans for retirement because all their accumulated service does not appear on a single account.
Each time an incorrect SSN is submitted, one or more reporting units will be involved in making negative and/or positive adjustments to straighten out the account, sometimes over years of pay cycles. In some cases, the member is due a refund or is required to make additional member contributions.
Because all new employees now have a DC component, Voya is also involved in almost every SSN error. Two accounts (one for each SSN) will be created at Voya, and the accounts will have to be merged. If it isn’t noticed right away, that will involve gains and losses on the employee’s DC contributions.
There have even been cases where one person’s retirement account overrode another person’s account, changing demographic information and service. ORS and the reporting units spent much time and effort figuring out what service belonged to which member.
If a member goes to retire and it is discovered that their survivor’s SSN is wrong, the member cannot even apply for retirement until the correction is made.
Please double- and triple-check SSNs before submitting a record for a new employee. If you have reason to suspect a problem with an account that could be related to an incorrect SSN, contact Employer Reporting at ORS_WebReporting@michigan.gov or 800‑381‑5111.
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