Samantha Joseph No Comments

2024 CIRS IRS Limits and Informational items for Employers

We are providing informational items for the 2024 calendar year related to the CIRS Plans:

2024 IRS Compensation Limits

  • The IRS sets annual limits on the salary that can be used by qualified pension plans such as the CIRS Pension Plan. These limits are applied on a plan year basis (July 1 – June 30).  The CIRS Pension Plan already takes these limits into account for all required purposes (benefit amounts, employer contributions, etc.).  However, you as the employer, must be aware of these limits as they apply to the employee contributions for Tier II Members under the CIRS Pension Plan.  The July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 compensation limit is $330,000 which means that the maximum Tier II employee pension contribution is $9,900 for the 2023-2024 Plan Year.  These amounts will increase to $345,000 and $10,350 for the 2024-2025 Plan Year.

 

2024 IRS Pre-Tax Contribution Limits

  • The IRS sets annual limits on the amount of pre-tax contributions employees can make to a 401(k) plan.  These limits are applicable on a calendar year basis (January 1 – December 31).  For 2024, these limits are $23,000 for regular 401(k) pre-tax deferrals and $7,500 for 401(k) pre-tax catch-up contributions.

 

2024 Employee Contribution Catch-up Form

  • Employee contribution elections (pre and post-tax) to the CIRS 401(k) Savings Plan must be made by Members through Voya.  However, if Members wish to elect catch-up contributions, they must complete the attached Catch-up Form and submit to you (the employer).  Catch-up contributions are additional pre-tax contributions that Members who will be age 50 or older by the last day of the calendar year can make in addition to the IRS regular pre-tax contributions. Catch-up forms can be found here: https://cirsplans.org/library/
justin No Comments

Your Form 1099-R

The 1099-R is a tax form used for reporting retirement plan distributions.  If you received a distribution of $10 or more from the CIRS 401(k) Savings Plan or the CIRS Pension Plan, a Form 1099-R will be generated and sent to you by the end of January.

Your 1099-R for the CIRS 401(k) Savings Plan will come from State Street Retiree Services. If you have not received this tax form by mid-February, you can download an electronic copy by signing in to your account at cirs.voya.com.  You can also request that a duplicate copy be mailed to you by calling the CIRS Service Center at 1-866-719-2477.

Your 1099-R for the CIRS Pension Plan will come from Transamerica Retirement Solutions.  If you have not received this tax form by mid-February, you must request that a duplicate copy be mailed to you by calling Transamerica at 1-888-976-8196.

For guidance on how to report the information from the 1099R Forms on your tax return, please consult your tax advisor.

Sandra Barros No Comments

Target Date Funds (TDFs) are coming to your 401(k) Savings Plan

Effective December 2, 2017, the State Street Target Retirement Funds were added to the CIRS 401(k) Savings Plan’s investment line-up.

Each State Street Target Retirement fund is a well-diversified, professionally managed, automatic investment fund option designed to prepare its investors for retirement in a specified year in the future. Each fund has a date in its name—the fund’s target date—that is the approximate retirement year when withdrawals begin.  For more information on TDFs, click here.

You can transfer your existing balance and/or direct future contributions into any combination of these funds:

Cash Equivalent

  • Stable Value Fund

Bond Fund

  • Bond Market Index

Stock Funds

  • S&P 500 Index
  • S&P 400 Index
  • Russell 2000 Index
  • International EAFE Index
  • Emerging Markets Index

Target Retirement Date

  • State Street Target Retirement 2020 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2025 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2030 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2035 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2040 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2045 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2050 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2055 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement 2060 Fund
  • State Street Target Retirement Fund

For more information on any of these funds, including overviews, details on strategy and holdings, and recent performance data, please visit the fund reports page.

You can change your investment elections at anytime by logging onto your account at cirs.voya.com or calling the CIRS Service Center at 1-866-719-2477 from 8AM – 8PM Monday – Friday (EST).

In addition, you also have the option of opening a Self-Directed Brokerage Account (SDBA) with TD Ameritrade.  You can invest in thousands of mutual funds and hundreds of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).  There is a $35 annual account maintenance fee (plus applicable transaction fees) for this service.

 

Sandra Barros No Comments

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT RATIFIED

On September 27, 2016, the unions and management signed a five-year contract governing CIRS benefits for the period July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2020.  The changes to the CIRS Plans under this contract are summarized below:

CIRS PENSION PLAN:  

Under the agreement, all current employees and those hired prior to October 1, 2016 (now referred to as “Tier I Members”) will experience no change in their CIRS Pension Plan benefits or future accruals. 

A new pension benefit tier is established for employees hired on or after October 1, 2016 (now referred to as “Tier II Members”) including the following changes:

  • Normal retirement age of 64 with 5 years of Employment Service;
  • Mandatory (after-tax) employee contribution equal to:
    • 2% of base salary for those earning up to $70,000,
    • 2.5% for those earning $70,001 and up to $100,000, and
    • 3% for those earning $100,001 and up to the IRS maximum recognizable compensation limit;
  • Benefit multiplier of 1.4%; and
  • Elimination of the retroactive crediting of the first year of service.

All other pension plan provisions, including Rule of 85, are preserved for Tier II Members

CIRS 401(k) SAVINGS PLAN:

The mandatory 2% contribution to the CIRS Savings Plan will continue for existing members until December 31, 2016.  Effective January 1, 2017, members will no longer be required to contribute to the Plan.  As of January 1, 2017, these members will be able to reduce their contribution percentage, if desired, by contacting Voya.

After January 1st, new plan members will be defaulted at a 0% contribution rate (instead of 2%) until they make an active election with Voya to change their contribution election.

The employer match to the CIRS Savings Plan remains suspended.

CIRS GROUP LIFE PLAN:

There are no changes to the CIRS Group Life Plan.

justin No Comments

Announcing Transamerica as the New CIRS Pension Plan Administrator

Our current pension administrator, Voya Financial, has made a business decision to exit the defined benefit pension market. This decision affects how The Cultural Institutions Pension Plan (“CIRS Pension Plan”) members access information for pension benefits. Your pension plan benefits and eligibility are unaffected by this change.

For those of you who still have a balance in The Cultural Institutions Savings Plan (“CIRS 401(k) Savings Plan”), there is no change in how you access your savings account. Voya Financial is continuing to administer the savings plan, and therefore the website and contact information will remain the same.

With the departure of Voya Financial from the defined benefit business, we have selected Transamerica Retirement Solutions as our new pension plan administrator. This decision was made after a thorough evaluation of leading companies who offer these services. Transamerica’s book-of-business includes over $140 billion in retirement plan assets, 4 million plan participants, and 60 years of pension plan experience.

The change in pension plan administration from Voya to Transamerica is effective as of May 2, 2016.

In summary, your new contact information will be as follows:

CIRS 401(k) Savings Plan: Please contact Voya at cirs.voya.com or by calling the CIRS Service Center at 1-866-719-2477.

CIRS Pension Plan: Please contact Transamerica at cirs.trsretire.com or by calling a Transamerica Retirement Counselor at 1-800-755-5801.

Both Transamerica and Voya representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST, except NYSE holidays.