Purpose

The purpose of this bulletin is to notify CUNY agencies of the new arrears deduction codes for NYCTRS and provide instructions to enter employee arrears.

Affected Employees

CUNY employees enrolled in NYCTRS, Plan Type 7S, who owe NYCTRS arrears are affected.

Background

In October of 2020, NYCTRS submitted a request to both OSC and CUNY for the creation of retirement before tax and after tax arrears deduction codes to be taken via payroll deduction.

Effective Dates

Beginning February 2021, NYCTRS will notify CUNY agencies via mail to start, stop, or change retirement arrears deductions.

OSC Actions

OSC has activated General Deduction Codes 634 (NYT Arrears Before Tax) and 647 (NYT Prior Service After Tax) in PayServ.

Agency Actions

Agencies will receive notification via mail from NYCTRS indicating employees who owe arrears. The letter will specify the tax classification of the arrears (Before Tax or After Tax), the total amount owed (Goal Amount), the individual deduction amounts (Flat Amount), and the pay period the arrears deductions should begin.

Agencies must adhere to the Agency Submission Schedule when updating the General Deduction panel in PayServ.

Agency payroll officers must update the employees’ General Deduction page in accordance with the information provided by NYCTRS.

Entering and Updating Deduction

1. Agencies must review the letter provided by NYCTRS and verify the completeness, accuracy, and legibility of the member information. The employee's NYS EMPLID will not be provided and should be verified in the PayServ system before entering the arrears deduction.
2. Agencies must verify the employee is enrolled in NYCTRS (Plan 7S) as "Elect" on the retirement plan page prior to adding the arrears deduction.
3. Agencies are required to enter Deduction transactions into PayServ on the General Deduction Data page using the following instructions:
   1. Navigate to General Deduction Data (Main Menu >Payroll for North America > Employee Pay Data USA > Deductions > General Deduction Data).
   2. Enter the NYS EMPLID in the Empl ID field of dialog box and click Search.
   3. The employee's General Deduction Data page appears.
   4. Select View All.
   5. Determine if the employee already has a deduction record for the specific NYCTRS deduction by scrolling through the deduction codes using the scroll bar.
   6. If a record with the same NYCTRS deduction code exists, select the + sign to add a new row in the Deduction Details page, insert a row and continue onto Step 6.
4. If there is not  an existing row for the NYCTRS deduction code, select the + sign to add a new row in the Create General Deduction page.
5. Deduction Code - Enter the Deduction Type indicated on the NYCTRS letter.
6. Effective Date - The letter will provide a Targeted Paycheck Date. Enter the Payroll Effective Date according to the Agency Submission Schedule for the deduction to begin.
7. Deduction Calculation Routine - Select Flat Amount from the drop down box. Enter the individual deduction amount to be deducted from each biweekly paycheck as indicated in the NYCTRS letter.
8. Deduction End Date - leave blank.
9. Goal Amount - The letter will provide a Goal Amount/total amount owed to be keyed into this field.
10. Save the transaction.

Questions

Questions regarding the new NYCTRS arrears deduction codes may be directed to [email protected].
 

Questions regarding the PayServ entry may be directed to the Payroll Retirement mailbox.