New Fraud Prevention Hotline
The South Carolina Budget and Control Board has launched a Fraud Prevention Hotline that allows anyone to report potentially fraudulent activity about a program administered by the agency.
Callers can leave a message about their concerns and are not required to identify themselves.
The hotline can be reached by calling 803-832-8877 or toll free 800-411-8893. Written information may be sent to Fraud Prevention Hotline, 1201 Main Street, Suite 715 Box 27, Columbia, S.C. 29201.
All allegations of fraud will be investigated by the Board’s Internal Audit Unit, which in conjunction with the Board’s Legal Division, will forward information to the appropriate law enforcement agency if the facts warrant.
The hotline is open to both Board employees and customers who use the Board’s programs and services. To expedite an investigation, information should be as specific as possible.
Retiring Next Year? Be Sure You're Prepared
If you are one year or less away from being eligible to apply for retirement, you may have started to consider questions like:
- When can I retire?
- How much will my benefit be each month?
- Will my health insurance coverage change?
- How much will my health insurance cost?
- Is it possible to retire earlier?
- What about the TERI program?
- Can I return to work after retirement?
- When can I get my 401(k) or 457 money?
- What do I do with my annual leave and/or my TERI payout?
- Will Social Security be there for me?
- How and when do I apply for retirement, Social Security, and retiree health insurance coverage?
The Retirement Systems is here to help. We want to make sure that you have all of the information you need to make the decisions that are best for you. We offer a one day retirement seminar that will answer all of these questions and more. These seminars are held throughout the year at different locations around the state. Presenters from the Retirement Systems, the South Carolina Deferred Compensation Program, the Social Security Administration, and the Employee Insurance Program will provide you with the information needed to successfully navigate the retirement process.
Be sure to visit our website at www.retirement.sc.gov to see a complete list of the Retirement Systems’ upcoming seminars. You may register for a seminar online or by contacting our Customer Services Department at 803-737-6800 or toll free at 800-868-9002 (within SC only).
Can’t find a seminar date that fits your schedule? No problem. You can access videos of this seminar on our website at www.retirement.sc.gov/video. We also have a benefits calculator available online that allows you to estimate your own Retirement Systems benefit. You can find the calculator at www.retirement.sc.gov/calculators.
Use Stimulus Money for Retirement Savings
As a part of the federal government’s economic stimulus plan, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued new tax tables April 1, 2009, that reduced the amount of income taxes taken out of wages. So, what are you doing with the extra cash?
One option you might want to consider is to defer some or all of it into a South Carolina Deferred Compensation Program (SCDCP) account or another tax deferred product. Even a little more could make a difference.
By deferring more money into a tax deferred account, you lower the amount of your income that is subject to current federal and state income taxes. This allows you to put off tax payments until you begin withdrawals or distributions.
The SCDCP is a state-sponsored voluntary, retirement savings plan that can help you supplement your Retirement Systems pension. The SCDCP offers a 401(k) savings plan and a 457 savings plan. You may participate in one or both of these plans and enrolling is simple. However, before enrolling, be sure to check with your employer to see if this option is available to you.
The SCDCP also offers a Roth 401(k) option to all state employees and employees of any agency for which the state Comptroller General’s Office handles payroll. With the Roth 401 (k) option, you can make after-tax contributions today and take tax-free withdrawals at retirement. Employees of agencies whose payroll is not handled by the state Comptroller General’s Office will need to check with their payroll office to determine if this option is available to them.
Benefits of participating in the SCDCP include:
- Saving for your retirement using pre-tax dollars, which allows you to decrease the amount of federal and state income taxes you pay during the course of the year.
- Your account’s interest, earnings, and contributions are all tax-deferred.
- You can save easily due to automatic payroll deductions.
- You have a wide variety of investment options from which to choose.
- Low minimum investment of $10 per paycheck.
- Low administrative fee of 15.3 basis points (or 0.153 percent of your account) annually per plan. For example, if your account balance is $10,000, your annual administration expense would be $15.30.
For more information about the SCDCP or to enroll in the Program, contact ING, the SCDCP’s record keeper and administrator, toll free at 866-826-7283 or visit the SCDCP’s website at http://scrs.csplans.com.
New Federal Tax Tables May Affect Your Check
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This act was intended to help stimulate the U.S. economy in the wake of the ongoing economic downturn by putting more money in people’s pockets to spend and thus help revive the economy.
As a result, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued new tax tables that lowered the tax withholding rates for employees and retirees April 1, 2009. This meant employees and retirees saw a little extra in their pay and annuity checks because fewer taxes were being withheld.
The stimulus plan also included a new tax credit on earned income such as wages reported on IRS Form W-2. The Making Work Pay Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit of up to $400 per worker ($800 per married couple filing jointly) that phases out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes of $75,000 or higher, or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly. With incomes of $95,000 or more for individuals or $190,000 for joint filers, there is no credit. This credit helps employees offset the impact of lower withholding on their 2009 and 2010 tax bills. However, retirees who receive retirement income reported on IRSForm 1099-R are not eligible for this credit.
Since you are getting more in your annuity check for the remainder of the year, this might affect your tax situation next April. If you typically receive a refund, this could lower the amount of the refund, or if you normally pay taxes, you could owe more, depending on your circumstances.
The Retirement Systems encourages you to consult with a tax advisor to determine if the reduced tax withholding rates will affect your individual tax situation. You may also visit the IRS' website at www.irs.gov and the South Carolina Department of Revenue’s website at www.sctax.org.
If you determine that you need to change the federal tax withholdings for your annuity check, please contact our Customer Services Department at 803-737-6800, toll free at 800-868-9002 (within SC only), or at www.retirement.sc.gov.
No Cost-of-Living Adjustment for 2009
Effective July 1, 2008, state law requires that eligible retired members of South Carolina Retirement System and the Police Officers Retirement System receive an automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) increase of up to 2 percent during periods of inflation if the Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) as of the previous December 31 is at least 2 percent. If the CPI-W is less than 2 percent, the automatic COLA would equal the increase in the CPI-W.
As of December 31, 2008, the CPI for the previous 12-month period was negative .5 percent. Because the CPI-W was negative, a COLA for retirees was not granted in July. State law benchmarks the provision of automatic retiree COLAs on the CPI-W.
Pension Protection Act Offers Tax Savings for Retired Public Safety Officers
If, as a retired member of the South Carolina Retirement Systems, you have health insurance premiums deducted from your monthly benefit, these premiums are withheld on an after-tax basis.
As a result of the federal Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), however, retired public safety officers, as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, may be eligible to receive up to $3,000 in federal tax savings for health insurance premiums withheld from their retirement benefit and paid directly to a participating insurance provider. The Retirement Systems implemented this provision of the PPA in February 2007 through its Retired Public Safety Officer Insurance Payment Program.
Each January, the Retirement Systems mails to eligible retired public safety officers who participate in the program an insurance withholding statement for the previous calendar year and instructions for completing the corresponding section of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040 to take advantage of the tax credit of up to $3,000.
If you are a retired public safety officer who does not participate in the Insurance Payment Program but would like to, complete and submit to the Retirement Systems a Form 7700 or a Form 7701, both of which are on the Retirement Systems’ website. Retired public safety officers should complete Form 7700 if they are covered by the State Health Plan through the SC Budget and Control Board’s Employee Insurance Program (EIP). If your insurance is through a provider other than EIP, you need to contact your insurance provider to determine if it participates in the Retirement Systems’ Insurance Payment Program. If your insurance provider participates, complete and submit to the Retirement Systems a Form 7701 (available on our website).
On the forms 7700 and 7701, you will identify yourself as having been employed as a public safety officer immediately prior to retirement. You are responsible for determining whether you were a public safety officer immediately prior to retirement. The Retirement Systems can only provide information and assistance regarding the Insurance Payment Program.
If you have already submitted Form 7700 or Form 7701 to the Retirement Systems, no action is necessary to receive an insurance withholding statement in January. You can locate forms 7700 and 7701 on our website at www.retirement.sc.gov.