Happy New Year! Due to the New Year’s holiday, your January monthly benefit payment will likely be available in your account on Wednesday, January 2. Payments are dated January 1, but banks will be closed on New Year’s Day and due to tax year implications, January payments cannot be deposited any earlier than January 1.
Also, please note that the ASRS is upgrading its payment process beginning January 2019. These modifications are expected to further increase our security and allow the ASRS more flexibility in payment processing while saving approximately $1 million per year, which will remain in the ASRS Trust Fund for future pensions.
As a result of the changes, your ASRS deposit will appear with a new description “AZ St Retirement” and will now be processed through Bank of America.
The increased system flexibility enables the ASRS to deduct actual cents (rather than rounding to the nearest dollar) for your tax withholdings, so your final benefit payment deposits may be slightly different beginning in January.
For those members with ASRS or ADOA retiree health insurance whose monthly premiums are deducted from their pension payment, your new premium for 2019 will begin in January and your benefit check will reflect those changes as well.
In February, new state and federal tax tables will be applied to benefit payments and may again result in a change to your net benefit.
Please refer to our website for additional information on
Benefit Payments and/or
Tax Information.
