You may not withdraw pension contributions if you are vested. However, if you are not vested and have Employee Contributions (including UV & HP plus any interest accrued) in the Pension Plan, you may withdraw these contributions plus interest if you leave the Industry for a minimum of three months or if you have a Break in Service. The withdrawal requires submission of a completed Withdrawal form to the Plan Office. Under certain circumstances you may withdraw UV & HP even if you are vested.

The general rule is that contributions (other than union dues) withheld from an employee's wages or paid to the employer by a participant must be sent to the plan on the earliest date these contributions can reasonably be separated from the employer's general assets. This means that if you know how much should be sent to the plan three days after the pay date and it takes you another day to prepare the check, you must submit employee contributions four days after the pay date.

If you are mandated to contribute to Social Security there is a provision that allows you to opt out of the retirement system and take a refund. If not, you must actually terminate employment before you are eligible to withdraw your contributions. You must fill out a refund form and mail it to our office, if everything is correct and in order you will receive a check 90 days after your date of termination.

No. The employer sends his contribution as well as the employee's contribution directly to the Custodian.

Your pension contributions are calculated as a percentage of your regular earnings and deducted directly from your pay. Your OPTrust pension is integrated with the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). This means that you pay lower contributions to OPTrust for the part of your earnings that is also covered by CPP. The lower contribution rate applies to earnings below Year's Maximum Pensionable Earnings (YMPE). For 2005 the YMPE is $41,100.

Yes. Your employer will keep track of your contributions and report them on your T4 slip as contributions to a registered pension plan. Your T4 will also show a "pension adjustment" amount. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses the pension adjustment to calculate the amount of RRSP contribution room you will have in the following year. The CRA will notify you of your RRSP room for the following year on your annual Notice of Assessment.

Your contributions are currently deducted from your pay after taxes. The City does not report the refund of your pension contributions as taxable income to you. If you contributed to the City Employees' Pension Fund for at least five years, you are eligible for interest on your contributions. Interest paid to you on a refund is generally taxable, but may be rolled over to a pre-tax investment vehicle. Please consult your tax advisor.

Federal income tax withholding at the rate of 20% will be deducted from the taxable portion of your distribution unless you elect a direct rollover into an IRA or another employers eligible retirement plan. Please be advised that you may also be subject to a special tax at year-end for withdrawals of retirement savings if you withdraw before the age of 59. For tax advice, consult your tax accountant or financial advisor. ACERA Staff is not qualified to provide tax advice.

A member may make extra contributions by waiving the ITHP (Increased-Take-Home-Pay), currently at 5%, tax deferred. This form is available from the Police Pension website or you can click here to access it.

Upon termination of employment the member may withdraw all contributions and refundable interest.

If you wish to commence paying AVCs or contributions to the stakeholder pension plan, you need to complete an application form, available from your Human Resources Department.

Yes, but this is dependent on restrictions imposed by your UK scheme. It may be possible to take up to 40% in cash, but sometimes the transferring scheme can insist that the whole amount is 'locked in'. This is an area often abused by some New Zealand advisers and getting it wrong could result in penalties being applied. Our recommendation is that your UK pension money was saved for your long term retirement savings so keep to this plan and put it aside for your retirement savings.

The correct answer to this question is usually dependent on three things: (i) whether you anticipate a return to employment covered by either the State or Local Governmental Retirement Systems; (ii) whether you have accumulated five years of retirement service credit; and (iii) your age.

No. There are no provisions for an emergency withdrawal of funds from your ACERA account. Internal Revenue Service regulations and ACERA plan provisions prohibit the withdrawal of funds except when a member terminates employment.

Yes. An additional 50% of contributions can be deducted from your pay. Please note that this deduction is not tax deferred. This form is available from the Police Pension website or you can click here to access it.

You may drop credit courses without restrictions during the first two weeks of the quarter. (See Important Dates.) These dropped courses will not be recorded on your transcript. A $20 change fee will be charged during the second week of the quarter for each course dropped. You may drop only one course each academic year (defined as September through August) during the period from the beginning of the third week through the end of the seventh week of the quarter. (See Important Dates.

Fill out a Course Drop/Withdrawal Form (MS Word or Adobe PDF) and email, fax 860.832.3997, or mail it to:

A pension is a way of saving money to ensure a comfortable retirement. In the UK it has major tax benefits which make it the best type of retirement plan for the vast majority of people, who, unless they're rich, really do need to save for old age. While there are alternative ways of saving the pension is generally the best option for most people. There are personal pensions, the new Stakeholder pension and occupational pensions. (See How does a personal pension work etc.).