I completed my personalized retirement interview. What’s next?

This brochure is enclosed with your retirement packet, which was sent because you have completed your Personalized Retirement Interview (PRI). Please carefully review the packet. Completing the PRI puts you well on the way to retirement. Here are your next steps:

• Carefully review your retirement packet.
• Make any corrections and promptly return the signed retirement application to TRS.
• Give the Supplemental Report and Sick Leave Certification forms to your employer if we sent them to you. Your employer will have to complete the forms and send them to us after your last day of work. We need these forms before we can calculate your annuity payment.
• Make health insurance decisions. All members who have elected to retire will receive updated Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) information in the spring. If you wish to enroll, the form must be received no later than 30 days after the date of your retirement. Once received, we will send you a letter or e-mail.
  Soon after, you will receive a welcome letter from us verifying the date your coverage will begin and the health plan you have selected. Identification cards will be mailed within three to four weeks by the HMO you have selected or by the administrator of the Teachers’ Choice Health Plan (TCHP).
  If you select the TCHP, you will also receive a prescription drug card. If you enroll in an HMO, one card is used for medical and prescription drug coverage.
• If you wish to use direct deposit for your retirement check, make sure that you have your financial organization complete the form. Then sign and return it to us.
• Pay in full any optional service or Early Retirement Option (ERO) payments.

Once we receive all of the required forms and payments, we will calculate your retirement benefit and send you a letter or e-mail indicating the date you can expect to receive your first check. Please allow 60 to 90 days for your first payment to arrive.

Convenient e-mail notification

You can sign up to receive important notices about the status of your retirement. We will send an e-mail acknowledging receipt of information from you. And most importantly, you’ll instantly know when we have everything we need and when you can expect your first retirement check.

You may have already signed up for this service during your Personalized Retirement Interview. If not, visit our Web site, trs.illinois.gov, and click on the Member Account Access link on the left side of the page. A user ID and password are required to log on to this secure area.

When logged on to the Member Account Access area, select “Update” under the E-mail Information area. When the next page opens, provide your e-mail address and click on “Yes” to sign up for e-mail notifications.

After you retire

First retirement check

Your first monthly check will be calculated from the date you retire to the last day of the month/pay period. You will be paid in arrears. For instance, we will pay you in December for your November retirement benefit. Checks are issued by the Office of the Comptroller on or shortly after the first of the month by paper check or by direct deposit.

Expect a 1099-R

The Office of the Comptroller will mail an IRS Form 1099-R to you by January 31 in the new year. Some members also receive a W-2 form.

Box 5 on the 1099-R is the non-taxable portion of your benefit. The wording on this box can be confusing because it does not indicate total insurance premiums.

Earnings Statement of Direct Deposit

If you are receiving your checks via direct deposit, the Office of the Comptroller will issue you an Earnings Statement of Direct Deposit when the net amount changes. At first, these statements are mailed almost every month. Once your check becomes a regular amount, you will no longer receive the statements. A year-end statement showing the year’s deposits will be issued in December.

Post-retirement employment

After you retire from your TRS-covered position, there are limitations that will affect your post-retirement employment. Usually, there are no restrictions if you work in position that is not covered by TRS.

Same school year limitation

If you return to a TRS-covered position in the same school year that you last contributed to TRS, your retirement annuity will be canceled and you will be required to repay all annuity payments.

Example

The school year begins July 1 and ends on June 30. If a member’s last day of work is June 3, he or she will not be eligible to work in a TRS-covered position until after July 1. The member must also comply with other post-retirement employment rules.

Employment in subsequent school years

With post-retirement employment, you are limited to 120 days or 600 hours per year in a TRS-covered position. However, you must wait 30 days from the effective date of your last day of service before performing any post-retirement teaching for the same employer.

Consequences of breaking limitations

If you violate the post-retirement employment restrictions after you have been retired for one year, your retirement annuity will be suspended and you will return to active member status. This means you will start making contributions to TRS for the salary you earned after the limitation was exceeded. You will have to repay any annuity paid after you attain 120 work days.

If you exceed the limitations during the first year following retirement, your retirement annuity will be canceled and you will be required to repay all annuity payments. Contributions will be required on earnings for the entire period of employment.

Reciprocal Act

If you retired under the Retirement Systems Reciprocal Act, you should contact each system for the employment limitations that apply.

Non-TRS Employment

You may be employed by any college, university, private school, or out-of-state public school district after retirement without limitations. A school district may also employ you in a position not covered by TRS, such as bus driver or teacher’s aide.

What is the Retiree Return to Work Program?

It is a program that allows some TRS retirees to return to full-time, TRS-covered employment without loss of their pensions — but only in subject areas where the regional superintendent of schools certifies that a personnel shortage exists. If legislation does not extend the program, it will expire on June 30, 2008. Please contact us if you have questions about this program.

Questions?

If you have questions, please contact us.

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