27 Pay periods in 2012?

[azanon]

Does anyone know if there are 26 or 27 pay periods in FY 2012 for the Federal Government? I'm seeing one guide that appears to indicate 27 periods. For those maxing the TSP, you can end up losing the match that last pay period if you have too much taken out per pay period basis on a 26 pay period time frame.

 

[goforit]

i do time cards for my squadron technicians and YES there is 27 pp for 2012. the 27th ending 31dec2012

 

[uscfanhawaii]

i do time cards for my squadron technicians and YES there is 27 pp for 2012. the 27th ending 31dec2012

Oh boy, here we go. This can get confusing if you don't use the correct terminology!

Yes, there are 27 payperiods in the 2012 LEAVE YEAR, not calendar year. The LEAVE YEAR goes from Sunday, Jan 1,2012 to Saturday, Jan 12, 2013.

But there will only be 26 PAYDAYS in the 2012 CALENDAR YEAR, the first being Friday, Jan 6, 2012 and the last (26th) being Friday, Dec 21, 2012.

I am pretty sure that TSP calcs are based on the paydays in the calendar year, so if you divide by 26, you should still be OK.

Anyone else want to try and clear up this mud?! :blink:

 

[Frixxxx]

Anyone else want to try and clear up this mud?! :blink:

Leave years and TSP Contribution years are different. The last PP (ending Jan 12th 2012) will pay your TSP contribution for the 2012 TAX year.

Hope that makes it crystal clear.

 

[uscfanhawaii]

Leave years and TSP Contribution years are different. The last PP (ending Jan 12th 2012) will pay your TSP contribution for the 2012 TAX year.

Hope that makes it crystal clear.

Well, yeah......except you meant to say the last PP ends jan 12 2013, and will pay your TSP contribution for the 2013 tax year.

Sorry to be so picky, but you DID say 'crystal clear'.

 

[turbo23dog]

I agree with the what's already been posted above: TSP contributions are based on acutal PAYDAYS in the calendar year 01 Jan 2012 through 31 Dec 2012.

 

[Sensei]

Divide $17,000 by 27 and you get $629.62. Multiply that by 26 and you get $16,370. That's pretty close to what the limit has been up to now, and you'll be guaranteed to get full matching.

 

[goforit]

i must appologize to all i looked at the wrong year calendar yesterday. so now that i said that here is what the 1Jan2011 through 31Dec2011 pay calendar has, YES "2011" last pay period ends on the 31 of Dec. the first ended on 1Jan2011 SO>>>> 2011 has "27" pay periods which ends 31 DEC 2011. 2012 first pay period starts on 1Jan 2012 and ends 14JAN2012
the last pay period for 2012 starts on 16DEC2012 and ends on 29DEC 2012 giving next year 2012 "26" pay periods.

i hope i helped to confuse everyone but truely sorry about the calendar year mistake.

 

[alevin]

bottom line, how much should I have been contributing in CY11 per pp to do full regular tsp plus 5K catchup for being over 50. I based it on 26 pp. should I have based it on 27?

 

[Frixxxx]

Well, yeah......except you meant to say the last PP ends jan 12 2013, and will pay your TSP contribution for the 2013 tax year.

Sorry to be so picky, but you DID say 'crystal clear'.

OMG......I can't believe i missed that - thank you so much for clearing up my clearing up!:nuts:

bottom line, how much should I have been contributing in CY11 per pp to do full regular tsp plus 5K catchup for being over 50. I based it on 26 pp. should I have based it on 27?

My pay people tell me that the days you are PAID count for Tax calculations, so it normally would occur that at the end of the year, you will have been paid 26 times....Any left over PP time would be paid into the next year. That next year would have pay pushed into the following year.
In 2007, there were 27 PPs. Did anyone here max their payments out in 26 PPs only to lose the 5% matching that last one?

 

[Warrenlm]

deleted

 

[Frixxxx]

OK,

Simple math
Paid every 2 weeks and there are 52 weeks in a year. Making it 26 Pay DAYS. The pay "IN" 2012 will be taxed (with all deferred, liabilities, and considerations.) So, if you use the calculations in my spreadsheet or go to TSP and use their calculator, then it should be clear.


Now if you are a salary capped employee making contributions based on %, then you DEFINITELY need to read the policy addressing your pay.

 

[alevin]

Here's my confusion. last year I tried to max out regular tsp for the first time ever, not including catchups. I did calculations mid year. somehow I came up a few $ short on hitting the 16500 mark, even though was basing on 26 pp.

This year, I planned to max out from the get go, based on 26 pp. so I could get full match and do the catchup too. am I going to end up not getting the full match in pp 27 if I don't recalculate amount per pp between now and pp 27? I'm talking cy2011 contributions.

and where is your spreadsheet again, Frixxxx?

 

[Frixxxx]

Here's my confusion. last year I tried to max out regular tsp for the first time ever, not including catchups. I did calculations mid year. somehow I came up a few $ short on hitting the 16500 mark, even though was basing on 26 pp.

This year, I planned to max out from the get go, based on 26 pp. so I could get full match and do the catchup too. am I going to end up not getting the full match in pp 27 if I don't recalculate amount per pp between now and pp 27? I'm talking cy2011 contributions.

and where is your spreadsheet again, Frixxxx?

I am being told to base it on 26 PAY DAYS....So to max $17,000 / 26 = $653.846
TSP only allows "whole number" elections. $653 * 26 = $16,978 leaving you $22 short....
I'd pick a payperiod and over fill the $22 or $675, and then revert to $653 to get the $17,000 for the year.

For spreadsheet:

Link

 

[alevin]

thanks Frixxxx, that helps.

I also found this-which helps even more about WHEN to make changes in contribs effective for cy 2012 to make sure get full match and full max contributions without having to make mid-year recalculations. Info at the link also provides info helps to make sure don't screw up maxing out contribs (with full match) for cy2011, if need to adjust contribs between now and then. the article gave me exactly the info I needed for transitioning between 2011 and 2012 timing wise for changing contribs.

http://es-es.facebook.com/notes/usa...contribution-limit-for-2012/10150377786694545

 

[Frixxxx]

thanks Frixxxx, that helps.

I also found this-which helps even more about WHEN to make changes in contribs effective for cy 2012 to make sure get full match and full max contributions without having to make mid-year recalculations. Info at the link also provides info helps to make sure don't screw up maxing out contribs (with full match) for cy2011, if need to adjust contribs between now and then. the article gave me exactly the info I needed for transitioning between 2011 and 2012 timing wise for changing contribs.

http://es-es.facebook.com/notes/usa...contribution-limit-for-2012/10150377786694545

Great Find, Thanks Alevin!

 

[alevin]

sure glad we've been having this conversation. just discovered I goofed up at start of year transitioning between trying to max out 2010 (mid-year increase to get to the max) and then start max and 50+ catchups for 2011.

If I hadn't gone in and figured it out today, I'd have contributed too much regular tsp for this year one pp too early and wouldn't have gotten the match for the last pp. so had to reduce contribs for the last 2 pp this year. just did that. Also figured out I was going to bbe undercontributing catchup contribs for this year, due to not starting those in the right pp at start of year. had to bump up my catchups these last 2 pp to get full 5500 catchup put in for this year. whew! talk about under the wire.

 

[azanon]

"Divide $17,000 by 27 and you get $629.62. Multiply that by 26 and you get $16,370. That's pretty close to what the limit has been up to now, and you'll be guaranteed to get full matching."


And guaranteed not to get the full 17,000. That extra 500-600 is serious business to some of us!

....................................................

Someone on page 1 was calculating pay dates based on Friday. We're (USACE civilian) paid on Thursdays, so be careful with general answers here. I think it still works out to 26 pay dates in my case though.

 

[Frixxxx]

Someone on page 1 was calculating pay dates based on Friday. We're (USACE civilian) paid on Thursdays, so be careful with general answers here. I think it still works out to 26 pay dates in my case though.

Taxable income is what you project on your contributions. The 27th PP wil be paid in 2013...That means tax implications are applied to 2013. So, it is still 26 Pay Dates.

 

[PessOptimist]

Everyone seems to be submitting good information, though confusing at times due to the sequence of the posts.

The pay periods seem to vary among the different agencies. It does get confusing with leave year, pay periods, calendar (tax) year and fiscal year. All are different and if you get time off awards for anything that year end may also be different.

The best way I have found is to look at the pay date on the last several Civilian Leave and Earning Statements. Mine is in block 2. Yours may be in a different block as I am told there is no standard form, it depends on your agency.

This pay date should always be the same day of the week, unless it is a federal holiday. Once you have the pay date, simply project out every two weeks and count the number of paydays in 2012. My count comes out to 26. It does not matter how many periods your agency has decreed. If the pay date is in 2012, that's the contribution that counts as far as IRS is concerned.

Bottom line is figure out when the first pay date in 2012 is and count forward every two weeks from that date.