27 Pay periods in 2012?

[IndianaJones]

The maxing out of your TSP contributions is all set up for you automatically thru EmployeeExpress.
If you log into employee express, then click the TSP link, it will bring you to the following page I pasted below. This year you can even use an effective date, which for my agency is 12/18. Also, it automatically rounds up the 26th deduction, thus maxing it out. employee express seems to be one federal website that has it's act together really works well. Don't get me started on the slew of other failed websites I must muddle thru....

I hope this clears some things up....

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[TD="class: PageTitle"]Thrift Savings Plan Change[/TD]
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• You can enter either a percentage OR enter a whole dollar amount of your basic pay that you wish to contribute per pay period by selecting the appropriate block on the screen. Your payroll dollar amount cannot exceed the maximum contribution amount allowed. The maximum allowed is based on your total salary.
• You should not use both a paper form TSP-1 and Employee Express to make TSP elections.
• The election you make through Employee Express will only affect your future contributions, not your past contributions.
• You can start, change or stop your contributions at any time. You may use Employee Express to change the amount or percent of payroll deduction for contributing to TSP.
• FERS refers to the Federal Employees' Retirement System, the Foreign Service Pension System, and other equivalent Government retirement plans.
• There is an annual limit on TSP contributions established by the IRS. The current annual limit appears below. If you reach the IRS limit on TSP contributions before the end of the year, your contributions will stop and you will lose any further agency matching contributions.
• If you are a new or rehired employee who has never had a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account, your contributions will be invested in the Government Securities Investment (G) Fund, until you request a contribution allocation through TSP.
• If you are a rehired employee who has previously had a Thrift Savings Plan account, your contributions will be invested according to your last contribution allocation on file with the TSP until you request a different contribution allocation through TSP.
• Please note: The exact TSP deduction may not equal the percentage specified due to other mandatory payroll deductions.
• TSP Stop Actions are immediately effective at the end of the current pay period.

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• 2012 Limit for TSP Contributions $17,000

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Example to follow for deducting equal payments: Effective Date: December 18, 2011 Number of Pay Periods in tax year: 26 Pay Period Deduction Amount: $654 (i.e. $17,000/26 = $654 rounded up) The 26th payment will round to $650 to ensure the deduction amount does not exceed the limit for the year. This will ensure you will reach the annual limit on the last pay period of the tax year and continue to receive applicable agency contributions.

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[IndianaJones]

CORRECTION: I said deduction #26 rounds up....I meant it rounds down so you don't loose the matching 5% on last check. And again, this is all done automatically thru employee express....You will end up with 25 deductions at $654 = $16,350 and the 26th deduction will be $650 bringing the total to $17,000, thus maxing out your 5% agency matching. Employee Express is a great site.

 

[luckylanna]

For those of you trying to manage to max out your TSP contributions, I have a helpful piece of info: If you contribute slightly too much per pay period, you won't go OVER the max allowed, because the TSP or payroll folks are nice enough to make sure you don't overcontribute for the year. For example, in 2011 the max is $16,500. That equates to $634.61 per pay period. As has already been pointed out, you can only do round numbers, no decimals. For the last couple of years, I've had mine set at $635 per pay period, which works out to $16,510, or $10 over the allowed per year. However, for the last paycheck of the year, they automatically fix it so that only $625 comes out, making my yearly contribution EXACTLY $16,500.00. I found this out by accident, as I was originally trying to "fix" my deduction for 1 pay period each year, but forgot to get it done in time for 2010. I expected that I might have to figure out how to withdraw the $10, plus pay taxes/penalties/etc, but no worries, as they took care of it for me!

 

[Frixxxx]

.......However, for the last paycheck of the year, they automatically fix it so that only $625 comes out, making my yearly contribution EXACTLY $16,500.00. I found this out by accident, as I was originally trying to "fix" my deduction for 1 pay period each year, but forgot to get it done in time for 2010. I expected that I might have to figure out how to withdraw the $10, plus pay taxes/penalties/etc, but no worries, as they took care of it for me!

I'll check with my agency to see if they do the same thing, welcome to the boards and thanks for sharing, LL!

 

[FAB1]

Divide $17,000 by 27 and you get $629.62. Multiply that by 26 and you get $16,370

Ha, to me its irrelevant b/c I cant contribute half that and pay bills!
You guys can put that much in every month? Are we working for the same government?

 

[Frixxxx]

Divide $17,000 by 27 and you get $629.62. Multiply that by 26 and you get $16,370

Ha, to me its irrelevant b/c I cant contribute half that and pay bills!
You guys can put that much in every month? Are we working for the same government?

LOL, we already talked about the # of paychecks versus periods FAB....hahaha...

But yes, I max contributions through pay raises. I have taken my pay raises and halved them into TSP yearly. Fortunately, I maxxed a couple of years ago, since we haven't got a pay raise in a while!

 

[Mapper]

Question about trying to max contributions:

Does the $17,000 limit apply to your contributions including OR excluding agency match?

That is...does $17,000/26 = 653.86 mean I should be contributing 653.86
OR
should I be contributing 653.86 MINUS the agency match?


Thanks everyone!

EDIT:
I should add, as far as I can tell the 17,000 limit does NOT include agency matches.

 

[pokerstar629]

The 17k limit doesn't include the agency matching, put $654/pp and congrats for being able to max out your TSP.

Question about trying to max contributions:

Does the $17,000 limit apply to your contributions including OR excluding agency match?

That is...does $17,000/26 = 653.86 mean I should be contributing 653.86
OR
should I be contributing 653.86 MINUS the agency match?


Thanks everyone!

EDIT:
I should add, as far as I can tell the 17,000 limit does NOT include agency matches.

 

[patforster987]

Even though there were 27 pay periods in 2012, for most agencies, there were still only 26 pay days in calendar year 2012, so, for most Federal employees, the TSP and Catch-Up contribution limits should have been divided by 26 and rounded appropriately to contribute the maximum allowed, receive the full matching contributions, and not exceed the limits. What matters are how many pay days fall in a calendar year, not how many pay periods. Here is a link to an article on why we occassionally receive 27 paychecks in a calendar year.

Pay and Benefits Watch: Why your paychecks don't always add up - News - GovExec.com

 

[Frixxxx]

Even though there were 27 pay periods in 2012, for most agencies, there were still only 26 pay days in calendar year 2012, so, for most Federal employees, the TSP and Catch-Up contribution limits should have been divided by 26 and rounded appropriately to contribute the maximum allowed, receive the full matching contributions, and not exceed the limits. What matters are how many pay days fall in a calendar year, not how many pay periods. Here is a link to an article on why we occassionally receive 27 paychecks in a calendar year.

Pay and Benefits Watch: Why your paychecks don't always add up - News - GovExec.com

Thanks for that link. Short sweet and simple.

See that peeps. Since 86, you've gotten paid less than what you though you were getting.

 

[nasa1974]

Thanks for that link. Short sweet and simple.

See that peeps. Since 86, you've gotten paid less than what you though you were getting.

What else is new. A day late and a dollar short.