Help! Alottment rejected - don't want to miss a month contributing

[domingo3]

I just got the following message from DFAS today:

"The input for Discretionary Allotment Start that you entered through myPay rejected on 10/02/2012 for the following reason: The allotment amount exceeds authorized allottable income. Please see your Payroll Office for assistance."

It's pretty swell how I put this in 27 days ago, and I just got notice now. With Hurricane Sandy, my local payroll folks will probably not be at work for the next couple of days, so I'm worried that I won't be able to fix this until after the month has gone by.

What I did was set a Roth contribution such that I'd have only $191 of take-home pay for mid-month and end of moth pay. I'll live off of savings for the next couple of months. I'm trying to figure out why this would get rejected, and what I'd need to change it to in order to make the system happy. Through it's a pretty simple calculation, I've checked and re-checked my calculation to make sure I haven't made an error. Is there some secret restriction that I'm not aware of? I'll try to call DFAS in the morning when they're open, but I'm not sure if they'll help or just say to talk to my local folks, in which case I lose out on half of my years' Roth TSP opportunity. I'd appreciate any thoughts on what might be the most effective near term strategy.

Thanks.

 

[Frixxxx]

Definitely deserves a call...let us know what they say!

 

[Warrenlm]

Many of us have used the maximizing approach, either for front loading purposes, or end of working purposes , and the admonition always was to be sure one's calculations allowed for all mandatories to be paid, else no contribution would be made. It sounds like you were aware of that and allowed for it. Presumably you've looked at your pay online and can check what was paid out before takehome, and then triple recheck. My memory tells me the two items most difficult to pin down without access to a withholding table was the withholding for federal and state tax, which would be significantly reduced by the increased contribution, but an estimate could be in error.

 

[domingo3]

Thanks for the replies. Here's what I've got so far.

DFAS Cleveland is closed, too, so there's nobody to talk to.

The system is experiencing technical difficulties, so nothing else at 888 DFAS 411 works.

Good thought on a potential source of error for calculation, but my calculation was easier than that. Last month, I only contributed 1% to tax deferred TSP, and was able to see what my take home pay was. There should be no change for next month. The amount I added for Roth contribution was less than my take home pay for last month.

Grasping at straws here, but there's no other number to call, is there? There's not a method that allows me to contribute to Roth via personal check, is there? I have a feeling I'm going to miss out on November's Roth contribution.

 

[James48843]

Here is a long shot- not sure if it is the case, but it is something for you to think about-

You technically can only allot PAY, but not ALLOWANCES to the TSP. (*it's a deferred PAY system).

So if you allocated MORE than the amount of base pay that you received, it may kick back, and say that you cannot allocate more using your quarters allowance, or uniform allowance, etc.

Just my thoughts. I could be wrong. Your mileage may vary.


Let us know what they say- I would be interested to hear.

 

[domingo3]

James,
Thanks for the reply. I hadn't considered those limitations. I have a couple of other small allotments, and if I assume that for some reason all allotments are only allowed to come from base pay, I still come out with a $50 per month cushion.
Since nobody's available to take a call now, I went back onto MyPay and adjusted my withholding down by a few hundred. I'd rather lose out on contributing a few hundred dollars than lose out on contributing a few thousand dollars. I wish the system would spit back an acceptance or rejection right away instead of waiting until after the pay period is over.

Thanks again for the replies. I will report back when I figure out what's going on.

 

[domingo3]

OK. I mostly figured out what happened.

Short story:

1. A mistake was made, and my local finance office put me in to allocate 85% of my basic pay to Traditional TSP.
2. When an attempt was made to allocate 85% of my base pay to Roth TSP, it was rejected.

Long story:

I went to my local finance office in September. They said that the system was not prepared for TSP allocations yet, but they would take my form and hold it. They said when the system came online, they would make the entry and Email me. At the time, I was told that Roth contributions could only be made via TSP-U-1, and not via MyPay. When October rolled around, the option was available on MyPay. I did not hear back from the finance office, and I entered my election on MyPay on October 2nd. The finance office entered an 85% election for traditional and another 85% election for Roth on October 19th. They still did not contact me. On October 29th, I got the Email and got confused. There was only one person who came into the finacne office today and she provided me with assistance as best she could. I suspect that the person who made the entry made a mistake, but it's possible that I filled the form incorrectly. I didn't keep a copy like I should have, so I'll have to ask for a copy to know for sure. When I went back onto MyPay this afternoon, it reflected 85% going to traditional TSP, and zero going to Roth TSP. I changed it on MyPay, and it says that it will be effective November 1st. Hopefully I'm set.

 

[domingo3]

I am not confident at all that I will have TSP contributed for the month of November. At this point, I think I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

The people at my local finance office seemed very confused in general about how this should look in the cryptic system they have to use for pay. I got a copy of my TSP-U-1 and was relieved to see that I did not make a mistake filling it out. They did not seem to understand that the entry for 85% of my base pay into traditional TSP was a mistake. They tried to reassure me that the allotment for Roth TSP did go through.

When I logged onto MyPay yesterday, it reflected 85% of my base pay going to traditional TSP and $0 going to Roth TSP. I changed it yesterday to 1% of base pay to traditional and the whole dollar equivalent of 85% base pay going to Roth TSP. Today when I logged on to MyPay, it showed me contributing 1% of base pay to traditional (that part went through fine), but still $0 to Roth TSP. I tried to put in the $ amount for Roth again today, and now says that election will be effective 12/01/2012.

I called DFAS, and they told me that I do have a contribution going to Roth, but they think it might be a programming error that doesn't allow me to see it. They said the work-around to get the software to differentiate the two is that Roth TSP is actually an "invisible allotment to Chase Manhattan Bank".

If I contribute for November, I'll be glad. I'm no software engineer, but I keep wondering how this could possibly be three years in the making. Hopefully this is enlightening for someone, or at least entertaining.

 

[domingo3]

Potentially good news for me: Mid-month pay LESs just came out, and it looks like I'm getting paid an amount that correlates to the $ amount that I entered via MyPay. As long as it's working to some degree, I think I'll leave it alone until January so I don't risk screwing up December's contribution. MyPay still shows $0 being contributed to Roth, but if I do the math, I think that's where it's going.
The most frustrating thing right now is that MyPay continually passes the buck on my inquiries. After I put in an inquiry, it takes about three days to respond, and then I get a one-liner that says I should ask my local payroll office or military pay. The problems are specifically with MyPay - the allotment rejection notices are from MyPay; what I think is wrong information about my Roth contributions are being displayed by MyPay. I've tried asking DFAS and local payroll, and they can't explain how MyPay is working because it's not their system. It seems that there's no customer service feedback mechanism for MyPay, so I don't know that there's a lot I can do.

 

[domingo3]

After literally a dozen inquiries via "Ask myPay", I finally got a confirmation that my Roth TSP election will come out for the month of November. They said they couldn't identify why I received the rejection notice. They said that my contribution will be visible on my LES (I sure hope so!). I have received no explanation or even acknowledgement of the fact that myPay displays $0 for Roth TSP current month contribution. The frustrating thing about the "Ask myPay" system is that they can give any answer or "non-answer" and close the ticket. Then I have to open another ticket and wait another three working days to see what their response is to that.
I assume that the $0 Roth TSP is something that everyone in the Army/Navy/Air Force is seeing, and it's just a programming thing that needs to be worked out. I'm fine with that, but why couldn't I get a response like this:

"Hello,
You are, indeed, making a ROTH TSP contribution for $xxx for the month of November as you elected. It should be displayed in your myPay. We will forward this issue to our programmers for review"***

instead of:

"Account balances for Roth can only be viewed from the TSP website; www.tsp.gov, there is a 45-60 day delay in posting to the member's account by TSP before it shows up on a member's account. You will be able to see the allotment listed on their LES for the amount you have chosen. "


Clearly, I'm just venting now.

If there are any other Army/Navy/Air Force people out there that have made a Roth TSP election, I'd love to hear if you are having the same display issues or if it's correct for you. Unfortunately, I'm the only "saver" I work with. I haven't convinced anyone to go beyond maxing out their ROTH IRAs, so I have nobody to compare notes with.


*** Note: I never received a response like this, though I wish I would have.

 

[James48843]

One would think that after a few weeks they would have issues like this solved by now.

Thank goodness I'm not a TSP software programmer.

On the other hand- you COULD be the one guy who is single-handedly making a dent in the Fiscal Cliff everyone is so worked up over. Maybe they are just taking your pay and putting it up against the deficient, and calling it a draw. :-(


Thanks for keeping us posted, and I wish you all the luck in the world! Maybe we should have you call Greg Long and ask him where your money is.

 

[domingo3]

Howdy - last update. After three weeks of back and forth, I finally got the answer I was looking for:

"3. MYPAY currently is experiencing a technical issue and does not
display current Roth TSP contributions. However, your contributions will
reflect on your LES which was posted today."

Also today, my Roth contribution is actually reflected where it says current month Roth TSP, whereas up until yesterday, it erroneously said $0. Not sure if the correction happened in conjunction with LESs being published, or in conjunction with me being an incredible pain in the butt to them. If I would have gotten the above response above 20 days ago, I would have been satisfied, moved on, and waited patiently. Thanks for the interest and support.

 

[bmneveu]

Domingo,

First off, thanks for posting your experiences with Roth/TSP/MyPay here for everyone to read. It certainly has been educational for me. Now for that question. In one of your posts you mentioned changing your traditional TSP contribution from 0% to 1%. Is this required for Roth contributions? I'm currently in the process of switching from traditional to Roth. I don't mind adding the 1% -- I just want the transition to be as smooth as possible.

Thanks

 

[James48843]

...I called DFAS, and they told me that I do have a contribution going to Roth, but they think it might be a programming error that doesn't allow me to see it. They said the work-around to get the software to differentiate the two is that Roth TSP is actually an "invisible allotment to Chase Manhattan Bank".
....

I am still interested in that particular issue.

As Mr. Spock would say, I find that "Fascinating.".



By now you should have access to the END OF YEAR TSP STATEMENT which SHOULD list all the values of both Roth and traditional TSP at the end of December.

Please log in to your TSP account, and let us know- did it all turn out correctly by the end of year? Or did that "invisible allotment at Chase Manhatten Bank" suck up all your money?


Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[domingo3]

bmneveu -

No a traditional TSP contribution is not required to do the Roth. There used to be some kind of warning on MyPay that said if you put basic pay contribution to 0%, it would stop all TSP contributions, and I was worried that with them still working the kinks out of the system, that it might accidentally turn off my Roth contributions. For January, I have adjusted it to 0% to traditional TSP, and my Roth contribution is still being taken out, or at least it appears to be based on my midmonth pay.

James,

Yes, the money did go to Roth TSP as it should. The system is making marginal improvements. When I look at my allotments in MyPay, it says I have three, but only lists two. I'm assuming it's because of the "invisible allotment" software workaround. When I look at the TSP section now, it correctly shows the amount that is being deducted for the current month. Previously, there was a one month lag in what is showed.

On my November and December LESs, there is no box for Roth TSP. It is listed under the "Allotments" column. My traditional TSP contribution was listed under "Deductions"

There's still something funny going on with the system accepting changes to contributions. I should have kept a log of what I input and exactly when, but here is the jist of it:

01 December, I entered $X for Roth TSP contribution. The system says that this amount will be effective 01 January 2013.
mid December, I changed my mind and entered $Y for Roth TSP contribution. The system now accepts this and says this amount will be effective 01 January 2013.

I checked back on MyPay several times throughout the remainder of December, and it says $Y to Roth TSP will be effective 01 January 2013.

Once January rolls around, the system displays $X and my midmonth pay reflects the same (not $Y).

I'm thinking that maybe the system will accept the first change you enter for the next month, and ignore any further changes, or maybe there's something else going on that's causing a lag in response. At least now, I have the rest of the year to figure it out. I just want to get it figured out so that I don't accidentally go over the annual limit if it doesn't make changes like I think it should.