Title 5
SECTION 1605.11
1605.11 Makeup of missed or insufficient contributions.
§ 1605.11 Makeup of missed or insufficient contributions.(a) Applicability. This section applies whenever, as the result of an employing agency error, a participant does not receive all of the TSP contributions to which he or she is entitled. This includes situations in which an employing agency error prevents a participant from making an election to contribute to his or her TSP account, in which an employing agency fails to implement a contribution election properly submitted by a participant, in which an employing agency fails to make agency automatic (1%) contributions or agency matching contributions that it is required to make, or in which an employing agency otherwise erroneously contributes less to the TSP for a participant's account than it should have. The corrections required by this section must be made in accordance with this part and the procedures provided to employing agencies by the Board in bulletins or other guidance. It is the responsibility of the employing agency to determine whether it has made an error that entitles a participant to error correction under this section.
(b) Employer makeup contributions. If an employing agency has failed to make Agency Automatic (1%) Contributions that are required under 5 U.S.C. 8432(c)(1)(A) and 5 U.S.C. 8440e(e)(3)(A), or Agency Matching Contributions that are required under section 8432(c)(2) and 5 U.S.C. 8440e(e)(3)(B), the following rules apply:
(1) The employing agency must promptly submit all missed contributions to the TSP record keeper on behalf of the affected participant. For each pay date involved, the employing agency must submit a separate payment record showing the “as of” date for the contributions.
(2) The TSP will calculate the breakage due to the participant and post both the contributions and the associated breakage to the participant's account in accordance with § 1605.2.
(c) Employee makeup contributions. Within 30 days of receiving information from his or her employing agency indicating that the employing agency acknowledges that an error has occurred which has caused a smaller amount of employee contributions to be made to the participant's account than should have been made, a participant may elect to establish a schedule to make up the deficient contributions through future payroll deductions. Employee makeup contributions can be made in addition to any TSP contributions that the participant is otherwise entitled to make. The following rules apply to employee makeup contributions:
(1) The schedule of makeup contributions elected by the participant must establish the dollar amount of the contributions and the type of employee contributions (traditional or Roth) to be made each pay period over the duration of the schedule. The contribution amount per pay period may vary during the course of the schedule, but the total amount to be contributed must be established when the schedule is created. After the schedule is created, a participant may, with the agreement of his or her agency, elect to change his or her payment amount (e.g., to accelerate payment) or elect to change the type of employee contributions (traditional or Roth). The length of the schedule may not exceed four times the number of pay periods over which the error occurred.
(2) At its discretion, an employing agency may set a ceiling on the length of a schedule of employee makeup contributions which is less than four times the number of pay periods over which the error occurred. The ceiling may not, however, be less than twice the number of pay periods over which the error occurred.
(3) The employing agency must implement the participant's schedule of makeup contributions as soon as practicable.
(4) For each pay date involved, the employing agency must submit a separate payment record showing the “as of” date for which the employee contribution should have been made. An employee is not eligible to make up contributions with an “as of” date occurring during a period of six months following a financial hardship in-service withdrawal, as provided in 5 CFR 1650.33. An employee may make up contributions during a period of ineligibility due to a hardship withdrawal as long as the “as of” date is for an earlier period.
(5) Employee makeup contributions will be invested in accordance with the participant's current contribution allocation. The number of shares of each TSP Fund which will be purchased will be determined by dividing the amount of the makeup contributions by the share price of the applicable fund(s) on the posting date.
(6) Employee makeup contributions will be included for purposes of applying the annual limit contained in Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) section 402(g) (26 U.S.C. 402(g)(1)). For purposes of applying that limit, employee makeup contributions will be applied against the limit for the year of the “as of” date.
(i) Before establishing a schedule of employee makeup contributions, the employing agency must review any schedule proposed by the affected participant, as well as the participant's prior TSP contributions, if any, to determine whether the makeup contributions, when combined with prior contributions for the same year, would exceed the annual contribution limit(s) contained in I.R.C. section 402(g) for the year(s) with respect to which the contributions are being made.
(ii) The employing agency must not permit contributions that, when combined with prior contributions, would exceed the applicable annual contribution limit contained in I.R.C. section 402(g).
(7) A schedule of employee makeup contributions may be suspended if a participant has insufficient net pay to permit the makeup contributions. If this happens, the period of suspension should not be counted against the maximum number of pay periods to which the participant is entitled in order to complete the schedule of makeup contributions.
(8) A participant may elect to terminate a schedule of employee makeup contributions at any time, but a termination is irrevocable. If a participant separates from Government service, the participant may elect to accelerate the payment schedule by a lump sum contribution from his or her final paycheck.
(9) At the same time that a participant makes up missed employee contributions, the employing agency must make any agency matching contributions that would have been made had the error not occurred. Agency matching contributions must be submitted pursuant to the rules set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. A participant may not receive matching contributions associated with any employee contributions that are not actually made up. If employee makeup contributions are suspended in accordance with paragraph (c)(7) of this section, the payment of agency matching contributions must also be suspended.
(10) If a participant transfers to an employing agency different from the one by which the participant was employed at the time of the missed contributions, it remains the responsibility of the former employing agency to determine whether employing agency error was responsible for the missed contributions. If it is determined that such an error has occurred, the current agency must take any necessary steps to correct the error. The current agency may seek reimbursement from the former agency of any amount that would have been paid by the former agency had the error not occurred.
(11) Employee makeup contributions may be made only by payroll deduction from basic pay or, for uniformed services participants, from basic pay, incentive pay, or special pay, including bonus pay. Contributions by check, money order, cash, or other form of payment directly from the participant to the TSP, or from the participant to the employing agency for deposit to the TSP, are not permitted.
(12) A participant is not eligible to contribute makeup contributions with an “as of” date occurring prior to May 5, 2012 to his or her Roth balance.
(13) If the “as of” date of a Roth contribution that is submitted as a makeup contribution is earlier than the participant's existing Roth initiation date, the TSP will adjust the participant's Roth initiation date.
(d) Missed bonus contributions. This paragraph (d) applies when an employing agency fails to implement a contribution election that was properly submitted by a uniformed service member requesting that a TSP contribution be deducted from bonus pay. Within 30 days of receiving the employing agency's acknowledgment of the error, a uniformed service member may establish a schedule of makeup contributions with his or her employing agency to replace the missed contribution through future payroll deductions. These makeup contributions can be made in addition to any TSP contributions that the uniformed service member is otherwise entitled to make.
(1) The schedule of makeup contributions may not exceed four times the number of months it would take for the uniformed service member to earn basic pay equal to the dollar amount of the missed contribution. For example, a uniformed service member who earns $29,000 yearly in basic pay and who missed a $2,500 bonus contribution to the TSP can establish a schedule of makeup contributions with a maximum duration of 8 months. This is because it takes the uniformed service member 2 months to earn $2,500 in basic pay (at $2,416.67 per month).
(2) At its discretion, an employing agency may set a ceiling on the length of a schedule of employee makeup contributions. The ceiling may not, however, be less than twice the number of months it would take for the uniformed service member to earn basic pay equal to the dollar amount of the missed contribution.
[68 FR 35498, June 13, 2003, as amended at 70 FR 32210, June 1, 2005; 77 FR 26425, May 4, 2012; 82 FR 60104, Dec. 19, 2017]