HRPAY 20-07, Increased Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Automatic Employee Contributions for New or Rehired Employees

Published: October 5, 2020
Effective: Pay Period 20, 2020

Summary

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) increased the automatic enrollment percentage from 3 percent to 5 percent of basic pay for all participants who are automatically enrolled in TSP on or after October 1, 2020. This change applies to all new or rehired employees. This change will not affect the employee contribution rates in place for participants who have been enrolled prior to October 1, 2020.

Note: Agencies are encouraged to inform new or rehired employees that 5 percent of their basic pay will be deducted and contributed to TSP.

Implementation

Termination of Automatic TSP Enrollment and Refund of TSP Contributions

Employees may elect to immediately terminate their automatic TSP enrollment. In order to terminate their automatic TSP enrollment, employees must complete Form TSP-1, Election Form, and submit it to their servicing personnel office or submit an action to stop the deductions through the Self-Service option on the Employee Personal Page (EPP). If an employee terminates automatic TSP enrollment within the first pay period of hire or rehire, no contributions will be deducted from the employee's pay. Therefore, it is critical that personnel offices process these automatic enrollment terminations within the first pay period of hire or rehire to prevent deductions from occurring. If an employee elects to terminate their automatic TSP enrollment after the first pay period of hire or rehire, they must submit Form TSP-25, Automatic Enrollment Refund Request, directly to TSP as instructed on the form to request a refund of the contributions deducted.

Note: This refund option will only apply to those contributions associated with the first 90 days of automatic enrollment.

To Process TSP Termination of Automatic Contributions in the Front-End System Interface (FESI):

On Document Type 125, Thrift Savings Plan, the value for the TS-Trans-Code field must be Waive.

To Process TSP Termination of Automatic Contributions in EmpowHR:

  1. Select the Payroll Documents menu group.
  2. Select the TSP/TSP Roth component. The TSP/TSP Roth search page is displayed.
  3. Enter the applicable search criteria. The following fields may be completed on the TSP/TSP Roth search page:
    • EmplID
    • Employee Record
    • Social Security Number
    • Name
    • Last Name
    • Agency
    • Sub-Agency
  4. Select the Search button. The Thrift Savings Plan/Thrift Savings Plan Roth page is displayed.
  5. Select the TSP radio button from the Contribution Information section.
  6. Select Stop Contributions from the drop-down list in the TSP Transaction Code field.
  7. Select the Save button.

To Process TSP Termination of Automatic Contributions in the Web-Based Entry, Processing, Inquiry, and Correction System (EPIC Web):

  1. Select New. The New Document Selection menu displayed. Payroll documents are listed alphabetically.
  2. Select the Federal Benefit Documents folder. A list of available Federal Benefits Documents is displayed.
  3. Select 129 Thrift Savings Plan Election. The Key Data tab is displayed.
  4. Complete the fields on the Key Data tab.
  5. Select the Election tab. The Election tab is displayed.
  6. Select the 3-Stop Contributions radio button.
  7. Select R-Release for Processing from the drop-down list.
  8. Select the Update button.

Resources

For additional information, see TSP Bulletin 19-U-2 issued July 31, 2019, available online at www.tsp.gov.

Inquiries

For questions about National Finance Center (NFC) processing, authorized Servicing Personnel Office representatives should contact the NFC Contact Center at 1-855-NFC-4GOV (1-855-632-4468) or via the customer service portal.