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The MTRS and you: Our mutual responsibilities
Throughout your retirement, we will administer your benefits and provide you with information and services. You also need to contact us when certain events occur.
During your retirement, WE will…
| Provide you with information regarding your retirement benefits and our services |
We will gladly answer your questions on your MTRS benefits regarding your retirement and keep you up to date on relevant issues, such as pending benefits and our services, legislation, Board elections and cost-of-living adjustments by way of our newsletters and special mailings. |
| Process and pay your monthly retirement allowance | Every month, we will issue your benefit payment pursuant to retirement allowance your instructions (mailed check or direct deposit to your bank account). Every January, we will provide you with the payment schedule for the coming calendar year. In the event your check is stolen, we will issue a replacement. |
| Maintain an accurate record of your personal, financial and beneficiary information as a retiree | To ensure accurate processing of your benefits, we will maintain a your personal, financial and record that includes your name, address, Social Security number, beneficiary information as a retiree date of retirement, option retired under, payment method, beneficiary designation and, if any, the amounts you are having withheld for group health insurance or tax withholding. |
| By January 31 of each year, provide you with a Form 1099-R for tax purposes | Form 1099–R will indicate the total amount of your retirement benefits for the previous calendar year; the amount withheld by the MTRS for federal income taxes, if any; and, the amount, if any, withheld for your group health insurance premiums. We will also provide this information to the IRS. |
| Periodically, verify your eligibility to receive a retirement allowance | As part of our fiduciary responsibility to the Commonwealth’s pension system, we will contact you to confirm that you are, indeed, still living and eligible to receive your allowance. |
| In the event of your death, pay a survivor benefit, if any, pursuant to the retirement option you selected | Depending on the option you selected (A, B, or C), we will pay a survivor benefit, if any. Be assured that we will work to process the survivor benefit as sensitively and expeditiously as possible. |
During your retirement, YOU need to contact us if and when you…
| Change your name, address (temporary or permanent) or Social Security number |
For your protection, we instruct the post office not to forward many of the documents we send to retirees (these often contain confidential benefit and tax information). Accordingly, it is very important that you send us written notification of changes to your personal data so that you are sure to receive our mailings. |
| Lose your retirement check | In the
event of loss or theft, notify us in writing no earlier than one week
after the mailing date to request that we issue a replacement check.
We will place a stop-payment order on the check and issue a replacement,
usually within five to ten days after we receive your written notification. |
| Want to change your: | |
| Each year at tax time, review your Form 1099–R so that you know what you are paying in federal taxes. To change the amount being withheld, send us a note indicating the desired change and effective date or request and submit a new Substitute Form W–4P (1 page, pdf). | |
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Be aware of the status of your beneficiary. If you retired under Option B, you may change your beneficiary designation at any time by submitting a new beneficiary designation form (2 pages, pdf); if your beneficiary predeceases you, you may also name a new beneficiary. If you retired under Option C and your beneficiary predeceases you, please notify the MTRS because your benefit will “pop up” to the Option A amount. |
| You can change from mailed check to direct deposit, and vice versa. | |
| Want to participate in the governance of the MTRS | Approximately three months before our Board elections (held every four years), we notify active and retired members of the upcoming nomination and election process. |
| Become re-employed by a Massachusetts public employer and exceed the time and earnings limitations | If you want to work beyond the time and earnings limitations, you must notify the MTRS in writing that you wish to waive your retirement allowance for the period of employment. Your allowance will be suspended until you notify us that it should be reinstated. |
| Become divorced and your retirement allowance is divided | If applicable, the MTRS will pay your monthly allowance per the terms of a court order or the parties’ domestic relations order. Please see our booklet, What You Should Know As a Party to a Domestic Relations Order (44 pages; pdf). |
| In the event of your death, your beneficiary should contact us regarding any survivor benefits | Advise your current beneficiary now that he or she should contact us in the event of your death. Be sure to keep your retirement papers with your other important documents. |