The Daily Bulletin Archive

The State University of New York (SUNY) provides employees with the opportunity to save for their retirement through the SUNY Voluntary Savings Plan. Participation in the SUNY Voluntary Savings Plan is a great way to build your retirement savings and reduce current taxes.

Eligibility
All employees of SUNY who receive compensation reportable on an IRS Form W-2 are eligible to participate in the plan.

Please take a moment to review the plan materials before enrolling. Once you are enrolled, you can review and change the amount of your contributions as often as once per pay period. The exact date your investment allocations will take effect may vary depending on the policies of the investment provider managing the investment options you chose for plan contributions.

The tax-deferred plans listed below provide a way for you to contribute to a retirement account on a pretax basis through payroll deduction. Your contributions plus earnings are not taxed until you withdraw the funds. Usually this is done during your retirement, when your income may fall within a lower tax bracket.

What Are My Tax-Deferred Savings Options?
There are several plan options and investment providers to choose from through the SUNY Voluntary Savings Plan. The authorized investment providers offer a wide choice of investment options, including stock, bond, and guaranteed funds.

The following plans and investment providers are available:

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF)
Contact: Richard Thompson – (716) 862-5905 or (866) 842-2054, ext. 275905
(800) 842-2776, www.tiaa-cref.org/suny

ING Life Insurance and Annuity Company
Contact: Gary Witten – (716) 626-3926
Contact: George Doughtery – (716) 626-3928
(800) 677-4636, www.ingretirementplans.com/custom/suny

MetLife
Contact: John Curvin – (716) 626-0048
Contact: Jason Bird – (734) 320-0453
(800) 662-0916, www.metlife.com/suny

VALIC Retirement
Contact: Jeffrey Otterstein – (716) 908-1517 or (800) 892-5558, ext. 89370
(888) 569-7055, www.valic.com/suny

Fidelity Investments (403(b)(7) Mutual Funds)
Contact: Kenneth Woods – (716) 916-8354
(800) 343-0860, www.fidelity.com

NYS Deferred Compensation Plan (457)
Contact: Mark Wallace – (716) 903-7253
(800) 422-8463, www.nysdcp.com

How Much Can I Contribute?
For 2014, you can contribute up to $17,500 per year.
 
If you are age 50 or older anytime in 2014, you can contribute an additional $5,500 to your tax-deferred account, for a maximum of $23,000 ($17,500 + $5,500).
 
If you have worked for SUNY for more than 15 years, you may be eligible to contribute up to an additional $3,000 annually. To do this, you must obtain a calculation from your investment provider indicating that you are eligible to defer the additional amount. Please send the calculation along with a new Salary Reduction Agreement form indicating the annual amount to be contributed to the Payroll Office, Cleveland Hall 408.
 
Each participant has only one limit for all contributions to all 403(b) plans, so if you are also a participant in a 403(b) plan of another employer, your combined contributions to that plan and to the SUNY Tax-Deferred Annuity Plan in 2014 are generally limited to $17,500. If you do participate in more than one 403(b) plan, you are responsible for tracking and reporting the amount of all your contributions to the plans so that the total amount of all your contributions to all plans in which you participate does not exceed the limit. Note also that the sum of all of your contributions, and those of your employers, to all 403(b) plans that you participate in are generally limited to the lesser of $52,000 or 100 percent of your compensation in 2014.
 
State employees are able to maximize contributions to both the SUNY Tax-Deferred Savings Plans 403(b) and the NYS Deferred Compensation 457 Plan concurrently.
 
What Do I Need to Do?
If you are enrolling in a plan for the first time, you must complete the appropriate investment provider enrollment materials in addition to a Salary Reduction Agreement form. Please call Al Galone at ext. 4124 for additional information.
 
If you are currently enrolled and wish to contribute the same biweekly amount in 2014, no action on your part is necessary unless you are currently contributing additional moneys under the age 50 or 15-year rule outlined above. Please check your pay stub to be sure your current biweekly contribution (code 404, 408, or 415) multiplied by 26 pay periods does not exceed the allowable 2014 limit.
 
Please be mindful that if you made a change midyear, you must make sure that your current biweekly amount multiplied by 26 is the correct annual amount you want deferred for 2014.
 
To change the amount you are now contributing, please complete a new Salary Reduction Agreement form and return it to the Payroll Office, Cleveland Hall 408.
 
In order for a deduction change to be effective in the first paycheck of 2014, your new Salary Reduction Agreement form must be submitted to the Payroll Office by Monday, December 16.

For further details, or if you have questions, please call Al Galone at ext. 4124.