Benefits and Payroll News

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E-mail questions to: benefits@ohr.wisc.edu

News and Events Archive | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009

Preliminary WRS Returns and Delay in Annual WRS Statement of Benefits

February 20, 2012 | Source: UW System Administration

The Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) released the preliminary investment returns for 2011. Please see ETF's open letter regarding the impact of the 2011 returns and the January issue of the WRS News for details. Final investment returns will be released in March.

Employees usually receive their annual Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) Statement of Benefits in late March/early April every year. Due to the implementation of the changes to WRS contributions during the summer of 2011, ETF has indicated that the statement will be delayed and it is not yet known when the statement will be available. Once the statement is released, it will be available in My UW on the Work Record tab (under Benefit Information – Statements).

Income Continuation Insurance (ICI) Annual Update and Premium Increase

February 17, 2012 | Source: UW System Administration

Each year there is review of your earnings (all employees) and leave usage (classified employees only) to determine your Income Continuation Insurance (ICI) premium for the year. For classified employees (paid bi-weekly), the ICI premium is based on last year's earnings reported to the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and an employee's sick leave balance and usage through the end of the last pay period paid in 2011 (pay period that ended on 12-17-11). For unclassified employees (paid monthly), the ICI premium is based on last year's WRS-reported earnings and the selected elimination period.

ICI premiums are increasing for 2012. The new premiums are available at:

https://uwservice.wisc.edu/premiums/#ici

Both the new ICI premiums and any changes to your ICI coverage due to an increase/decrease in earnings and/or sick leave usage will be reflected on your February earnings payable February 23 for classified employees and March 1 for unclassified employees.

Each January employees have the opportunity to enroll in the ICI plan and/or the Supplemental ICI plan if certain conditions are met. Employees may enroll in ICI if certain sick leave balance and/or sick leave usage requirements are met and may enroll in the Supplemental ICI plan if the prior year's WRS earnings were greater than $64,000. If you enrolled in ICI or added Supplemental ICI coverage during this January enrollment opportunity, this coverage will be effective on April 1 and the first deduction associated with the new coverage will be reflected on your April earnings payable April 19 for classified employees and May 1st for unclassified employees.

For more information about the ICI program, see the recently updated ICI plan brochure.

Employee Reimbursement Account (ERA) Grace Period for Medical and Dependent Care Expense Claims

February 17, 2012 | Source: Fringe Benefits Management Company (FBMC)

Services received and reimbursable items purchased in 2011 and during the grace period between January 1 and March 15, 2012, may be reimbursed from remaining 2011 ERA plan year funds.

Any remaining funds in your medical account from 2011 will be available on your new myFBMC card and will be used first when the new card is used for payment. If you enrolled in the ERA medical expense account for 2012, you should have received a new myFBMC card with instructions on how to activate your card prior to use by visiting www.myfbmc.com. Remember, when you use the myFBMC card to pay for eligible expenses, funds are electronically deducted from your medical expense account.

The deadline for submitting 2011 medical and dependent care claims to FBMC is April 15, 2012. All claims must be received by the Fringe Benefit Management Company or postmarked by April 15, 2012 to be reimbursed from 2011 funds. If you do not submit your claims by the deadline, any money remaining in your account for 2011 will be forfeited.

You can submit claims by any of the following methods:

• Mail to: FBMC, PO Box 1800, Tallahassee, FL 32302-1800
• Toll-Free Fax to: 1-888-326-2658
• Online Claims Submission at: www.myFBMC.com
• Use myFBMC card to pay for eligible expenses.

For questions contact www.myFBMC.com or FBMC Customer Service at 1-800-342-8017 (Mon-Fri, 6:00am to 9:00pm CST).

Related Link: myFBMC General FAQs

W-2 Now Available Online; To Be Mailed by January 31, 2012

Updated January 25, 2012 | Source: UW Service Center

For tax filing, employees may use their W-2 form now available under the 'Tax Statements' tab in the 'Payroll Information' module in the My UW Work Record tab. W-2 paper copies will be postmarked by January 31, 2012. Some employees will also receive additional tax forms from the University. These forms will be posted to the My UW portal as soon as they are available.

Employees should not use their final 2011 Earnings Statement to file their taxes. Some employees have had adjustments made to their 2011 taxable earnings since the last 2011 payroll was paid. These employees will have an additional earnings statement with 'Earned' dates of 12/19/2011 – 12/19/11, reflecting these adjustments. The 'Paid' date on the additional statement is the adjustment date.

Tax Sheltered Annuity (TSA) Annual Fee Deduction: What is "TSA Fee?" and What does it mean to defer 100% of salary?

January 20, 2012 | Source: UW System Administration

Tax Sheltered Annuity (TSA) Fee

If you are currently contributing to the TSA 403(b) Program, your first paycheck in 2012 had a "TSA Fee" of $15.00. For unclassified employees this was the January 3 paycheck, and for classified employees this was the January 12 paycheck.

In years past, the fee was deducted on the paycheck payable in March in a batch process. With the new payroll system, it became possible to deduct the fee automatically on the first paydate of the year. Employees who start contributing after their first 2012 paycheck will have the $15 fee automatically deducted at the time of their first 2012 TSA contribution. This is a great improvement from the old payroll system, which required staff time to run the batch process and manual entry for every employee who began deferrals after the March deduction.

The TSA fee is deducted only once a year for each employee who contributes to the program. This very low administrative fee is used to defray costs of managing the program, including staying in compliance with IRS regulations.

100% TSA deferral

With HRS, employees are able to defer a percentage of salary to their TSA 403(b) account up to 100% of salary.

Warning! If you defer 100% – either on the Salary Reduction Agreement or through the online process – your paycheck will be $0.00. Please be sure this is what you really intend.

Once you begin a 100% deferral, your paycheck will continue to be $0.00 until you have reached the 2012 maximum allowable contribution, which is $17,000 ($22,500 for employees age 50 or older). If you have 15 or more years of service with the University of Wisconsin, you may have an additional "catch-up" opportunity allowing extra contributions of up to $3,000 per year to a cumulative maximum of $15,000 over five or more years. Your campus benefits staff can determine if you are eligible for this.

If you want to defer the 403(b) maximum for the year and have questions about how much that is per payroll, please contact your campus benefits staff.

Activate Your myFBMC Card for 2012 ERA Medical Expense Account

January 17, 2012 | Source: UW System Administration

If you enrolled in the ERA Medical Expense Account for 2012, you recently received a new myFBMC card. There is a sticker on the card instructing you to activate your card by visiting www.myfbmc.com.

The myFBMC Card® is a reimbursement option that allows FBMC to electronically reimburse many eligible expenses under your employer's plan and IRS guidelines. Because it is a payment card, when you use the myFBMC Card® to pay for eligible expenses, funds are electronically deducted from your medical expense account.

Participants must go on-line to www.myfbmc.com to activate the card prior to use. To activate the card on-line, please log onto the myFBMC site. If you need assistance, you can call FBMC Customer Care at 1-800-342-8017.

Any remaining funds in the medical account from 2011 will be available on the new card. Money remaining in a 2011 account will be used first when the card is used for payment. The old myFBMC card will not work after 12/31/11.

Social Security Tax Rate Reduction Extended Through February, 2012

January 8, 2012 | Source: UW System Administration

The 2% Social Security tax rate reduction (from 6.20% to 4.20%) that was in effect for 2011 has been extended through February 29, 2012. The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 temporarily extends the 2% payroll tax cut for employees. This reduced Social Security withholding will have no effect on employees' future Social Security benefits.

The Social Security wage base, the amount of an employee's salary that can be taxed for Social Security purposes, has risen from $106,800 in 2011 to $110,100 for 2012. This means that the first $110,100 of an employee's wages are taxable for Social Security purposes. An employee's entire salary is taxable for Medicare purposes.

Through February, the employee and employer tax rates for Social Security (full FICA) will be 5.65% (4.20% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare) for wages up to $110,100. All wages over $110,100 are subject only to the 1.45% Medicare rate. The rate remains at 1.45% for those who are subject only to Medicare.

Office of Human Resources
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Benefits Phone: 608-262-5650 | Fax: 608-262-8436
E-mail: benefits@ohr.wisc.edu | payroll@ohr.wisc.edu
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