Beginning with your first paycheck in January, you may notice a decrease in your take-home pay if none of your covered dependent children qualify for pretax health/dental/vision premiums under the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004.
According to this act, you can pay dependent children’s health, dental and vision premiums before taxes as long as at least one of your covered children meets criteria set by the Internal Revenue Service. If none of your covered children meet these criteria, their portion of your health/dental/vision premiums will be paid after taxes. This will increase the amount of your pay that is taxable, thereby increasing the amount you pay in taxes.
Premiums for your children will still be paid before taxes if at least one of your covered children meets one of the following criteria:
If you have a covered dependent who will be older than 18 as of December 31, 2006, and you do not specify that the child meets one of the criteria listed above by Dec. 19, you will be required to pay taxes on that dependent’s health/dental/vision premiums.
You can change your child’s tax-qualifying status by logging onto Single Sign On, selecting HRConnect, and then scrolling down to the appropriate checkbox under the “Benefits Data” tab. For more information, go to sago.tamu.edu/shro/wftra.pdf.
Beginning Jan. 1, vendors who offer 403(b) retirement savings plans (also known as Tax-Deferred Accounts or TDAs) will also have the option of offering Roth 403(b) plans.
Like the Roth IRA, the Roth 403(b) will allow an employee to tuck dollars away in a savings account after taxes without having to pay taxes on any earnings when he/she begins receiving distributions (subject to time requirements), usually after retirement.
The maximum contribution for Roth 403(b) plans will equal that of traditional 403(b) plans, but it will be much higher than that of Roth IRAs. Employees will be allowed to contribute up to $15,000 per year to a Roth 403(b) ($20,000 if at least 50 years old), compared to $4,000 under a Roth IRA ($5,000 if at least 50 years old). Like the traditional 403(b) plan, the Roth 403(b) will include a $3,000 catch-up for those eligible. Employees may contribute to both types of 403(b) plans with the A&M System as long as the total contributions for all plans do not exceed the $15,000/$20,000 maximum.
If you leave A&M System employment, Roth 403(b) funds can be rolled over to a Roth IRA or your new employer’s Roth 403(b).
As with the traditional 403(b) plan, contributions must be made through payroll deduction. ING, QUADS, Security Benefit Life Insurance Company and VALIC have indicated that they will begin offering Roth 403(b) plans beginning Jan. 1. Other vendors have indicated that they hope to introduce Roth 403(b) plans soon after that.
If you enroll in a Roth 403(b) plan in January, your contributions will be taken from your Feb. 1 paycheck (or your first February paycheck if you are paid biweekly). For more information about Roth 403(b) plans and how to enroll, contact your TDA vendor representative.
After rolling out the popular LeaveTraq program two years ago, the System Offices’ Business Computing Services is preparing to unveil another online system intended to smooth out workplace processes, this time in the area of timekeeping.
TimeTraq, which is currently in the pilot stage, will not only provide employees a convenient, paperless way to submit biweekly timesheets, but also automatically compute overtime, give reasonable estimates of an employee’s gross pay based on the hours submitted, and coordinate with LeaveTraq. LeaveTraq coordination is a particular plus, because any leave hours that are recorded in LeaveTraq will automatically carry over into employees’ TimeTraq timesheets. This will help ensure that the employees’ leave amounts balance with their timesheets.
For all the benefits in store for employees, the system should prove to be an even bigger boon to managers and administrators.
“TimeTraq is designed to facilitate timesheet workflow and allow administrators to finish the payroll cycle more easily,” said Mark Schulz, manager of enterprise software initiatives. “There will be less paper to keep track of, and administrators will be able to see at a glance who has completed timesheets and who hasn’t. Managers will be able to approve timesheets online and view timesheet details online.”
Schulz said TimeTraq will have a look and feel similar to LeaveTraq. LeaveTraq is also undergoing an internal overhaul that will allow it to integrate with TimeTraq. Other than some small changes to the look and feel, users should notice little difference. The most significant difference will be a new section on LeaveTraq’s main page. This new section will call the user’s attention to any leave requests that need to be either completed or cancelled.
TimeTraq, which will be accessible through Single Sign On, will be rolled out to A&M System members beginning next month. It will be introduced department by department at the larger members, while departments at smaller members may begin using it at the same time.
Marc Moore functioned as the lead developer for TimeTraq, and he was assisted by Schulz, Raj Kaimal and Yunyou Yao, with significant input from Larry Field of Budgets/Payroll/Personnel.
To help protect A&M Dental plan participants against identity theft, CIGNA has assigned a unique CIGNA ID number to each participant. Dental HMO participants already have this.
Participants and their dependents can use these ID numbers the same way they used their Social Security numbers. They can use the ID numbers at their dentists’ offices and when calling CIGNA’s member services department. Participants can choose to continue using their Social Security numbers if they wish.
A&M Dental participants who have received dental Explanations of Benefits within the past few months will find the ID number in the upper right corner. Participants who have questions or who would like to obtain their CIGNA ID numbers can call CIGNA's member services department at (888) 336-8258.
Effective Jan. 1, A&M Care health plan participants will have access to all Scott & White providers and facilities for network copayments and coinsurance levels. This will include the Scott & White clinic in Bryan/College Station.
Because of a recent move by the FDA to reduce the risk of fetal exposure to the teratogenic drug Accutane and its generic equivalent, isotretinoin, PharmaCare will no longer fill prescriptions for these drugs through its mail-order program.
A&M Care participants who submit prescriptions for either of these drugs to PharmaCare’s mail-order service will have their prescriptions returned with an "Unable to Fill Rx" letter. Users can still purchase 30-day supplies of these drugs through network retail pharmacies.
My spouse and I are both A&M System employees. Recently, we were comparing the enrollment choices we made during Annual Enrollment and discovered that both of us had enrolled in employee/spouse health coverage without letting the other know. Should we correct this now or simply wait until the next Annual Enrollment period?
Being double-covered under an A&M System benefit program does not increase the amount of benefits you’ll receive. Not only that, but it may mean you are receiving the state contribution for being an employee and a spouse, which is not allowed by Texas law. To make sure you are not paying more out of your pocket than necessary—and to make sure you are in compliance with the law—you should contact your Human Resources office immediately to lower your coverage level.
You can be double-covered under the Optional Accidental Death and Dismemberment plan. However, even if you are covered as both an employee and a dependent under this plan, your benefit will not be more than you are eligible to buy as an employee. For this reason, you should review your coverage to make sure you are not paying for more benefits than you can receive.
For more information on benefit options available to you and your spouse when you both work for the A&M System, check out “When You and Your Spouse Work for the A&M System.”