Your Online Service Retirement Application

Presenter 1: Good morning and welcome  to the Your Online Service Retirement Application presentation. This  video will walk you through the online service retirement application  and all that it entails. You can access the online service retirement application  directly through your myCalPERS account.

Before we get to the main presentation,  let’s take care of some housekeeping items. To provide a future reference,  and make your note taking easier, we’re providing a presentation learning guide.  You’ll see the link to the learning guide in the YouTube description box.

Although the chat feature  is active, due the large number of participants, we won’t be able to respond to your questions  during this presentation. If you have questions, contact us directly. You can do so by  calling us, visiting a regional office, or sending us a secure message  through your myCalPERS account.

Our agenda today covers things  you should do before you retire, the online service retirement application, and what happens after you submit it. There are  a few things you should do before you retire. Starting with one of the most important actions  you can take when preparing for retirement: generating retirement estimates.

In myCalPERS,  you can run as many estimates as you want. Choose different retirement dates, final compensation  amounts, include beneficiaries or not, and more. You can even save them all to return  later and compare the results.

When you’re within one year of retirement, you can request  a CalPERS-generated estimate letter either by submitting the Retirement Allowance Estimate  Request form or you can download an estimate letter online. You’re allowed to request up to  two CalPERS-generated estimates in a year. To get the estimate letter within your myCalPERS  account, complete a myCalPERS estimate with a retirement date of no more than one year  from the date you’re entering the estimate, then request an estimate letter.

In  most cases, you’ll be able to download the letter immediately. If your estimate  requires further validation by CalPERS, your request will show as pending. This means  it’ll take approximately 30 days to process.

Once we have completed the calculation, you’ll get  an email notification stating that your letter is complete and available for review online. If  you’d like more information about estimates, I encourage you to watch our video Understanding  Your Retirement Benefit Options. It’s available on our YouTube channel.

You should also take a class.  The Planning Your Retirement class is designed for members who are within 10 years of retirement.  It’ll provide you with a deeper understanding of your benefits as you prepare for retirement. 

You’ll learn how your pension is calculated, ways to increase it, the payment options available  to you, the difference between a beneficiary and a survivor, and much, much more. Once you’ve  taken the Planning Your Retirement class, there’s the Your Retirement Application and Beyond  class. Not only will this class help you fill out your application, but it also includes useful  post-retirement information.

Both classes are available as online self-paced learning or led by  one of our Regional Office retirement counselors either virtually or in-person. To enroll, log in  to your account, select Education, then Classes. Another great thing to do is to review our helpful  publications: Planning Your Service Retirement, which is publication 1 and Service Retirement  Election Application, publication 43.

The Planning Your Service Retirement publication will  help you plan your service retirement and provide information you need to consider before retiring.  Learn about the eligibility requirement for retirement, retirement payment options, things  to consider when choosing a retirement date, and more. This video will walk you through  submitting your retirement application online but if you’re unable to do so or don’t want to  submit it online, you’ll need to complete the Service Retirement Election Application contained  in publication 43.

Lastly, once you’ve run your estimates, taken one or both of our classes,  and read the publications, if you still have questions, you can schedule an appointment with  one of our Regional Office representatives. Appointments are available virtually and  in-person at a Regional Office near you. There are certain limitations, such as  failure of the myCalPERS security measures, that will prevent you from submitting  your application online.

If one of these limitations applies to you, you’ll need to  submit a paper application. Keep in mind, we can’t accept your retirement application,  either online or in paper form, more than 120 days prior to your retirement date. Now  let’s get started on the online application.

Once you’ve logged in to your myCalPERS account, there are two ways to get to the retirement  application. First, in the blue retirement block, you can select the Apply for Retirement  link. Or you can select the Retirement tab at the top and then select Apply  for Retirement from the dropdown menu.

Before you start your application, we recommend  you educate yourself on the process by running retirement estimates, learning about Service or  Disability Retirement, and tax withholdings. We provide links to resources to help you fulfill  this goal. Then there is some information you’ll want to gather.

You’ll need your beneficiary’s  information, such as their Social Security number, date of birth, and current address. You’ll  also need your bank account information to set up your direct deposit. If you don’t  want a direct deposit, you can fill out and submit the paper application, instead of  submitting the online version.

Once you’re ready to start your application, select the Start  Application button at the bottom of the screen. Before you get to the type of application  page, you’ll need to answer some questions to verify your identity. Once that’s done,  you’ll need to select the type of retirement that you are applying for.

The choices are  service retirement, disability retirement, or service retirement pending disability  retirement. For this presentation, we’re going to walk thru the Service Retirement application.  You also can select leave the application at the bottom on any page.

If you choose to leave the  application, you can return to any completed steps later. Notice the My Application status box over  on the right side of the screen. This box stays with you while you complete your application  to show you which application step you’re on.

After you select the retirement application type  you wish to submit, you’ll need to review the information we have for you: your name, gender,  and date of birth. If anything is incorrect, you’ll need to connect with your employer  as soon as possible so they can correct it with us. For this presentation, we’re  going to use a hypothetical member, and their information is correct.

We then need  your relationship status; are you married or in a registered domestic partnership? If yes,  select Yes. If no, then No, then select Save and Continue.

The online application is dynamic  and will display questions and information to you based on the answers you provide throughout  the application. Under Relationship Status, if you select yes, you’ll be required to enter  your date of marriage or registered domestic partnership date. If you select no, you will  be prompted to select the reason, such as never married or in a domestic partnership, divorced,  or widowed.

Then you’ll select Save and Continue. On the Your Retirement Date page,  we’ll need your last day on Payroll, which is the last day you are on payroll  with your employer. It could be your last day physically working or the last day you’re  being paid using your leave credits.

Enter your Retirement Date with us. It cannot be  the same day as your last day on payroll, but it can be the very next day. In fact, your  retirement date can be any day after your last day on payroll, Saturdays, Sundays, or even  holidays if you wish.

It’s your choice. The Retirement Estimate Calculator can be helpful in  choosing a retirement date. To wrap up this page, enter the Current Position Title without  abbreviations.

Then select Save and Continue. Remember you can leave the application at  any time, to take a break, do more estimates, etc. After selecting Save and Continue on the  Your Retirement Date page, for example, you can select Leave the Application to be taken out of  the application.

To return, select the Apply for Retirement link again. It will bring you to the  Your Application Progress page. Your next topic will show as In Progress.

You can start there  or go back to any previous page. For example, maybe you wish to change your Last Day on Payroll  and Retirement Date because you’ve done another estimate and discovered you could retire  earlier than the original date. If so, select Your Retirement Date hyperlink.

For now, let’s  continue with the About Your Retirement page. The About Your Retirement page has two different  questions that you need to answer, whether you’re a member of another retirement system, also  known as reciprocity, and if you want a Temporary Annuity. As you work through the application,  if you’re not sure what some of the terms are, the blue links provide more information about  the current subject.

If you’re not a member of another California public retirement system and  you do not want to include a Temporary Annuity, then select no to both questions, then select Save  and Continue. For more in-depth information on reciprocity, read our publication When You Change  Retirement Systems, which is publication 16, and for the temporary annuity read A Guide to  Your CalPERS Temporary Annuity, publication 13. To get an estimate of how either reciprocity or  a temporary annuity may affect your pension, you can order a CalPERS-generated estimate letter in  your myCalPERS account like we mentioned earlier.

Your next page will either be Health Coverage or  Retirement Options. If your employer offers you CalPERS health coverage and you are enrolled,  you’ll see the Health Coverage page. If not, this page won’t be available to you.

On this  page, you can decline CalPERS health coverage into retirement. Only select this checkbox if you  want to cancel your health enrollment. If you wish to stay enrolled in your health coverage, just  select Save and Continue, don’t check the box.

If you would like more information on health  into retirement, we have some great resources on our website, such as the Eligibility &  Enrollment webpage and our Health Program Guide. There’s also a link to the Health Program  Guide in the learning guide to this presentation. Choose one retirement option in step six.

This  is where running a retirement estimate comes in handy, because the option you choose determines  how much you receive in retirement and what, if anything, your beneficiary receives after  your death. If you need more information on the retirement options, read our publication  Planning Your Service Retirement, publication 1, and Completing Your Service Retirement  Election Application, publication 43, or you can view our video Understanding  your Retirement Benefit Options, which is available on our YouTube channel. The Beneficiaries Overview page shows you  the benefits your named beneficiaries may receive.

Select Save and Continue to add your  chosen beneficiaries. The Select Your Lifetime Beneficiary page will appear for all retirement  options except if you chose the Unmodified or Return of Retirement Contributions options.  Most lifetime retirement payment options, such as the 100% Beneficiary or 50%  Beneficiary options, only allows you to name one lifetime beneficiary.

If you want  to name multiple lifetime beneficiaries, you’ll need to select from one of the  last two options available on that page, the Flexible Beneficiary Specific Dollar  Amount or the Flexible Beneficiary Specific Percentage. The system will pre-populate  any existing relationship, but if you would like to name a beneficiary that isn’t listed,  select Add a beneficiary. You’ll be required to enter their relationship to you, name, date  of birth, gender, full social security number, and complete address.

After you’ve finished  with your lifetime beneficiary, select Continue. If you selected Return of Remaining Contributions,  100% Beneficiary, or 50% Beneficiary, you’ll be asked if you want to designate  a lump sum beneficiary. If you select Yes, you’ll be prompted to select or enter  your beneficiaries’ information here.

This is one-time, lump sum benefit, and you can  name anyone for it. The system will pre-populate known relationships but you’re able to add  new beneficiaries. Your beneficiary for this lump sum benefit doesn’t always have  to be a person.

You can name your trust, or an organization, such as a church or nonprofit.  Once you’ve selected at least one beneficiary, the Select the Priority section appears. Upon  your death, primary beneficiaries that are the first to receive the lump sum benefit.

You can  also designate secondary beneficiaries who would be entitled to your lump sum benefit if they  survive all your primary beneficiaries. Each beneficiary you selected above will display  with Primary and Secondary boxes underneath. Check only one box for each beneficiary.

Do  you want them paid first or only if the primary beneficiary cannot be paid the benefit? If you  don’t know all your beneficiaries’ information, you can select No for now. You can  always log back into your account to update your lump sum beneficiaries  at any time after you retire.

You can locate that page by selecting the Retirement  drop downbox, then selecting Beneficiaries. All employers contract for a lump sum Retired  Death Benefit, which ranges from $600 to $5000. Beginning July 1, 2023, the minimum $500 retired  death benefit contracts changed to $2000.

If you work for more than one employer under CalPERS  and they have different contracts for retired death benefit amounts, we’ll pay the highest  amount contracted by any of your employers. If you worked for another California public  retirement system after leaving CalPERS-covered employment and a similar benefit is paid by the  other retirement system, then we won’t pay the Retired Death Benefit. All other parts of this  page are the same as the prior page: you can enter a beneficiary or not, select an existing  one and add more, and select the priority prior to selecting Continue.

The last Beneficiary page  will only display if you chose to have a Temporary Annuity included in your service retirement. This  benefit is only payable if you pass away prior to the end of your Temporary Annuity payout. But  all other parts of this page are the same as the last two pages.

We’ll let you know if your  employer contracts for survivor continuance. Eligible survivors as defined by law are your  spouse or registered domestic partner where you’ve been married or in a registered domestic  partnership for at least one year prior to your retirement date, natural, adopted, or disabled  children, or economically dependent parents. myCalPERS can recognize if you  have a spouse or registered domestic partner if they are listed as a  related person on your beneficiary pages.

If they’re not listed on those pages,  we’ll ask you if you have one and other possible eligible survivors. All fields are  required and then select Save and Continue. The first step in filling out your Tax  Withholding section is to fill out your Tax Residency Status by identifying if  you’re a US citizen and if you live in the United States.

The Continue button will  not appear if you skip either question. Your pension is taxable, so you’ll need to elect  how you want us to withhold both federal and state taxes. You have three choices when making your  federal income tax withholding election in Step 9.

Choose not to withhold federal taxes, use  the tax tables, or choose not to make a tax withholding election. If you choose to not  make a selection, we are required, by law, to withhold federal income tax as if your filing  status is single, with no adjustments. But if you choose to withhold using tax tables, there  are four Tax Steps to follow based on the IRS rules.

If you need assistance with what to put  in each section, review the current W-4P on the IRS website for more information and there are  links to these resources in the learning guide. With California Income Tax Withholding,  there’s one additional option. You can choose not to withhold California income  taxes, withhold a flat dollar amount, withhold using the tax tables, or choose not to  make a tax withholding election.

Keep in mind, we can’t take out another state’s taxes. If  you have questions about what to withhold, contact a tax professional  as we cannot give tax advice. Time to Choose Your Payment Option.

You can choose  to have a direct deposit to a personal or trust account. If you don’t want direct deposit, you  can add the information here and then contact us after we’ve processed your retirement to cancel  the direct deposit, or you can fill out and submit a paper Service Retirement Election Application  instead of submitting this one online. If you choose a trust account, you’ll need to provide  information about your trust, including the trust name, date filed, city and county where  it was filed, and federal tax ID, and address.

If you choose a personal account, you’ll  need to answer a couple of questions. Is it a checking or savings account? Do you share a  joint account with another person?

If so, whom? Your routing number is a nine-digit  number usually located on the bottom left-side corner of your check. Don’t use a  deposit slip.

Your account number is usually to the right of your routing number. It  may appear in a different order depending on your check. No checks?

Depositing to  a Savings Account? No problem. You can always get this information from your banking  institution.

Before selecting Verify & Continue, double check all of your numbers. If you  did mistype your routing number, no worries; our system will verify your financial institution  and confirm with you that it’s the correct one. Review your retirement application very  carefully.

If you need to make any changes, select the blue Edit link for that section.  If you’re happy with your application, select Save and Continue to  move on to the next section. Time to sign and submit the application.

There  are multiple acknowledgements in this section. Let’s go over each one. If you are married  or in a registered domestic partnership, the first signature section will be for your  spouse or registered domestic partner.

They will need to sign a document stating they are aware  of your benefit selections when you name someone other than or in addition to them as beneficiary  for any of your benefits. Are they able to sign a document within 15 days in front of a notary or  CalPERS representative? If yes, select that radio button.

The document will be available to print  out on the Submit Documents page. If no, you’ll need to tell us why they aren’t able to sign it.  You’ll find your reason in the list provided.

All members will have the Electronic  Signature Agreement. It will be the first thing that appears if you are not married or in  a registered domestic partnership. Please read and agree to it by checking the Electronic  Signature Agreement box.

If you don’t want to sign and submit online, you can print all  the forms and send to us by mail or by fax. The first acknowledgment is to certify  that the information you’re submitting is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. The next two are agreeing to the Direct  Deposit Authorization and the Tax Withholding Authorization.

After you’ve read the  acknowledgements, double checked the information, and checked all the boxes. Then you’ll be ready  to sign and submit your application. If the Sign and Submit button is greyed out, there’s  a checkbox that still needs to be checked.

You’ll see a green box at the top of the  screen telling you you’ve successfully submitted your application. Other things  you may see is a yellow box letting you know there are documents that still  need to be submitted and the due date, and a survey to check in with you to see how your  experience was submitting your application online. The Submit Documents page will show you  all required forms or certificates needed, such as marriage certificates, certification of  domestic partnerships, and birth certificates for your survivors or beneficiaries.

All these  documents can be uploaded right here in your account. If you’re unable to upload your documents  for any reason, you can mail or fax them to us. A little bit ago, we mentioned your spouse or  registered domestic partner maybe needing to sign something acknowledging your beneficiary  designations.

It’s called the Spousal Signature form and here’s where you’ll find it. You can  print it out for them. They’ll need to sign it in front of a notary or CalPERS representative.

Then  you can upload it here or on the next page we’re going to show you. Now this is very important.  This form must be submitted within 15 days from the date you submitted your application.

If  it’s not, your application can be cancelled. Now that you’ve submitted your application,  how do you finish uploading your documents? Or show proof to your employer that you indeed  submitted your retirement application?

Or where can you simply check the status of your retirement  application processing? All three of these things can be done thru the Apply for Retirement page in  your myCalPERS account. Go to the Retirement tab dropdown then select Apply for Retirement. 

The Milestones and Status columns show you where your application is in our processing. You  can download an Application Receipt letter under the Status column. And you can view your submitted  application in PDF form or cancel it.

Here’s just a little something to look forward to. After the  Calculating Payment Amount milestone is complete, we'll show your anticipated benefit amount  which is below the table. Just know the calculation used to get this amount shown  will be based on payroll reported at this time.

The calculation does not project any  additional service credit or compensation. Adjustments will be applied when additional  information is submitted to us, if applicable. Scroll further down to the  Documents We Need section, where you can upload the required documents.

All right, now that you’ve submitted your retirement application online, what happens next? If you need to show your employer proof you submitted your retirement application, you can  print out the Acknowledgement letter or save it as a PDF on your computer and email it to them.  Then, about two weeks prior to the issuance of your first check, we’ll send the First Payment  Acknowledgement letter providing the issue date and gross amount of your first check along with  some tax information.

Lastly, if you’re continuing your CalPERS health benefits into retirement,  you’ll receive two notifications. First is a letter notifying you of your active employer  health coverage cancellation. This usually occurs around your last day on payroll.

But don’t panic!  This is just a necessary step in the process. Second, after we’ve finished processing your  retirement and set up your health into retirement, we’ll mail you a confirmation of your enrollment  in retiree health benefits.

Even though the letters come at different times, you will have  no lapse in health coverage if you’re currently enrolled in active health care, meet health  eligibility requirements, and don’t check the box in the application declining your health benefits. If you want to return to this video later to assist you when submitting your application,  it and our other video presentations, are available on our YouTube channel. You can  access the CalPERS YouTube channel through our website at www.

calpers. ca. gov, or directly on  the YouTube channel at www.

youtube. com/CalPERS. Our presentation today was intended to give you  an understanding of the online Service Retirement Application.

To reinforce the information  you’ve received today, I encourage you to take one of our member education classes; enroll  in your myCalPERS account under Education. Please note that CalPERS is governed by the Public  Employees’ Retirement Law. The information in this presentation is general.

The Retirement  Law is complex and subject to change. If there is a conflict between the law and the  information presented in this presentation, any decisions will be based on the law. Later  today, you’ll receive an email with a short evaluation.

Please answer all of the questions  as it’s important for us to get your feedback to help us improve these presentations. Thank  you so much for watching and have a great day.