PBSO is dedicated to assisting retirees with any questions and ensuring they have the information they need to make decisions during retirement.

Reminder:  For those retirees with medical and or dental insurance through PBSO, Retiree Open Enrollment is usually in October/November each year.  Benefits Division – Retirement will send you an email or letter if you don’t have an email address with updated information for the following year.  If you have no changes, no action is required.

Remember: Any open enrollment changes take effect on January 1st of the following year.

This is also a good time to update any beneficiary information.  However, we recommend you update your beneficiaries as soon as you have a change in circumstances, specifically, within 30 days of the qualifying event. Contact Benefits Division – Retirement for more information.

Did your address or phone number change? make sure Benefits Division – Retirement has your updated contact information.

Deferred Compensation:  Our current 457 company is Lincoln Financial Group (LFG). If you haven’t updated a beneficiary since June 2015, you do not have a 457 deferred compensation beneficiary listed.  It takes about 3-5 minutes to check and update a beneficiary.  This will make things easier for your family in the future. To update any beneficiary information you can visit www.lfg.com 

Additionally, we recommend you log into www.lfg.com and register your account.  This will create added security for your deferred compensation information and allow you to see your statements online.

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE TAX EXCLUSION FOR RETIRED PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS?

 Special Notice for Retired Public Safety Officers (PSO):

The following information is provided to assist you with questions concerning the tax exclusion for eligible public safety officer retirees. As with all income tax-related concerns, retirees should consult with the Internal Revenue Service or their financial advisor for additional details about the tax exclusion.

Section 845 of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) provides tax exclusion to eligible public safety officer (PSO) retirees of up to $3,000 for accident, health insurance or tax-qualified long-term care insurance. This provision is also referred to as the “HELPS Act”. A PSO is an individual who has served at a public agency in an official capacity, with or without compensation, as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, chaplain, or as a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew as defined under section 1204(9)(A) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1986.

To be eligible for the tax credit, you must meet the following criteria:

• Served as a PSO at the time of retirement
• Retired under normal or disability retirement
• Your qualified insurance premiums must be deducted from your retirement benefit (an eligible retirement plan is a governmental plan that is: a qualified trust, a section 403(a) plan, a section 403(b) annuity, or a section 457(b) plan)
• Use Form 1040 to file your federal income taxes

This tax exclusion credit may be excluded from your gross income as long as:

The total amount of the exclusion does not exceed the total amount used to pay the qualified health insurance premiums, and it does not use the same premiums already used for your HIS tax exclusion.

More information is available on page 22 of the 1040 2007 Instructions booklet available on the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov). You can also use the Telephone Assistance for Individuals toll-free at 800-829-1040 between the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. your local time (Alaska & Hawaii follow Pacific Time) Monday through Friday.

 Legislative update:

On June 15, 2017, the Florida legislature passed senate bill #7022 which states that an FRS investment plan retiree who is re-hired after July 1, 2010 at an FRS agency, will be re-enrolled in the FRS investment plan.  This does not apply to pension plan participants.

      Retiree Billing Contact Information: 

• WageWorks Website: www.mybenefits.wageworks.com
• WageWorks Customer Service: 1-877-924-3967 (Monday – Friday 8 am to 8 pm EST)
• WageWorks Mailing Address: PO Box 66212 Dallas, TX 75266.