Hearing Rumors? Not sure your co-worker has it right?
Rumor Central has the answers! Submit your question or just browse our blog to separate facts from fiction.
Subscribe to Rumor Central
Subscribe to receive a monthly email that includes answers to recent Rumor Central questions.
Log in to myMOSERS. Click on Personal Information, then on Email Options. Check the box next to Rumor Central.
-
Updating Your Email Preferences
Jun 3, 2022, 2:45 PM By MOSERSI would like to receive my communications from MOSERS on paper rather than by email.If you would like to change your email preferences, please log in to myMOSERS After logging in, select Personal Information then Email Options. From there you can opt-out of receiving email updates. If you are unable to log in, please contact a MOSERS benefit counselor who will be happy to help you.
-
Travel Assistance for Members
May 27, 2022, 10:44 AM By MOSERSDo I still have the travel assistance through standard if I have basic life insurance?
Yes. Active members and retirees who have MOSERS basic life insurance* are eligible for travel assistance when traveling at least 100 miles from home or in a foreign country. Family members, including a spouse and children through age 25 are also covered. This includes help with trip planning, lost travel documents, and emergency medical or legal resources while you are away from home. The medical assistance includes help with locating medical care, 24-hour access to nurses by phone, and emergency transportation services. (Please note: Travel assistance is not the same as travel health insurance. Please contact your health insurance provider regarding health care coverage when travelling.)
For more info, check out the Travel Assistance Service Overview. You can get the most out of Travel Assistance with the Assist America Mobile App.
*MOSERS' life insurance is not available to employees of the Department of Conservation or state regional universities except for Lincoln University and State Technical College of Missouri.
-
Recent Legislation
May 23, 2022, 4:32 PM By MOSERSDid the 2023-24 budget bill sent to the governor contain the amount that the MOSERS board requested for the MOSERS pension fund?
The General Assembly passed the FY23 state budget on Friday, May 6. This budget will be effective beginning July 1, 2022. Within the FY23 budget, the General Assembly appropriated and fully funded the amount requested by the Office of Administration of $610 million to fund the State’s annual employer contribution to MOSERS.
In addition, the General Assembly passed a $500 million one-time extraordinary payment to MOSERS. For more information, visit our Legislation page or view HB 3005.
-
May Pension Payments
May 18, 2022, 8:03 AM By MOSERSSeeing how Monday is a holiday, was just wondering when I was going to get paid? Thank you
We will issue benefit payments on Tuesday, May 31. To view the remainder of 2022 benefit payments, check out the Pension Payment & Holiday Schedule.
-
Basic Life Insurance Increase
Apr 14, 2022, 9:01 AM By MOSERSCan I increase my Basic Life Insurance?As an actively employed MOSERS member, you receive basic life insurance equal to one times your annual salary at no cost to you. Your employer pays the premium. The only time your basic life insurance coverage increases is if your salary increases. However, as an active member, you may be able to purchase additional optional life insurance coverage for yourself and your dependents.
To do so, complete and submit the Enrollment/Change-Optional Life Insurance form at myMOSERS and also the Standard Medical History Statement.
MOSERS offers an Annual Life Insurance Review Period every October for member coverage. The review period gives eligible members the chance to increase their own optional coverage in increments of $10,000 without completing additional medical history forms. We will notify you each September if you are eligible. A family status change, such as marriage, also allows you to apply to increase your coverage within 31 days of an eligible life event without proving insurability. You may be eligible to purchase optional life insurance any other time during the year, but you will need to submit evidence of insurability.
Please note that once you have retired, you cannot add or increase MOSERS insurance coverage on yourself, and you cannot continue optional life insurance coverage on your spouse into retirement. To retain life insurance coverage for any dependent child(ren), you must complete the Retain/Terminate Dependent Child Life Insurance form prior to the payment of your first retirement benefit.
-
Unused Sick Leave and Legislation
Apr 6, 2022, 1:21 PM By MOSERSHow will HB2234I effect someone that is 7 years pass their BackDrop with 1500 hours of sick leave if it passes?HB 2234 does not change the current statutory rules for converting sick leave to service credit or BackDROP.
You will get one month of credited service for each block of 168 hours of unused sick leave you have at retirement. While this will increase the amount of your benefit, unused sick leave cannot count toward eligibility for retirement or as part of the BackDROP period. That is, the months of unused sick leave will not make you eligible for retirement (or BackDROP) sooner, but will increase the amount of your payment once you have retired.
-
Your W-2 and 1099-R Tax Form
Apr 6, 2022, 8:30 AM By MOSERSI retired from the state of Missouri in October 2021 am needing access to my 2021 W2 and 2021 1099R. Please tell how to access your system for this information. Please e-mail me with instructions. Thank you.Your W-2 form comes from your employer, not from MOSERS. You will need to reach out to your employer for your W-2.
MOSERS provides retirees and benefit recipients with a 1099-R tax form. We mailed 1099-R forms at the end of January. You can also access it online by logging into myMOSERS. You will find it under Personal Information and available for you to print. This form lists your 2021 retirement benefit income from MOSERS. You will need this form to file your income tax return. If you receive more than one benefit from MOSERS, you may receive more than one 1099-R from us. If you are unable to log in to myMOSERS, call us at (800) 827-1063 or (573) 632-6100 and we can mail you a replacement. For security reasons, we cannot email it to you.
-
Social Security and Your Pension
Mar 24, 2022, 4:12 PM By MOSERSI attended the Ready to Retire seminar yesterday and I have one question I forgot to ask. If you receive a pension does it affect the amount of the SS benefit you receive? Or does the SS benefit stay the same regardless?Since a MOSERS pension is from Social Security covered employment in which you paid Social Security payroll taxes, it has no effect on your Social Security benefit. Additionally, your MOSERS benefit is a pension and, therefore, it does not count as salary or wages towards the annual earnings limit for Social Security.
We also suggest you speak to a tax professional or financial advisor for advice specific to your situation.
-
State Taxes and BackDROP
Mar 23, 2022, 1:31 PM By MOSERSAs a recent retiree, I had a bad shock from my 2021 taxes when I discovered state withholding taxes were not taken out of my lump sum retirement benefit. Despite the language on the BackDrop distribution form mentioning state and local taxes were my responsibility, I assumed since MOSERS took care of the Federal taxes they would take care of state taxes. I don't recall this being covered in various pre-retirement information. You may want to make this information more prevalent to retirees,Thank you for your email. While we mention the member’s responsibility for state taxes on BackDROP cash payments in the Ready to Retire seminar (and reference book) and on the BackDROP Distribution form, we appreciate your feedback and will try and highlight this point in the future.
-
Accumulated Sick Leave at Retirement
Mar 22, 2022, 11:23 AM By MOSERSI was hired in 2012. Does my accumulated sick leave count toward my time served when I retire?
Unused sick leave does NOT count towards service for retirement ELIGIBILITY. In other words, it will not make you eligible for retirement sooner than you would have been without it. You must meet both the age and service requirements – not counting unused sick leave – to be eligible to retire.
However, as part of your retirement benefit calculation, we will add one month of additional service for each block of 168 hours of unused sick leave you have at retirement. This will increase the AMOUNT of your benefit payment every month in retirement.
There are some specific situations in which unused sick leave doesn’t count:
- MSEP 2011 members: If you left state employment after January 1, 2018, and prior to being eligible for early or normal retirement, you will get no service credit for unused sick leave.
- MSEP retirees: If you leave state employment prior to being eligible for early or normal retirement, you will get no service credit for your unused sick leave.
- Legislators, statewide elected officials, and judges: You do not accrue sick leave.
Topics
- 1099-R (10)
- Annual Leave (3)
- BackDrop (10)
- Board of Trustees (1)
- COLA (14)
- Credited Service (9)
- Death (1)
- Deferred Compensation (5)
- Divorce (1)
- Early Retirement (4)
- Education (7)
- Employee Contributions (13)
- Final Average Pay (8)
- Former State Employee (5)
- Funding (5)
- Leaving State Employment (19)
- Legislation (5)
- Life Insurance (12)
- Long-term Disability (1)
- Medical Insurance (6)
- Military Service (5)
- MSEP (6)
- MSEP 2000 (6)
- MSEP 2011 (12)
- Normal Retirement (22)
- Payday (4)
- Re-employment (16)
- Retirement Process (11)
- Rule of 80 (9)
- Sick Leave (6)
- Taxes (27)
- Temporary Benefit (4)
- Termination (4)
- Travel Assistance (2)
- Universities (3)
- Vesting (4)
Archive
Disclaimer
We strive to provide the most accurate information possible in our answers to Rumor Central questions. However, occasionally, laws, policies or provisions change and individual circumstances may vary. Please contact a MOSERS benefit counselor or see the handbooks in our website Library for more detailed information. If there is any difference between the information provided in this blog or on the MOSERS website and the law or policies that govern MOSERS, the law and policies will prevail. See our Privacy, Security & Legal Notices for more information.