Molly Janczyk and Gary Russell re: STRS Withholding Amounts

From Gary Russell, January 12, 2010
Subject: RE: Gary: About STRS Withholding Amounts Important

Hi Molly,

There are two situations in regards to taxes on the pension checks. The first issue is that with the new tax year, the IRS provides new tax tables that STRS Ohio is to use to withhold federal taxes. You probably noticed that your federal tax withholding increased. While withholding tables are set up by the IRS we get hundreds of calls the first week of January every year questioning why we changed the federal withholding. The answer is always the same in that we are withholding based on new tables provided by the IRS.

The second situation is that we found a glitch with one of the items on our Member Self Service site. There is a link that allows the member to see all of his/her check deductions (View your Payment History) and also a link that retirees can click on to see their federal tax withholding (View your Tax Withholding). Mr. Seipelt’s call alerted us to the fact that the amount shown on the View your Tax Withholding link is incorrect in that it isn’t taking into account the amount of benefit that is tax free. However, the actual amount withheld is correct and is reflected in the View your Payment History link and the retiree’s monthly payment. We are working to get this incorrect data fixed and may remove the View your Tax Withholding link until it is fixed.

I hope this information helps,

Gary

[Charlie Seipelt's call to STRS: http://kathiebracy.blogspot.com/2010/01/charlie-seipelt-calls-to-strs.html]

From Molly Janczyk, January 12, 2010
Subject: Gary: About STRS Withholding Amounts Important

What's going on with taxes on pensions? I emailed last week but got no response. Are you ok?