This is for Clients that have employees that have chosen not to take the insurance benefit and but still need to show a flex benefit for them to get TRS creditable earnings.
According to TRS, if we offer a stipend in lieu of insurance then everyone gets the benefit of the $1500.00 plus TRS =$1648.35 as creditable earning. They do not physically get the cash but they get creditable earnings showing to TRS for that amount. We currently pay the stipends each pay period to those employees and TRS says that if we do that then we also have to show that benefit to the insurance takers as well each pay period. I don't know if it can be like a deduction or not. If someone takes insurance they really shouldn't get another benefit of $1648.35 creditable earnings but they do.
How should the deduction be set up if they are NOT taking the credit?
- Deduction type should be FLEX PLAN
- Expensed FALSE
- Short description must starts with TRS and contains "FLEX"
- There can also be DB contribution deductions for the flex benefit (contain "9" and "DB" as well) and THIS contributions (contains "0.90" and "THIS") for the flex benefit.
A key part of the flex benefit deductions is their gross amount. Instead of the usual [STANDARD GROSS AMOUNT], you would have the per pay period amount of the flex benefit on the Gross Amount tab. The rest of the deduction would be setup like the regular TRS deduction.
This is for the flex benefit that wasn't taken as money but was instead just applied to health insurance. There is an amount field with each job called Flex Benefits Not Taken. When it is populated, the file will produce a line with just that as earnings, FB as the payment reason and the line marked as deferred.
What is required for the deduction to pull into the TRS Gemini report?
- Flexible benefit plans are reported as Payment Reason of FB.
- The deferred flag is marked yes.
Regarding the Deferred checkbox, since the flex benefit job could be considered deferred while the others might not, and since the flex benefit not taken could be considered deferred when the job was not, we have moved the deferred checkbox down to the job level and added another at the job level just for flex benefits not taken. Both have checkboxes to default them on the load's range screen to help get as many as possible correct.
When the report to create the file runs, it will take the flex benefit not taken and its associated fields, and create an output line in the file with a payment reason of "FB".
The method for handling flex benefits for those receiving the benefit should remain the same as before, ie: have another job that pays the flex benefit.