This chapter provides an overview of payment streams and discusses how to:
Record payee elections.
Schedule payments.
There are several reasons why you might set up multiple payments to a single payee. The simplest case is when a payee receives a benefit from more than one plan. In this case, you set up multiple retiree jobs, and set up separate payment schedules under each job.
Sometimes, however, there are separate payment streams within a single plan. This occurs when some aspect of the payment, typically the optional form or the funding provider, is different for a portion of the benefit. You set up both payment streams under the same record number (Rcd#), and distinguish between the payment streams with a payment number.
For example, suppose an employee has the option to withdraw contributions as a lump sum and take the remainder of the pension benefit as a single life annuity. In this case, the lump sum portion of the payment represents a separate payment stream from the annuity portion. A similar situation occurs when a pension is funded by two different providers—for example, following a merger or acquisition.
When you have two separate payment streams, the payment statuses are independent. Both payments can be active, or you can stop, defer, or suspend one payment stream without affecting the other.
This section provides an overview of payee elections, lists the pages used to define payee elections, and discusses how to:
Define the payee form selection.
Define payee maintenance.
Payee elections are the choices that participants make with regard to their pension payments. These include the optional form of payment, tax withholding elections, direct deposit data, and deduction information.
You can monitor the receipt of election forms using the Activity List page. Additionally, there are specific pages where you record the actual elections.
You only record optional form of payment selections for retirees and QDRO alternate payees. Beneficiaries do not make this selection because their payments are based on the original employee’s choice. Be sure to record the optional form of payment selection before scheduling the payment; this enables the system to enter payment amounts into the schedule automatically.
All payees require tax elections. Direct deposit information and deduction information are optional. This information is not needed to schedule a payment, but it is needed before you actually start paying a person.
Page Name |
Object Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
PA_RT_EMP_FORM |
Pension, Payments, Identify Optional Form, Payee Form Selection |
If you use Pension Administration to calculate optional forms of payment for a retiree or a QDRO alternate payee, you can record the payee’s selection here. When you record the information here, the system calculates amounts that can be automatically transferred to the payment schedule page when you schedule payments. |
|
PA_RT_EMP_XFER |
Pension, Payments, Identify Payment-Related Info, Payee Maintenance |
Record other payment-related information. |
Access the Payee Form Selection page.
Note. If you do not schedule payments using system calculated values, you do not need to record the optional form of payment selection on this page.
Form Selected and Payment Amounts |
If the Form Selected and Payment Amounts group boxes are blank, you have not yet recorded an optional form of payment selection. |
Employee Options
When an employee’s optional form of payment choices come from a system calculation, you can prompt for the same list of choices that the employee had. To do that, you fill in the fields in this group box, then click the View Optional Forms Available button.
Plan |
Indicate the plan that was the basis for the employee’s choice. |
Calc Name (calculation name) |
Indicate the calculation name that was the basis for the employee’s choice. |
Optional Forms Set |
Indicate the optional forms set that was the basis for the employee’s choice. This is necessary because a calculation can produce several different sets of values. For example, there may be forms sets based on early retirement and normal retirement. Contributory plans may also have separate form sets for the employee- and employer-paid portions of a benefit. |
Payment Number |
Enter a payment number. You use this number to distinguish among multiple payment streams, if necessary. If there is only a single payment stream, enter 1. If there are multiple streams, number them sequentially. |
View Optional Forms Available |
Click this button to see a scrolling list of the optional forms of payment. All other fields disappear. Note. This option is only available in new rows. After you save an optional form selection, you cannot redisplay the choices without first deleting the row. |
Using the Scrolling List of Forms
Each form is identified by a description, the percent continued for forms with a survivor benefit, and the guaranteed payments for term certain and certain and continuous forms.
Note. The guaranteed payments actually represent the number of years of guaranteed payments, not the number of guaranteed payments. For each form, you see the associated payment amounts.
The payee amounts are labeled to distinguish among the types of benefits.
There are four types of retiree payments:
Retiree Payment Type |
Description |
Retiree Amount |
Amount due to the retiree. Except in the case of lump sums, this is normally a monthly amount payable until death. |
Retiree Pre-SSRA Amount (retiree pre-social security retirement age amount) Retiree Post-SSRA Amount |
Under a level income option (LIO), the retiree’s benefit is higher before the retiree reaches social security retirement age (SSRA), and is lower afterwards when the retiree has presumably started receiving social security benefit. Therefore, LIO forms produce two separate retiree amounts, identified as the pre- and post-SSRA amounts. |
Pop Up Amount |
Under a pop-up form of payment, the retiree amount increases if the beneficiary predeceases the retiree. The pop-up amount is this increased retiree amount. |
There are four types of beneficiary payments:
Payment Type |
Description |
Plan Beneficiary Amount |
Amount payable to a spouse beneficiary on the retiree’s death. This can come from two different sources: a joint and survivor form (or any form which includes a percent continued) elected by the retiree, and an automatic plan benefit for which there is no actuarial reduction. |
Non-spouse Beneficiary Amount |
Amount payable to a non-spouse beneficiary after the retiree’s death under a joint and survivor form of payment. |
Spouse Demonstration J&S (spouse demonstration joint and survivor) |
If a married retiree selects a non-spouse beneficiary, the retiree’s spouse is entitled to know the amount that would have been payable to the spouse had the retiree named the spouse as the beneficiary, instead of naming a non-spouse beneficiary. This is different from the non-spouse beneficiary amount because the actuarial adjustment is based on the spouse’s age, rather than the non-spouse beneficiary’s age. This type of payment is not actually available for payments; it is informational only. |
Survivor Amount |
In a last to survive form of payment, the amount due to the retiree or spouse after the other one has died. |
Some forms may have zero amounts. These are forms that are offered by a plan, but are not available to a particular employee. These could include joint and survivor forms of payment for employees with no beneficiaries, level income options for employees older than the level income age, and any form of payment for an employee whose lump sum falls under the small benefit cashout threshold.
Form |
Select to indicate the form of payment that an employee has chosen. |
Accept Form Selection and Return to Previous Page |
Click to copy the selected form to the previous page. |
If there are multiple payment streams based on system calculations, be sure to set up optional form of payment selections for each stream. To do this, insert an additional row for the second payment stream.
Access the Payee Maintenance page.
Personal Data Record and Job Record |
Because you have already set up the payee’s personal data and job data, you do not usually need to return to those pages when you set up payments. However, if there has been a change of address or other relevant data, you can use the Personal Data Record and Job Record buttons to navigate to the appropriate page. |
Direct Deposit Record and Tax Records |
The Direct Deposit Record and Tax Records buttons take you to the PeopleSoft Enterprise Payroll for North America pages, where you record employee direct deposit and tax election information. Tax elections are always required. Direct deposit information is required for employees who want to take advantage of this option. Note. There are no default tax elections. You must enter tax elections in order to pass this information along to the third-party trustee who cuts your pension checks. |
General Deductions |
The General Deductions button takes you to the General Deduction Data page, where you sign up retirees for non-benefit deductions, such as garnishments. You can also use general deductions for benefit deductions if your deduction is a flat amount or a percentage of gross pay. You do not need to run a process to calculate the deduction. The instructions picked up by the trustee extract, a flat amount or a percentage of gross pay, are sufficient for your trustee to determine the deduction amount. You can use the General Deduction Data page to set up medical or other benefit deductions if you know the deduction amount, and you do not want to go through the more complex process of administering benefit deductions using PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources Manage Base Benefits business process or PeopleSoft Enterprise Benefits Administration. Note. Each button on this page opens a new page. Remember to close pages when you finish with them. |
Benefit Deductions |
The Benefit Deductions button takes you to the Benefit Program Participation page, where you enroll retirees in benefit programs. Enrolling retirees in benefit programs does not automatically sign them up for medical or other benefits; it simply establishes that they’re eligible for such benefits. To learn more about using the PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS system to manage retiree benefits, refer to your PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources Manage Base Benefits business process and PeopleSoft Enterprise Benefits Administration documentation. Note. Benefit deduction elections only translate into actual deduction amounts if you use PeopleSoft Enterprise Payroll Interface to calculate the deductions amounts. To run the deduction calculation, use the Deduction Calculation Run Ctl page. |
With the exception of the Personal Data Record and Job Record links, the links on the Payee Maintenance page are shortcuts to take you to other pages in the PeopleSoft system. You can also navigate directly to these pages:
Button |
Page Navigation |
See Also |
Direct Deposit Record |
Payroll for North America , Employee Pay Data, Request Direct Deposit |
|
Tax Records |
Payroll for North America, Employee Pay Data, Tax Information, Employee Tax Information Rpt. |
|
General Deductions |
Payroll for North America, Employee Pay Data, Deductions, Create General Deductions |
|
Benefits Deductions |
Benefits, Enroll in Benefits, Assign to Benefits Program |
See Also
Understanding PeopleSoft Enterprise Payroll Interface
This section provides an overview of scheduled payments, lists the pages used to define payee payment schedules, and discusses how to:
Define the payee payment schedule.
Define payee payment providers.
Define the payee manual schedule.
Define the payee adjustment schedules.
Schedule payments for terminated deferred-vested employees.
In order to pay retirees with Pension Administration, you set up scheduled payments. If the system already has a record of the payment amount, you schedule payments in the Request Payment Schedule (PAY_SCHED) component.
For retirees, terminated deferred-vested employees, and QDRO alternate payees, you can use these pages when the payment is based on a system calculation, and you have recorded the payee’s form of payment selection on the Payee Form Selection page.
For beneficiaries, you use these pages when there is already a payment schedule for the original employee and that schedule includes information about the beneficiary amount.
If the payment amount comes from a manual calculation, or if you are setting up a beneficiary for a retiree who was never in the PeopleSoft system, use the Payee Manual Schedule page to set up payments.
Both pages display the same information. If you set up a payment automatically, you can use the Payee Manual Schedule page to override the automatic entries, or to add effective-dated changes to the payment information. Conversely, payment information entered on the Payee Manual Schedule page is accessible, though not editable, on the Payee Payment Schedule page. When you apply cost of living adjustments, either manually or though the system’s automated process, those adjustments appear on both pages.
Page Name |
Object Name |
Navigation |
Usage |
PA_RT_PAY_SCHED |
Pension, Payments, Request Payment Schedule, Payee Payment Schedule |
|
|
PA_RT_PAY_SCHED3 |
Pension, Payments, Request Payment Schedule, Payee Payment Provider |
Enter descriptive information about a payment. |
|
PA_RT_PAY_SCHED4 |
Pension, Payments, Create Manual Schedule, Payee Manual Schedule |
Set up the schedule when you schedule payments for payees who do not have payment amounts already in the system, either in a system calculation or, for beneficiaries, in a retiree’s payment schedule. |
|
PA_RT_ADJ_SCHED |
Pension, Payments, Make One-Time Adjustments, Payee Adjustment Schedule |
Schedule one-time payments. Note. Occasionally, you need to make payments that are not based on the payee’s regular pension benefit. |
Access the Payee Payment Schedule page.
Plan Information
For employees and QDRO alternate payees, the system automatically transfers the information from the Payee Form Selection page onto the Payee Payment Schedule page. The Benefit Plan, Calc Name and Payment Number fields automatically appear, along with information about the form of payment, and a list of the payment options available for that form. If you set up multiple payment streams in the same plan (for example, multiple payment numbers), the system picks up the first one; insert additional rows so you can set up the additional payment streams. If you have not entered an optional form selection, you need to go back and do that first, or use the Payee Manual Schedule page.
For beneficiaries, the system automatically transfers the information from the payment schedule of the original employee. For example, if Roger retires with a 50 percent joint and survivor payment option, his payment schedule shows both the amount of his retiree payments, 1,000 USD, and the amount of the beneficiary payments for his wife Liz: 500 USD. The system maintains this information through the life of Roger’s payments. If Roger receives a 5 percent cost of living adjustment, his payment record shows the increased amounts for both Roger and Liz: 1,050 USD and 525 USD respectively. When you set up Liz’s payments, the system gets the current beneficiary amount from Roger’s payment schedule.
If Roger receives benefits from multiple plans, he has multiple record numbers (Rcd#). You have set up two records for Liz, one under each record number. The system matches Liz’s record to the appropriate one of Roger’s records in order to get the appropriate information.
Payment Information
Effective Date and Payment Status |
The Effective Date and Payment Status fields control the actual payments. When you run the payment process, the system compares the effective date to the pay period end date to determine the current row. Possible Payment Status values include:
The payment status also impacts the payee’s pension status. When the payment process discovers an initial payment, it puts the payee into the in pay pension status. When the system discovers that payments have been suspended or deferred, it sets the pension status to deferred, and when it discovers that payments have been stopped, it sets the pension status to payment complete. As the system switches the pension status, it retains the prefix that identifies the payee type: retiree (or disability retiree), terminated deferred-vested employee, beneficiary, or QDRO alternate payee. PeopleSoft’s effective dating enables you to set up payment instructions as far in advance as you need. For example, if Meredith selects a ten year certain form of payment, you can enter an active row effective as of the benefit commencement date and a stopped row effective ten years later. If Luis selects a level income option, you can set up one row with the pre-SSRA payment amounts and another row, future dated to the date when Luis attains social security retirement age, with the post-SSRA amount. Note. You can also use this page to stop payments in the event of a retiree’s death. This is discussed in “Administering Pension Payees.” |
Payment Reason |
When you schedule payments on the Payee Payment Schedule page, retirees, terminated vested employees, and QDRO alternate payees, automatically have a payment reason of System Calculated. For beneficiaries, the system automatically sets the payment reason to Benef. When you schedule payments from the Payee Manual Schedule page, you have additional options for this field. The payment reason is informational only; it does not affect payment processing. |
Form |
This field describes the optional form of payment. |
Payment Frequency |
This field indicates the payment frequency. This is usually 12, since most pension payments are monthly. |
Percent Continued |
This field indicates what percentage of a retiree’s benefit will continue to the surviving spouse when the retiree dies. |
Guaranteed Payments |
This field indicates how many years of payments are guaranteed for term certain forms of payment. |
Choice |
This field indicates has numbers that identify each payment type. This enables you to specify which of the values to use. |
Payment Choice |
Specify which of the values to use by entering the number of your choice in the Payment Choice field. For example, if Yolanda selects a joint and survivor option with a spouse beneficiary, there are two choices: choice one is the retiree amount and choice two is the plan beneficiary amount. When Yolanda retires, you schedule payments for choice one. When she dies and you set up survivor benefits for her husband, you select choice two. Similarly, if Luis selects a level income option, you can set up one row with the pre-SSRA payment amounts and another row, future dated to the date when Luis attains social security retirement age, with the post-SSRA amount. |
Type |
Payment amounts relevant to the chosen form of payment appear in the bottom part of the page. The type describes the various payment types available: retiree amounts and any plan (spouse) beneficiary or contingent (non-spouse) beneficiary amounts. |
Amount |
The amount is the gross amount of the pension check. If a portion of the amount is attributed to employee after-tax contributions, then that portion is considered nontaxable. |
Non Taxable |
The nontaxable amount tells you how much of each pension check should be considered nontaxable. Note. The amount is the total payable amount; the nontaxable amount is the nontaxable portion of the total amount. The taxable amount is the difference between the two. |
See Also
Access the Payee Payment Provider page.
Vendor ID |
Use the Vendor ID field to specify a funding source for the payments. This information goes into the trustee extract. You can only specify one funding source for the payment stream. If you need to specify more than one funding source, you have to create multiple payment streams. You enter providers and vendors into the system from the Provider table. This table is effective-dated, so the provider must be valid for the effective date of the payment. If you specify valid funding providers for your plan on the Plan Administration page, only those providers are available. |
Designated Payee Name |
Use the Designated Payee Name field if a pension check should be made out to someone besides a retiree. For example, if a retiree has been declared incompetent and a legal guardian has control of the retiree’s finances, use this field. |
Comment |
Use this text field for any additional comments about the payment. |
Access the Payee Manual Schedule page.
Plan Information
Benefit Plan |
Enter the benefit plan for the payment. |
Payment Number |
Enter the payment number for the payment. |
Calc Name |
There is no calculation name unless you’re viewing payments originally entered through the Payee Payment Schedule page. After all, the reason you’re using the manual scheduling is that you’re not using a system calculation. |
Payment Information
Effective Date and Payment Status |
As on the Payee Schedule Payments page, the effective date and payment status control the actual payments. |
Payment Reason |
The payment reason, which was always set to System Calculated or Benef when you used a system calculation, now has other available values: Override, Manual, and COLA. When you run Pension Administration COLA processing, the system inserts effective-dated rows with the adjusted amounts; these rows use the COLA payment reason. |
Payment Choice and Choice |
Specify which of the payment amounts to use by entering a number in the Payment Choice field. Use the number in the Choice field to the left of the payment amount to identify the correct row. |
Freq (frequency), Pct Cont’d (percent continued), Guar Pmt (guaranteed payments), and Form |
With manual scheduling, you have to enter the payment form by hand using the Form, Freq (frequency), Pct Cont’d (percent continued), and Guar Pmt (guaranteed payments) fields. |
Type, Amount, and Non-Taxable |
You also enter payment amounts manually using the Type, Amount, and Non-Taxable amount fields. If the form of payment includes a survivor benefit, be sure to enter a row for the beneficiary, as well as the retiree. This row is necessary for automated scheduling of beneficiary payments. Similarly, use additional rows for other optional forms of payment that have more than one pension benefit amount: level income options and pop-up options. It is best to schedule these amounts up front so that cost of living adjustments are properly applied to all of the amounts. |
Access the Payee Adjustment Schedule page.
Benefit Plan and Payment Number |
Enter the benefit plan and payment number that identify the regular payments associated with this adjustment. If a person is receiving benefits from two plans, you set up adjustments for each plan separately. The same rule applies when you set up separate payment streams within a single plan. Note. Adjustments are only processed for payees who have a payment schedule established. Payments from the schedule can be stopped, but the schedule itself must be present. |
Effective Date |
The effective date indicates when to make an adjustment. The adjustment is made during the first pay run for a pay period concurrent with or later than the effective date. There is no stop date for the adjustment. Instead, the adjustment record is internally flagged as paid after the payment is made; this prevents the system from making the same payment twice. |
Sequence Number |
The sequence number enables you to make multiple adjustment with the same plan, payment number, and effective date. By separating the adjustments rather than scheduling one adjustment with the net amount, you add detail to your audit trail. |
Adjustment Reason |
Select an adjustment reason to explain why you’re making the adjustment: Recalc indicates a recalculation, typically introducing additional earnings data unavailable at the time of the initial calculation. Retro Adj is for retroactive adjustments, such as those made after the administrative delay preceding a payee’s first pension check. Interest is for interest paid on late payments. For example, use this for the payments associated with recalculations or retroactive calculations. (Alternatively, you can include the interest component in the initial adjustment.) Mid Period indicates reduced payments made when a pension check is prorated for a partial month. For example, a retiree dies in the middle of a month. You can either make a negative adjustment to the regularly scheduled payment or you can stop the regular payment and schedule a positive one-time payment. Other applies to a variety of possible reasons. |
Adjustment Type |
You can use one-time adjustment to adjust balances, for example, for a retiree’s estate refunds payments made after the retiree’s death, or if you need to reallocate post-death payments from a retiree’s balance to a beneficiary’s balance. To do this, select Balance Adjustment. For regular adjustment, select Single Payment. Note. The Payment Summary page does not adjust running totals based on balance adjustments. When you schedule a balance-only adjustment, you should manually update the payment summary information. |
Adjustment Amount |
You can enter either a positive or negative adjustment amount. Negative adjustments amounts should only be scheduled for pay periods where there is a regular payment. Be careful to ensure that the reduction does not exceed the regular payment amount; Pension Administration does not support arrears processing. |
Adjustable Amount Non Taxable |
If a portion of the adjustment is nontaxable, enter that amount in the Adjustable Amount Non Taxable field. For negative adjustments, entering a nontaxable amount ensures that the reduction offsets the nontaxable amount in the regularly scheduled payment. Do not try to reduce the nontaxable amount beyond the regularly scheduled amount. |
You should set up a schedule for a terminated deferred-vested employee at the time of the termination, even though final payment information (form or payment selection and benefit commencement date) are not yet available. This schedule includes a “deferred” status marker to ensure that the system does not actually process the payments.
Pension benefits for a terminated deferred-vested employee are determined at the time the employee terminates. This means that the plan’s liability with regard to this person is frozen. By scheduling the payments at this time, you make this information available for the actuarial valuation extract.
Non-employee payees do not require advance scheduling because, until payments commence, the original employee’s benefit encompasses the amounts that will eventually be paid to the beneficiary or QDRO alternate payee.
Because a terminated deferred-vested employee’s actual commencement date and optional form of payment selection are unknown at this time, schedule payments using a default form of payment and the benefit commencement date specified in the calculation. The deferred status on the schedule ensures that you do not start automatically paying the person on that date.
If a deferred benefit is based on a system-calculated amount, use the Payee Form Selection page to select the default form of payment. This ensures that when you schedule the payments, you schedule the appropriate amount.