Income Taxes

Your monthly benefit is reported to the IRS as income, and you are responsible for paying any taxes. You will receive a Form 1099-R annually for tax reporting purposes. If you made contributions to your retirement account after-tax, such as with a service purchase, the non-taxable portion of your retirement paid throughout the year will be reported on your 1099-R form in Box 5. You will complete a Tax Withholding form when you apply for retirement to indicate how much federal and state income tax you want withheld.

IRS Form 1099-R

MPERA mails the 1099-R forms before the end of January of each year. Retirees who haven’t received their 1099-R form by the middle of February should call MPERA to request a duplicate. If you've changed your address recently, update your address with MPERA before the end of December to receive your 1099-R form by mail. You can change your address by completing a change of address form (PDF) for retirees.

Many members receive only one 1099-R, but there are instances where multiple forms are generated:

• If you took an early retirement and reached normal retirement age during the year. For example: as a PERS member, if you retired early then turned 59½ during the past year. The pre-59½ payments are coded “2” (early distribution) and the post-59½ payments are coded “7” (regular distribution).
• Receiving two benefits from a plan, perhaps as both a survivor beneficiary and as a retiree.
• Receiving distributions from two different plans (i.e. MPORS member and PERS member, retired from both plans).
• Multiple refunds with different tax consequences (portion rolled over to a qualified plan like a 401 or 457, part taken directly).
• You may also receive a separate 1099-R associated with any 457 Plan distributions you may have taken. 

When filing your taxes, you'll need to add the appropriate figures from separate 1099-R forms together.