Notification to Employer

• Your Employer is responsible for completing your retirement paperwork and submitting these forms to CMERS.
   
• Generally, we suggest that you notify your employer in writing 90 days prior to your anticipated date of retirement.
   
• Your effective retirement date can be any day of the month following your last day of employment.
   
• Your completed retirement application and all necessary forms must be received by CMERS at least 30 days prior to your Date of Retirement.

Required Forms

• Forms Your Employer Will Provide:
  • Your employer will provide most of the required retirement forms. These forms include: your retirement application, an income payment election form and a spouse waiver form. CMERS will provide you with state and federal tax forms and a direct deposit form with the award letter to you.
     
• The following forms are available on-line:

• Forms You Will Need to Provide:
  • You will need to provide a copy of your birth certificate.
    • If you choose a survivor option which provides a lifetime benefit to a contingent annuitant, you will need to provide a copy of your contingent annuitant?s birth certificate.
       
    • If you are married, you will need to provide a copy of your marriage certificate or license.
      

Audit Process

• There are two parts to the audit process: (1) the estimate and (2) finalization.
   
• If CMERS received your complete retirement application package with all necessary forms, documents and payroll information at least thirty days prior to your effective date of retirement, you will receive your first retirement check at the end of the month in which you retire and at the end of each month thereafter.
   
• CMERS unit auditors will perform a preliminary audit of your entire retirement record and establish your benefit entitlement.
   
• You will then be placed on the retiree payroll at an estimated amount.
   
• The audit process to determine your exact retirement benefit takes considerable time; therefore, you will be paid at an estimated level until the audit is completed ? generally six months.
   
• When your exact retirement benefit has been computed and verified, your income will be adjusted for any difference between the estimated amount you were paid and your finalized benefit retroactive to your retirement date.

Pension Checks

• Retirement checks are paid monthly at the end of the month.
   
• Your pension is taxable income. All retirees are subject to federal taxes. Whether you pay state tax may depend on the state you live in as a retiree. For more information regarding any obligation to pay Connecticut state taxes please contact the Department of Revenue services. http://www.ct.gov/drs/site/default.asp 
   
• Many deductions you pay as an active employee will end in retirement:
  • You will no longer pay Social Security or Medicare taxes;
  • Your retirement contributions will end; and
  • Union dues are no longer mandatory in retirement.

Employer Payouts

• For purposes of a CMERS retirement benefit, ?pay? does not include any lump sum reimbursements for accrued or unused sick or vacation time, settlement awards, severance pay or monies. Therefore if you receive any of lump sum payment at the time of your retirement, it will not be included in the calculation of your retirement benefit.

Re-Employment

• Once you retire from government service, provided you do not leave under a CMERS disability retirement, CMERS has no limitations on your outside employment. So long as you do not return to CMERS employment, you can work as much as you want and earn as much as you want without impairing your CMERS pension.
  
  
• If you leave under a disability retirement please check with CMERS prior to accepting any employment.
  
  
• You may be employed in a CMERS position with no restrictions by rescinding your retirement.
   
• Under certain circumstances, you may return to active CMERS employment while retaining your full CMERS pension. If you are employed in a CMERS position in the future, you may continue to receive a CMERS pension as long as the position is temporary and you work no more than the equivalent of  90 working days per calendar year.
   
•  If you become permanently employed in a CMERS position, your retirement benefits must cease. However, after such re-employment you will build credit towards a future retirement above and beyond what you had accrued prior to your initial retirement.

Service Connected Disability and Workers Compensation

• If you are a CMERS retiree is receiving a CMERS service-connected disability retirement then all workers compensation payments are taken as offsets against the retirement benefit except for specific indemnity payments.
   
• If you receive any workers compensation payments at the same time you are receiving or were deemed eligible to receive a service connected disability benefit you should immediately notify CMERS.
   
• Receipt of workers compensation benefits without a corresponding offset (reduction) to a CMERS service connected disability retirement allowance will result in an overpayment of the retirement allowance. If an overpayment has been made, CMERS will seek repayment through a reduction in the retirement benefit.

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