In order for TRS to promptly respond to your inquiry, you should have the following information available when you contact TRS, or include this information when you send us correspondence: your TRS membership number, a phone number at which you can be reached during business hours, copies of correspondence you are questioning, and documentation to support your claim. If you are visiting TRS, you should also bring a photo ID that includes a signature. Acceptable forms of identification include a driver's license, state-issued non-driver's license identification, passport, or school ID; unacceptable forms of identification include a credit card or store card with a photo, gym card, or a library card.

Members must provide the following to TRS:

Members must provide the following to TRS:

If you left your QPP accumulations with TRS and returned to active service before the initial payability date of your retirement allowance, you would be reappointed as an in-service TRS member with all the benefits of your former tier; your additional service credit would count toward your future retirement allowance. However, if you withdrew your QPP accumulations, your TRS membership ended when you made your withdrawal; therefore, if you later returned to active service, you would begin a new TRS membership and become part of the tier in effect when you return to service. Please note that if you return to active service after the initial payability date of your retirement allowance, your retirement allowance would stop, and your active membership would be restored.

The code "TRS 414H STD" represents pre-tax QPP deductions.

The code "TRS 55 PRGM" represents pre-tax QPP deductions made under the Age 55 Retirement Program. (Only certain members in Tier II, III, and IV belong to this program.)

The code "TR PN LNS" represents QPP loan payments.

The code "TRS TDA" represents TDA contributions (including your contribution limit and any applicable "catch-up" contributions).

The code "TRS TDA LOAN" represents TDA loan payments.

The code "TRS BUYBACK" represents purchase of credit for prior or Amann service.

The code "TR PN ARR AT" represents mandatory payments for membership service deficits incurred for service performed before July 1989; these funds are not federally taxable upon distribution. (Tier III and IV members)

The code "TRS 414H ARR" represents mandatory payments for membership service deficits incurred for service performed after July 1989; these funds are federally taxable upon distribution. (Tier III, IV, and VI members)

In order to provide you with retirement income as quickly as possible, TRS issues advance payments of your retirement allowance beginning with the payroll approximately one to two months following your effective retirement date (or initial payability date, if you retired under deferred payability). However, if your regular retirement allowance is available at that time, you would receive your regular retirement allowance instead.

If TRS cannot finalize your retirement allowance within four months of your retirement date, we would increase the amount of your advance payments, so that they would be closer to the amount you will receive once your retirement is finalized.

Advance payments are not estimates of your retirement allowance payments; in fact, your advance payments are designed to be smaller than your retirement allowance payments. The advance payment calculations do not reflect all the factors used to determine your retirement allowance payments. TRS calculates your advance payments based on your retirement plan choice, payment election, salary, and any applicable age-reduction factor. Total Service Credit is not used in the advance payment calculations.

Generally, only prior service with a New York State or City public employer is creditable. Prior service outside New York State is not creditable (except for Tier I members as outside teaching service). Creditable prior service must meet at least one of the following criteria:

• The service is otherwise creditable and was performed while you were employed in a TRS-eligible position but before you enrolled in TRS (e.g., service as an eligible paraprofessional or as a CUNY adjunct that preceded TRS membership); or
• The service predates your membership in an eligible New York State or City retirement system, but would have been creditable at the time the service was performed had you been a member of that retirement system; or
• Credit was previously granted for the service in an eligible New York State or City retirement system, but you lost your membership rights with that retirement system; or
• The service is otherwise creditable and was performed while you were ineligible for membership in a public retirement system (e.g., service as a substitute teacher performed prior to membership eligibility of the substitute teaching title under the Board of Education Retirement System (BERS)).

In order to provide you with retirement income as quickly as possible, TRS issues advance payments of your retirement allowance beginning with the payroll approximately one to two months following your effective retirement date (or initial payability date, if you retired under deferred payability). However, if your regular retirement allowance is available at that time, you would receive your regular retirement allowance instead.

If TRS cannot finalize your retirement allowance within four months of your retirement date, we would increase the amount of your advance payments, so that they would be closer to the amount you will receive once your retirement is finalized.

Advance payments are not estimates of your retirement allowance payments; in fact, your advance payments are designed to be smaller than your retirement allowance payments. The advance payment calculations do not reflect all the factors used to determine your retirement allowance payments. TRS calculates your advance payments based on your retirement plan choice, payment election, salary, and any applicable age-reduction factor. Total Service Credit is not used in the advance payment calculations.

If a Tier I member had at least 10 years of Total Service Credit at the time of death, but was no longer in active service and was not yet eligible for a service retirement under the Qualified Pension Plan (QPP), the death benefit payable would equal the following: one half the amount of the ordinary death benefit that would have been payable had the member died on the last day that service was performed. If the member's TRS membership had ceased during the separation from service, interest on his/her QPP account balances stopped accruing interest as of the date the membership ceased.

If a Tier II, III, IV, or VI member had at least 10 years of Total Service Credit at the time of death, but was no longer in active service and was not yet eligible for a service retirement under the Qualified Pension Plan (QPP), the amount of Death Benefit #1 or #2 would equal one half of the amount that would have been payable had the member died on the last day that service was performed. If the member's TRS membership had ceased during the separation from service, interest on his/her QPP account balances stopped accruing interest as of that date.