Thrift Savings Plan - Base Pay Contributions

Date TSP
Self-Service Submitted

Effective Date Election

Pay day New TSP Deduction Will Begin

Anytime during the month

1st of the following month

Mid-month payday of the month the election is effective

Maximum Contributions and IRC Limits

For pay periods beginning:

Maximum contribution allowed from base pay

Maximum contribution allowed from incentive pay, special pay, or bonus pay

Elective Deferral Limit  (Less than age 50 or not serving in a combat zone)

December 2012

Base pay  limits eliminated

100%

$17,000

Other IRC Limits

Members age 50 and over:

Members age 50 and over, or who will reach age 50 on or prior to 31 December of the current tax year, are eligible to invest an additional $5,500 into TSP under the TSP catch-up program (Note: TSP catch-up contributions are not processed via DA Self-Service).

Members serving in a combat zone:

Members serving in a combat zone are subject to a special elective deferral limit of $50,000 (for 2012), or 100% of compensation, whichever is less.

Step

Action

1

Select the Thrift Savings Plan  link in the Tasks column of the Self Service group box on the MyPortalDirect home page.

Select menu items in the following order (note, see the Basic Navigation topic for help on using menus):

Self Service > Employee > Tasks > Savings Plan

If you receive this error, your enrollment has not been processed by PPC yet.

• If you want to newly enroll, or disenroll from TSP, you need to complete Form TSP-U-1 and mail/fax it to the Personnel Service Center (MAS-TSP).  Form TSP-U-1 is available on the TSP Web Site at https://www.tsp.gov/. See http://www.uscg.mil/ppc/tsp.asp or Chapter 8-C of the Personnel and Pay Procedures Manual, PPCINST M1000.2(series),  for additional procedures.
  Fax the completed form to PPC (MAS-TSP) at (785) 339-3760 or mail it to:

Commanding Officer (MAS-TSP)

Coast Guard Personnel Service Center

444 SE Quincy Street

Topeka, KS  66683-3591

2

The TSP Self Service page will display.

There are two sections to the page if you are contributing to both the Traditional TSP and the Roth TSP

The TSP Self Service detail will show your current percentage for base pay and, if applicable, special pay, bonus or catch up contribution. Changes to catch up contributions must be submitted to PPC (MAS/TSP). Catch-up elections are made on Form TSP-U-1-C.  Fax the completed form to PPC (MAS-TSP) at (785) 339-3760 or mail it to:

Commanding Officer (MAS-TSP)

Coast Guard Pay & Personnel  Center

444 SE Quincy Street

Topeka, KS  66683-3591

The Self-Service TSP (Savings Plan) Page -  

• Note the two different sections!
  The upper section is for managing your Traditional TSP contributions
  The lower section is for managing your Roth TSP contributions.

Only the sections for which you have a contribution for will display.

• For example, if you've only enrolled in the Traditional TSP, you will not see the Roth TSP options.

Click the appropriate button to access the election page for base pay, special pay, incentive or bonus (Note: Be sure to use the button in the section for the type of plan (Traditional or Roth) that you want to manage contributions for).

Note: If you have elected a TSP Catch Up Contribution and that request has been processed by PPC (MAS-TSP), it will be reflected on the screen:

3

The Election page will display:

Make note of the "Benefit Plan" field  to ensure you are changing the contribution
for the correct plan.

Click the Change Election radio button

4

The page will update to show the Effective Date and the Enter Percent of Gross field

Example screen for changing Traditional TSP Base Pay contribution:

Example screen for changing Roth TSP Base Pay contribution:

If you contribute to the TSP from your basic pay, you may also contribute from 1 to 100 percent of any incentive or special pay (including bonus pay) you receive.

The amount you decide to contribute from each category of pay must be stated as a whole percent. The dollar amount of your contributions from your pay will be automatically adjusted with every change in your pay.

The IRS imposes a limit on the total amount of all contributions a participant can contribute for a year.  This IRS section 415 limit applies to all contributions (i.e., tax-deferred and tax-exempt) made to a participant's TSP account.  For 2012, the total amount a participant can contribute is $17,000 ($50,000 if serving in a combat zone)  or 100% of compensation, whichever is the lesser amount.  Participants who expect to contribute larger amounts of special, incentive, or bonus pay need to pay particular attention to this limit.

Per TSP regulations all contribution elections are entered as a percentage of the base pay,special/incentive pay or bonus. You cannot enter dollar amounts and must manually track you contributions to ensure you do not exceed the IRS annual limit.

5

Enter the new percentage of base pay you wish to contribute to the TSP in the Percent of Gross field.

The IRS imposes a limit on the total amount of all contributions a participant can contribute for a year.  This IRS section 415 limit applies to all contributions (i.e., tax-deferred and tax-exempt) made to a participant's TSP account.  For 2008, the total amount a participant can contribute is $15,500 ($46,000 if serving in a combat zone)  or 100% of compensation, whichever is the lesser amount.  Participants who expect to contribute larger amounts of special, incentive, or bonus pay need to pay particular attention to this limit.

Per TSP regulations all contribution elections are entered as a percentage of the base pay,special/incentive pay or bonus. You cannot enter dollar amounts and must manually track you contributions to ensure you do not exceed the IRS annual limit.

6

Carefully review the data you have entered before saving this transaction.  Be absolutely sure all that all the data is correct and that you have not made any typographical errors.  If you have any questions or concerns, cancel the transaction and ask for help.  

You cannot make changes a second time in the same month using self-service if the effective date is the same.  Elections are "effective dated" according to the schedule below.

If you attempt to make a change in the same month you will receive this error message:

You must fax or mail Form TSP-U-1 to the Pay & Personnel Center (MAS-TSP) if you need to make more than one change (per plan type) in the same month.

Fax the completed form to PPC (MAS-TSP) at (785) 339-3760 or mail it to:

Commanding Officer (MAS-TSP)

Coast Guard Pay & Personnel Center

444 SE Quincy Street

Topeka, KS  66683-3591

Click the save to continue.  

7

You will be returned to the TSP Self Service page. Your new election and the effective date will be displayed.

• TSP elections submitted through Self-Service will be effective on the dates shown below:

8

Sign out of the system or use the menu links to navigate to another application.