Your Plan is a defined benefit plan. At retirement you receive a benefit based upon your service credit and final average salary. The amount of your contributions is not a factor in calculating your retirement benefit.
Your future benefits are funded by contributions — made by you and the State during your period of membership — and the investment earnings from those contributions. These contributions are held in trust and invested by the State Investment Board.
You are required to contribute 7.5 percent of your reported salary to JRS. This rate is set by law and may be changed by legislative amendment.
Your “accumulated contributions” are the member contributions you make to JRS plus the interest added to your account by the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS). The provision to pay interest was added to the Plan effective July 1, 1988.
Your contributions are deducted from your paycheck each pay period before federal income taxes are calculated. This defers payment of taxes until benefits are paid.
Contributions to the Plan are not refundable. Depending upon the survivor benefits you have chosen, your accumulated contributions may be paid in a lump sum to your designated beneficiary when you die.
Loans, Attachments and Assignments of Contributions
Because the Plan is designed to provide retirement income, you may not borrow from or against your contributions. They may not be attached, assigned or paid to bankruptcy court until you retire. (See Taxation and Assignment of Benefits for more information).