Most NYSLRS members can create their own pension estimates in minutes using Retirement Online. Your estimate will be based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file for you. You can enter different retirement dates, payment options and beneficiaries to see how those choices would affect your benefit. When you’re done, print your pension estimate or save it for future reference.
Remember, the amounts are estimates; it is not a guarantee of what you’ll receive when you retire.
Most Tier 2 through 6 members (more than 90 percent of all NYSLRS members) can use the Retirement Online pension calculator. However, some members may not be able to—for example, members who recently transferred to NYSLRS and some PFRS members. The system will let you know if your estimate cannot be completed. In that case, please send us a message using our secure contact form (select Estimates from the Topic dropdown).
Do More With Retirement Online
In Retirement Online, you can view your account details—date of membership, tier, retirement plan, estimated total service credit and more. Check out what else members can do in Retirement Online.
NYSLRS retirement plans provide death benefits for beneficiaries of eligible members who die before retiring.
It’s important to name beneficiaries and review them periodically. Life circumstances change and a beneficiary you named before might not be one you would choose today. For instance, you may have a new partner or you may have children now. And NYSLRS can only pay a death benefit to the beneficiaries you’ve named.
Your primary beneficiary will receive your death benefit. You can list more than one primary beneficiary. If you do, they will share the benefit equally. Or, you can choose different percentages for each beneficiary, which must total 100 percent. (Example: John Doe, 50 percent; Jane Doe, 25 percent; and Mary Doe, 25 percent.)
A contingent beneficiary will only receive a benefit if all your primary beneficiaries die before you do. If you list multiple contingent beneficiaries, they will share the benefit equally unless you choose different percentages.
Special Beneficiary Designations
Your beneficiary doesn’t have to be a person. You can name your estate, a trust or a charity as your beneficiary.
Estate. When you die, your estate is the money and property you owned. Your death benefit will be given to the executor of your estate to be distributed according to the terms of your will. You can name your estate as the primary or contingent beneficiary of your death benefit. If you name your estate as the primary beneficiary, do not name a contingent beneficiary.
Trust. You can name a trust as a primary or contingent beneficiary if you have a trust agreement or provided for a trust in your will. The trust itself would be your beneficiary, not the individuals for whom you established the trust. (Speak with your attorney if you’re thinking about making your trust a beneficiary.)
Entity. You can also name any charitable, civic, religious, educational or health-related organization as a beneficiary.
Minor children. If your beneficiary is under the age of 18 at the time of your death, your benefit will be paid to the child’s court-appointed guardian. You may instead choose a custodian to receive the benefit on the child’s behalf under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA). Custodians can be designated in Retirement Online, or you can contact us for more information and the appropriate form before making this type of designation.
Keep Your Beneficiaries Up to Date with Retirement Online
You can change your beneficiaries at any time. In addition to adding or removing them to reflect your current wishes, you should review the contact information for your named beneficiaries so we can find them when needed.
The fastest way to view or update your beneficiaries is in Retirement Online.
When it comes to managing your NYSLRS account, Retirement Online is the fastest way to do it. Skip printing forms, having them notarized and sending them through the mail. When you submit your requests online, NYSLRS has them immediately, and your changes will be completed more quickly. It’s convenient, and it’s secure.
Get Email Notifications for Important Documents and Help Us ‘Go Green’
You can help us ‘go green’ and reduce paper waste by choosing email as your delivery preference for correspondence and other important documents. When you have something to view, we’ll send an email notifying you to sign in to Retirement Online. And it’ll save time—you’ll get access to your important documents sooner than printed copies are mailed.
To update your delivery preferences:
Look under My Profile Information.
Click update next to ‘Contact by’ or ‘Member Annual Statement by.’
Choose Email from dropdown.
Be sure the email address listed in your profile is current.
If you choose email as your delivery preference, you will not receive a printed copy in the mail.
Update Your Contact Information
It’s important we have your current contact information so you receive the news, correspondence and statements we send you.
To update your contact information:
Look under My Profile Information.
Click update next to email address, mailing address or phone number.
If you don’t already have an email address on file, please provide it so we can contact you quickly with important information, such as a change to your benefits. Use a personal email address you will have access to before and after you retire, not a work email address.
Manage Your Beneficiaries
NYSLRS retirement plans provide death benefits for beneficiaries of eligible members who die before retiring. It’s a good idea to review your beneficiaries from time to time to make sure they reflect your current wishes. The beneficiary you named before might not be the one you would choose today. You should also review the contact information for your named beneficiaries so we can find them when needed.
To add or remove beneficiaries or update their contact information:
Look under My Account Summary.
Click View and Update My Beneficiaries button.
Estimate Your Pension
How much will your pension be? It’s an important question as you plan for retirement. In just a few steps, most members can use Retirement Online to estimate their pension based on the most up-to-date account information we have on file, then save or print the estimate. You can enter different retirement dates, payment options and beneficiaries to see how those choices would affect your benefit and help you choose the retirement date that’s right for you.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Estimate My Pension Benefit button.
Apply for a Loan and Manage Loan Payments
The fastest way to apply for a loan is in Retirement Online. You can see how much you are eligible to borrow, what the repayment amount would be and whether your loan will be taxable—all before you apply.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Apply for a Loan button.
If you have an existing loan, you can check your current loan balance and adjust your payment amount or make an additional one-time payment.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Manage My Loans button.
Request Additional Service Credit
You may be able to request additional service credit if you worked for a participating employer before joining NYSLRS, worked for a public employer that later participated in NYSLRS, or served in the U.S. Armed Forces. In most cases, you have to pay for additional service credit. But because service credit is a factor in the calculation of your retirement benefits, purchasing additional service credit will usually increase your pension. You must submit your request before retirement, and you should do it as early in your career as possible—the sooner you purchase your credit, the less it will generally cost.
To submit your request online:
Look under My Account Summary.
Click Manage My Service Credit Purchases button.
Click Request Additional Service Credit link.
Get Your Member Annual Statement
Your Member Annual Statement is a valuable snapshot of your NYSLRS membership and benefits as of March 31, the end of the state fiscal year. You can access Statements dating back to 2020 online.
Look under My Account Summary.
Click View MyMember Annual Statement button.
Statements are made available online each year in early May, sooner than printed copies are mailed—update your delivery preference to get notified.
Generate a Mortgage Verification Letter
If you are applying for a mortgage and need a summary of your NYSLRS account information, you can quickly generate a mortgage verification letter online. The document will show your contribution balance, the date and amount of your last loan, and if you have an existing loan, the current balance, the payroll deduction amount and the interest rate.
Look under I want to… (located at the top right).
Click Generate Mortgage Verification Letter link.
Apply for Retirement
When you are ready to retire, avoid the hassle of paper forms and apply online. You’ll be able to see an estimate of your pension, select your payment option, enter federal tax withholding information, sign up for direct deposit, submit required documents and much more. Learn more about the advantages and how to apply for retirement in Retirement Online.
If you leave public employment with less than ten years of service credit, you can withdraw your membership online and request a refund of your contributions. However, this will end your NYSLRS membership. Before you submit a withdrawal application, we recommend speaking with a customer service representative by sending a message using our secure contact form.
Your Retiree Annual Statement provides a year-end summary of your pension payments for the last calendar year, including the total amount you received and a breakdown of credits, deductions and taxes. It also gives you an explanation of the pension payment option you chose at retirement.
We mail printed Retiree Annual Statements by the end of February. However, we make Statements available in Retirement Online sooner than printed copies are mailed—and you can sign in to your account now to access yours.
If Retirement System is blank, click Look Up icon and select ERS or PFRS from dialog box.
Click Look Up icon next to Calendar Year field and select an option from dialog box.
Click Generate Statement.
The document will download on to your computer.
If you don’t have an account, check out our Retirement Online Tools and Tips blog post where you’ll find a link to step-by-step instructions to help you register for Retirement Online.
Understanding Your Retiree Annual Statement
Your annual Statement provides year-end benefit and payment information for the previous calendar year, including:
Your total pension benefit amount before credits, deductions and taxes.
Credits for adjustments or reimbursements, such as a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) or Medicare reimbursements. (Only applicable credits appear in your Statement.)
Deductions for recoveries, payments to an alternate payee, health insurance, or other dues or fees you’ve authorized to have deducted from your pension benefit. (Only applicable deductions appear in your Statement.)
The amount withheld for federal taxes.
Your total net benefit after credits, deductions and taxes.
If you have questions about the information and terms used in your Statement, check out our Guide to Your Statement for a short explanation of each.
Do Not Use Your Statement for Tax Purposes
While your Retiree Annual Statement includes pension payment and tax information, it is not a tax document. If your pension is taxable, we provide a 1099-R tax form (either through Retirement Online or by mail, depending on your delivery preference) for filing your taxes.
View Your Pension Pay Stub for Year-to-Date Information
Your pay stub gives you valuable insight into your monthly pension payment, including a breakdown of credits, deductions and taxes. Throughout the year, you can access your pay stubs online to see year-to-date totals.
From Account Homepage, click View Pension Check link.
Select date of the pension payment to view.
Get an Email Notification for Your Statement
Next year, you can get access to your Statement sooner by updating your delivery preference to email. When your Statement is available, we’ll send an email notifying you to sign in to Retirement Online.
If you don’t have an account, learn more about Retirement Online and click Register Now. When you sign up for an account, you will be asked to identify yourself, confirm your Social Security number and verify your identity for security reasons. Then you’ll be prompted to create your user ID and password. For help, read our guide to registering for an account.
After you sign in for the first time, you’ll need to choose security questions and submit answers. Make sure you remember your responses—you’ll need to answer these questions again if you forget your user ID, need to reset your password or get locked out of your account.
You can retrieve your user ID or reset your password yourself from the login page. You’ll need to identify yourself and answer security questions you set when you signed in for the first time.
To look up your user ID, click Forgot ID above the User ID field. For step-by-step instructions, read our Forgot User ID guide.
If you’ve forgotten your password and need to reset it, click Forgot Password above the Password field. For step-by-step instructions, read our Forgot Password guide.
Account Lock Out
What Web Browser to Use
Retirement Online works best in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. If you’re having trouble signing in, clearing your browsing data may help. For step-by-step instructions, read our Clear Your Cache guide for.
Retirement Online is generally available:
Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm
Tax season is here. While your NYSLRS pension is not subject to New York State or local income tax, most NYSLRS pensions are subject to federal income tax. Each year, we provide a 1099-R tax form with the information you need to file your taxes.
We mail printed 1099-Rs by January 31. However, we make 1099-Rs available in Retirement Online sooner than printed copies are mailed—and you can sign in to your account now to access yours.
Select 2024 from Year dropdown. (Note: 2024 and 2023 are currently available online.)
Click Generate button.
If you have one tax form, the document will open in a new browser tab. If you have more than one tax form, the documents will download to your computer.
Please check your browser settings and disable pop-up blockers to ensure your tax form is generated. By default, your browser may block pop-ups, which could prevent a new tab from opening or the file from downloading.
If you don’t have a Retirement Online account, check out our Retirement Online Tools and Tips blog post, where you’ll find a link to step-by-step instructions to help you register.
Understanding Your 1099-R
Your tax form includes:
The total benefit paid to you in a calendar year.
The taxable amount of your benefit.
The amount of taxes withheld from your benefit.
If you have questions about the information on your tax form, check our interactive 1099-R tutorial. It walks you through a sample and offers a short explanation of each box on the form.
Get an Email Notification for Your 1099-R
Next year, you can get access to your tax form sooner by updating your delivery preference to email. When your 1099-R is available, we’ll send an email notifying you to sign in to Retirement Online.
As a NYSLRS retiree, you can work and still receive your pension. However, there may be a limit on how much you can earn each year without affecting your NYSLRS pension.
Working While Receiving a Service Retirement Benefit
Generally, an earnings limit of $35,000 applies to NYSLRS retirees who:
Are under age 65;
Receive a service retirement benefit (see disability benefit rules below); and
Return to work for a public employer (including contract or consultant work, if you joined NYSLRS on or after May 31, 1973).
There is no earnings limit if you are self-employed or if you work for:
The federal government;
A state or local government in another state; or
A private employer.
Also, beginning in the calendar year you turn 65, the earnings limit no longer applies.
Update Regarding the Earnings Limit
The earnings limit for retirees employed by school districts or Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) is suspended through June 30, 2025. (April 2024 legislation extended the date from 2024 to 2025.) This earnings limit suspension does not apply to retirees who work for a college, university or charter school.
For most other retirees under the age of 65, the $35,000 limit is in effect and applies to the entire calendar year in 2025.
NYSLRS retirees can return to work part-time for a public employer. However, a retiree must have had a “bona fide” termination of employment. This means the retiree was removed from their employer’s payroll before the effective date of their retirement, and the member and their employer had no expectation of further work after the retirement date. If these conditions are not met, the retiree’s service retirement can be voided and pension payments received will be recovered by NYSLRS.
Working While Receiving a Disability Retirement Benefit
Almost all earnings for retirees who are working while receiving a disability retirement benefit are limited whether they work for a public or private employer. The limit is specific to each retiree. To find out your earnings limit, please contact us.
How the Earnings Limit Applies
The limit applies to all earnings for the calendar year, including money earned in the calendar year, but paid in a different calendar year (for example earned in December but paid in January).
The limit does not apply to:
Payments received after you retire from your employer, such as for vacation or sick time you earned when you were still working; and/or
A retroactive payment for a new union contract, if the earnings are for employment before you retired.
Reporting Your Earnings
It is your responsibility to notify NYSLRS if you earn more than the limit. If you know you are going to exceed the limit, contact us at least a month before you do.
You can message us using the secure contact form, or you can fax a letter to 518-402-2498. Be sure to include the name of your employer, the approximate date you expect to exceed the limit and a daytime phone number in case we have questions.
If You Exceed the Earnings Limit
If you earn more than the limit, you must:
Pay back NYSLRS for the pension payments you received after the date you reached the limit. If you continue to work, your pension will be suspended for the remainder of the calendar year and resume the following January.
OR
Rejoin NYSLRS, in which case your pension will be suspended until you retire again at some future date. (You’d need to reapply.)
Earnings Limit Waiver
Under Section 211 of the Retirement and Social Security Law, the earnings limit can be waived if your prospective employer gets approval before hiring you. Approval is not automatic; it is based on the employer’s needs and your qualifications. In most cases, the New York State Department of Civil Service would be the approving agency. A Section 211 waiver covers a fixed period, normally up to two years.
For More Information
Before you decide to return to work, please read our publication What If I Work After Retirement? It includes information such as how earnings limits are calculated for retirees receiving a disability retirement benefit, consequences to consider before returning to NYSLRS membership and more. If you have questions, please contact us.
Many financial experts cite a common rule of thumb when discussing income in retirement. They say you need 70 to 80 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain your standard of living once you retire. This is meant to account for the range of expenses you’ll no longer have in retirement, such as payroll taxes, commuting costs or saving for retirement. As a NYSLRS member, your plan for income in retirement likely includes your NYSLRS pension and Social Security benefits. However, for greater financial stability and flexibility, you may want to supplement with retirement savings. For example, you might start investing in a savings plan like the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan (NYSDCP).
What is Deferred Compensation?
Deferred compensation plans are voluntary retirement savings plans like 401(k) or 403(b) plans—but designed and managed with public employees in mind. NYSDCP is the 457(b) plan created for New York State employees and employees of other participating public employers in New York.
Just like with other retirement savings plans, you have options for how you make your NYSDCP contributions. You might choose a tax-deferred account where you make contributions with pre-tax money. With this option, you won’t pay State or federal taxes on the earnings you contribute until you start making withdrawals. Your employer may also offer the option for a Roth account where you make contributions with after-tax money. With this option, you do pay taxes now, but you won’t pay taxes on the withdrawals you make in retirement. Learn more about how traditional retirement savings and Roth accounts compare.
If your employer is not an NYSDCP participating employer, check with your human resources or personnel office about other retirement savings options.
What Does Deferred Compensation Mean for Me?
Deferring income from your take-home pay may mean less money to spend in the short-term, but you’re planning ahead for your financial future.
As a NYSLRS member, you are enrolled in something increasingly rare these days: a defined benefit plan. If you are vested and retire from NYSLRS, you will receive monthly pension payments for the rest of your life based on your years of service and earnings. Your NYSLRS pension can provide a significant part of your retirement income, but it’s a good idea to supplement your pension and Social Security with a retirement savings account.
Additional retirement savings can give you flexibility to travel, continue your education, pursue a hobby or start a business. It can be a resource in case of an emergency or act as a hedge against inflation.
Your Retirement Savings Goal
How much you save is a personal decision. You can estimate your pension in Retirement Online to get an idea of the income it will provide in retirement. Use a retirement savings calculator to see how much a retirement savings plan could yield over time. Test the results with different savings amounts.
Below you can see the potential savings of someone who invests 50 dollars every two weeks for 30 years. While the stock market can be turbulent in the short term, in the long term, it returns on average about 10 percent a year as measured by the S&P 500 index.
As you get closer to retirement, you should develop a plan to withdraw money from your savings. That will give you a better idea of the income you might expect from your nest egg and a sense of how long it will last.
Here is one possible withdrawal strategy, which provides retirement income for 20 years. Please note, if your retirement is far in the future, the money you withdraw may not have the same value that it would have today.
If you find you’ll need to save more to meet your goal, you can make adjustments to help ensure you’ll have enough savings in retirement.
Note: Generally, whatever your withdrawal strategy, federal law will eventually require you withdraw a certain amount each year from any tax-deferred retirement plan account. These are called required minimum distributions.
New York State Deferred Compensation Plan
One way State employees and many municipal employees can save for retirement is through the New York State Deferred Compensation Plan (NYSDCP). Once you’ve signed up, your retirement savings—which may be tax-deferred depending on the plan you choose—will be automatically deducted from your paycheck.
Check with your employer’s human resources or personnel office to see whether they participate in NYSDCP or if they offer other savings options. (NYSDCP is not affiliated with NYSLRS.)
Read More About Retirement Savings
When it comes to saving for retirement, there’s a lot to consider. You can find more information in these posts:
NYSLRS benefits provide a lifetime monthly pension retirees can count on. And, in turn, NYSLRS retirees contribute to our local economies in both good times and bad.
Nearly 79 percent of NYSLRS retirees live right here in New York State, and they can be found in every region and county. That means, in every corner of the Empire State, NYSLRS retirees are there—patronizing local businesses and helping to create jobs. Retirees also pay a significant share of State, local and property taxes.
As of the State fiscal year ending, March 31, 2024, Suffolk County on Long Island is home to 39,837 retirees and beneficiaries—the most benefit recipients of the counties outside of New York City. They make up about 2.6 percent of the county’s residents, and they bring some $1.5 billion in pension payments to their region’s economy.
On the other hand, Hamilton County has the fewest NYSLRS benefit recipients—just 545. But, for this sparsely populated county in the heart of the Adirondacks, those retirees represent about 10 percent of the county’s population, and they inject more than $12.9 million of pension payments into their communities.
As the number of NYSLRS retirees in our State grows, you can count on their help in building a stronger New York for years to come. Visit our website to see more about how retirees contribute to every region in the State.
How Retirees Contribute to Economic Stability
A NYSLRS pension is a defined benefit plan, which provides guaranteed monthly pension payments to retirees for life. With a defined benefit plan, your pension will be calculated based on a preset formula. That means—unlike with 401(k)-style defined contribution plans, which are essentially retirement savings accounts—your contributions won’t affect the amount you receive in retirement. NYSLRS retirees don’t have to worry about their pension running out during retirement, and there’s no danger of a drop in monthly income based on the whims of the stock market.
A study by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) suggests retirees with steady sources of income such as Social Security and monthly pensions are better able to maintain their spending during economic downturns, which may play a stabilizing role in local economies. That stability is particularly important in rural parts of the State. These areas often lack the economic diversity of more densely populated regions, which can make them more susceptible to downturns.
Defined benefit pension plans don’t just help New York State. Across the nation, pension benefits support millions of retirees who in turn contribute to their communities. In 2020, defined benefit pension plans paid $612.6 billion to 24.6 million retired Americans. According to the same NIRS study, their spending supported 6.8 million jobs and generated $1.3 trillion in economic activity.
Tax season is here. While your NYSLRS pension is not subject to New York State or local income tax, most NYSLRS pensions are subject to federal income tax. Each year, we provide a 1099-R tax form with the information you need to file your taxes.
