OAR 459-005-0545: Annual Addition Limitation

(1) This administrative rule shall be construed consistently with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 415(c) and the Treasury regulations and Internal Revenue Service rulings and other interpretations issued thereunder. (2) Except as otherwise provided in this rule, a member’s annual additions to PERS for any calendar year after 2026 may not exceed $72,000 (as adjusted under IRC Section 415(d)). (3) For purposes of this rule, the term “annual additions” has the same meaning as under IRC Section 415(c)(2). (4) The following special rules shall apply with respect to purchases of permissive service credit, as defined in OAR 459-005-0540, Permissive Service Credit: (a) If a member’s after-tax contributions to purchase permissive service credit are included in the member’s annual additions under section (3) of this rule, the member shall not be treated as exceeding the limitation under section (2) of this rule solely because of the inclusion of such contributions. (b) With respect to any eligible participant, the annual addition limitation in section (2) of this rule shall not be applied to reduce the amount of permissive service credit to an amount less than the amount that could be purchased under the terms of the plan as in effect on August 5, 1997. As used in this subsection, the term “eligible participant” includes any individual who became an active member before January 1, 2000. (5) If a member makes a payment to PERS to purchase retirement credit for service in the Armed Forces pursuant to 238.156(3)(c) or 238A.150 and the service is covered under Internal Revenue Code Section 414(u), the following special rules shall apply for purposes of applying the annual addition limitation in section (2) of this rule: (a) The payment shall be allocated as an annual addition to the calendar year to which it relates; and (b) The member shall be treated as having received the following amount of compensation for the period of service in the Armed Forces to which the payment relates: (A) The amount of compensation the member would have received from a participating employer had the member not been in the Armed Forces; or (B) If the amount in paragraph (A) of this subsection is not reasonably certain, the member’s average compensation from the participating employer during the 12-month period immediately preceding the period of service in the Armed Forces (or, if shorter, the period of employment immediately preceding the period of service in the Armed Forces). (6) The provisions of this rule are effective on January 1, 2004.