(a) Except as provided under §31.2 of Chapter
31, Subchapter A, Part 3 of this Title, payroll reports and all member
and employer deposits for a report month are due before the seventh
day after the last day of the month. If the sixth day of the month
falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the payroll reports and all
member and employer deposits are due on the last business day before
the sixth day of the month. The executive director shall establish
the form and method to be used in reporting information regarding
compensation and employment and such member and employer deposits
as are due to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). School
officials shall be notified of such regulations. Each employer that
fails to remit all required member and employer contributions to TRS
before the seventh day after the last day of the month shall pay to
TRS penalty interest on the unpaid amounts in the amount provided
in Section 825.408, Government Code. Effective with the employer reports
due for the report month of January 2018, each employer that fails
to attain a completed status on all required reports or fails to submit
all documentation required by TRS before the seventh day after the
last day of the month shall pay, in addition to any deposits and penalty
interest owed, the late fee established in subsection (j) of this
section for each business day that the report fails to attain a completed
status.
(b) Each employer must report each month in a form
prescribed by TRS information on the total amount of salary paid to
employees eligible to participate in TRS from federal funds and/or
private grants. Reporting districts must transmit to TRS the current
state contribution rate of the monies paid as salary for those employees
covered by TRS in addition to the amount transmitted for member contributions.
If the maximum percentage legally provided for retirement purposes
from the funds is less than the current state contribution rate, the
employer shall transmit the amount provided and indicate by letter
the name of the grant and the rate.
(c) Effective September 1, 2015, each employer must
report each calendar month in a form prescribed by TRS, information
regarding the persons it employs, the positions held, the time worked
and the compensation paid, including the number of days and/or hours
worked and the amount and type of salary paid to employees during
that calendar month, including salary paid from federal funds and/or
private grants. Employers must transmit to TRS the current state contribution
rate of the monies paid as salary from federal funds and/or private
grants for those employees covered by TRS in addition to the amount
transmitted for member contributions and contributions required by
§§825.405, 825.4034 and 825.4071, Government Code. If the
maximum percentage legally provided for retirement purposes from the
federal funds and/or private grants is less than the current state
contribution rate, the employer shall transmit the amount provided
and indicate by letter the name of the grant and the rate.
(d) Employees who have a qualified contract or an oral
or written work agreement shall have information about the contract
reported by each school district in a form prescribed by TRS.
(1) A qualified contract is an employment agreement
which meets the following criteria.
(A) Service under the agreement must begin on or after
July 1, but not later than August 31, of the same calendar year.
(B) Service contemplated by the agreement must be for
a definite period extending past August 31 of the same calendar year
in which service under the agreement began, as evidenced by an enforceable
legal obligation on the part of the employer to employ and to compensate
the employee for such period.
(C) Employees who can be terminated by the employer
without the employer being obligated to pay a fixed amount stated
in a contract are not included in the report.
(2) Reports on contracts and oral or written work agreements
with a beginning date in July should be submitted to TRS in the July
report. Reports on contracts and oral or written work agreements with
a beginning date in August should be filed with the August or September
report.
(e) Any employer may ask the retirement system for
a written statement on whether a particular form of compensation is
salary and wages subject to member deposits under the law and rules
governing the system. A request for such a statement should be submitted
in writing to the retirement system together with any contracts, board
minutes, briefs, memoranda, or other material relevant to the request.
(f) An employer paying amounts to a member pursuant
to a settlement agreement must obtain a written determination from
TRS that the amounts are creditable compensation before reporting
such amounts to TRS as compensation. In the absence of the written
determination from TRS, amounts paid pursuant to a settlement agreement
are not creditable compensation for TRS purposes and will not be included
in determining the amount of benefits payable by TRS. The requirement
in this subsection to obtain a written determination from TRS before
reporting amounts to TRS that are paid pursuant to a settlement agreement
does not apply to normal amounts of compensation paid to the employee
while the employee is on paid leave of any type, including paid administrative
or emergency leave, pursuant to a settlement agreement.
(g) If due to a technological error, an employer does
not report all service rendered and/or salary paid as required in
subsection (a) of this section and the error regards service rendered
and/or salary paid in the immediately preceding school year, the error
may be corrected if the following requirements are met:
(1) the person for whom contributions were due is currently
employed by the employer and compensation for the current year remains
due to the employee;
(2) the employer requests a waiver of the reporting
requirements under §825.408(a), Government Code and the request
is granted by TRS;
(3) the employer submits member contributions on the
unreported amounts pursuant to §825.409, Government Code, from
any remaining compensation due and any employer contributions due
on the compensation are paid by the employer;
(4) the employer pays the interest required by §825.408,
Government Code and corrects the records for the report months in
which the compensation was paid as directed by TRS; and
(5) the error is corrected by the end of the school
year following the school year in which the service was rendered and/or
the compensation was paid. Upon receipt of the member and employer
contributions and the corrected report(s), the service credit and/or
compensation credit will be credited to the member. In no event may
service or compensation credit be granted under this subsection for
service rendered or compensation received in a school year prior to
the immediately preceding school year.
(h) An employer must report each calendar month only
compensation paid in that calendar month in accordance with normal
pay periods for all employees. In no event may an employer include
salary paid in a prior month or may an employer delay payment of salary
that should have been paid in a prior month for the purpose of increasing
the employee's annual compensation for benefit calculation purposes.
If compensation should have been paid in a prior month but due to
a technological or accounting error, the compensation was not reported
in the report month that it was paid and the error occurred in the
current school year, or if the employer is required by law to correct
an error in payment that occurred during the current school year,
the monthly report shall be adjusted in the manner prescribed by TRS.
(i) An employer may not pay an employee less than the
amount owed in a calendar month for the purpose of extending the employee
on payroll in order to receive a year of service credit or to establish
eligibility for participation in health care benefits as provided
in Chapter 1579, Insurance Code, Title 8, Subtitle H.
(j) Effective with the employer reports due for the
report month of January 2018, employers that fail to remit all required
reports and documentation or fail to attain a completed status for
the report(s) as required in this section shall pay to TRS, in addition
to the required deposits and any applicable penalty interest on unpaid
amounts, the late fee established in this subsection for each business
day that the report fails to attain a completed status. The late fees
required to be paid are as follows:
(1) For employers with fewer than 100 employees eligible
for membership in TRS, the late fee for the first business day after
the due date that the report fails to attain a completed status is
$100. For each subsequent business day that the report fails to attain
a completed status, the employer shall pay an additional $10.
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