February 2023 Paycheck Flyer

ANNUAL NOTICE OF RIGHT TO ELECT OR REVOKE FEDERAL INCOME TAX WITHHOLDING

LACERS is required to inform you that your periodic benefit payments from LACERS may be subject to Federal Income Tax withholding unless you elect not to withhold. If your benefit becomes effective in 2023, and a completed Form W-4P is not on file with LACERS, your withholding will be calculated as if your filing status is Single with no adjustments. For benefits that began before 2023, your current withholding remains in effect unless you submit a new Form W-4P. 

Federal Law allows you to change or revoke the amount withheld from your monthly payments at any time. This notice is to comply with the annual Federal notice requirement.

IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR CURRENT WITHHOLDING:

• NO ACTION IS REQUIRED; AND
• YOUR CURRENT WITHHOLDING REMAINS IN EFFECT.

If you choose to make changes or revoke your current election:

• You must submit a new Federal Withholding Form W-4P. The form is available at lacers.org/forms. You may also contact the Member Service Center at (800) 779-8328 / RTT (888) 349-3996 and request the form be mailed to you.
• Your completed form must be returned to LACERS by:

MAIL: Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System

           Attn: Membership Processing Unit

           P.O. Box 512218, Los Angeles, CA 90051-0218

 

FAX: (213) 473-7202 – Attention: Membership Processing Unit

 

SECURE UPLOAD: lacers.org/secure-document-upload

 

LACERS must receive your completed form on or before the 12th of the month to process the request within the same month; otherwise, your request will take effect the following month.

Remember, your Federal income tax liability is based on your total income, not just your LACERS retirement benefits. If you do not pay taxes through withholdings or you have too little tax withheld, you will generally owe tax when you file your tax return and may owe a penalty unless you make timely payments of estimated tax. Refer to https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p505.pdf for more details on estimated tax requirements and penalties. If your tax situation changes, or you chose not to have federal income tax withheld and now want to withhold it, you should submit a new Form W-4P.

Withholding decisions can be complicated. LACERS cannot give you tax advice. The IRS provides a Withholding Calculator for taxpayers to estimate their withholding for federal income taxes, which can be found at https://www.irs.gov/payments/tax-withholding. If you need assistance in estimating your tax, you should consult with the IRS or your tax advisor. 

TAX WITHHOLDING FORMS FOR 2023

The IRS released a revised Form W-4P (Withholding Certificate for Periodic Pension or Annuity Payments) that must be used effective January 2023. It includes substantial changes to the Federal tax withholding elections available, as well as changes to the calculation LACERS’ performs to determine the amount to be withheld. A significant change to Form W-4P is that filers will no longer be able to adjust their withholding by electing a specific number of withholding allowances. The IRS now offers new input fields for increasing or decreasing the amount to withhold, including fields for tax credits and deductions.

LACERS Members and beneficiaries who already receive ongoing payments and who do not wish to make changes to their federal tax withholding elections are not required to file a new form; however, all are encouraged to review their withholdings and determine whether an adjustment is necessary. You may visit your MyLACERS account at https://mylacers.lacers.org to view and estimate your tax withholdings. The new Form W-4P is posted on lacers.org/forms and is now available for use.

If you live in California and wish to change your State tax withholding election, you will need to submit a separate State tax withholding, Form DE-4P, also available at lacers.org/forms.   

JOIN US FOR LACERS WELL UPCOMING WELLNESS EVENTS 

Register for these virtual events through your MyLACERS account or by calling LACERS. If you need assistance, call us at (800) 779-8328 or email LacersWell@lacers.org. For a full list of upcoming events visit lacers.org/lacers-well-events.

• Mom’s Computer Technology Class: Wednesday, March 8th at 2:00 p.m.
• Fitness Made Simple: Wednesday, March 15th at 9:30 a.m.
• Well-Being Webinar – Hoarding and Decluttering: Wednesday, March 29th at 10:00 a.m.
• Brain Health Class: Wednesday, March 22nd at 2:00 p.m.
• Aging Mastery Program Classes: Tuesdays and Thursdays, March 2nd – April 4th at 10:00 a.m.l

Have you missed past LACERS Well events? We have several event recordings on various topics – finances, emotional wellness, fitness, and more! Visit the LACERS YouTube channel at YouTube.com/lacersyoutube and hit the subscribe button to receive alerts of newly posted videos. 

 As a covered entity under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City of Los Angeles does not discriminate on the basis of disability and, upon request will provide reasonable accommodations to ensure equal access to its programs, services, and activities.