West Virginia Code 18-7B-9 – Members’ contributions; annuity account established
(a) Each employee who is a member of the Defined Contribution System shall contribute four and one-half percent of his or her gross compensation by salary deduction. The salary deductions shall be made by the employer and shall be paid to the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System within fifteen days of the end of the pay period: Provided, That the board may require any employer to make the payments within such shorter period as it may determine, upon at least sixty days notice to the employer, if the board determines the employer has the technological capacity to transfer the funds within the shorter period. The employer payments shall be remitted by the board within five working days to the private pension, insurance, annuity, mutual fund, or other qualified company or companies designated by the board to administer the day-to-day operations of the system.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 18-7B-9
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- annuity: means an account established for each member to record the deposit of member contributions and employer contributions and interest, dividends, or other accumulations credited on behalf of the member. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- board: means the Consolidated Public Retirement Board created and established pursuant to §. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- compensation: has the meaning given it in §. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- employee: means the following persons, if regularly employed for full-time service: (A) Any person employed by a public school for instructional service in the public schools of West Virginia. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- Employer: means the agency of and within the State of West Virginia which has employed or employs a member, a county board of education which has employed or employs a member, or an electing charter school which has employed or employs a member. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- Internal Revenue Code: means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as it has been amended. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- Retirement: means a member's withdrawal from the active employment of a participating employer and completion of all conditions precedent to retirement. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
- system: means the Teachers' Defined Contribution Retirement System created and established by this article. See West Virginia Code 18-7B-2
(b) All member contributions shall be immediately deposited to an account or accounts established in the name of the member and held in trust for the benefit of the member. An account agreement shall be issued to each member setting forth the terms and conditions under which contributions are received, and the investment and retirement options available to the member. The Board shall propose for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, pursuant to section six of this article, rules defining the minimum requirements for the investment and retirement options to be provided to the members.
(c) The legislative rules proposed by the board, to the extent not inconsistent with the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States, shall provide for varied retirement options including, but not limited to:
(1) Lump sum or periodic payment distributions;
(2) Joint and survivor annuities;
(3) Other annuity forms in the discretion of the board;
(4) Variable annuities which gradually increase monthly retirement payments: Provided, That said increased payments are funded solely by the existing current value of the member's account at the time the member's retirement payments commence and not, to any extent, in a manner which would require additional employer or employee contributions to any member's account after retirement or after the cessation of employment; and
(5) The instances in which, if any, distributions or loans can be made to members from their annuity account balances prior to having attained the age of fifty-five.