Member annual statements: Tier One/Tier Two FAQ

Tier One and Tier Two members working in qualifying positions after January 1, 2004, have two parts to their PERS retirement plans: a Tier One/Tier Two pension benefit and an Individual Account Program (IAP) account.  

Watch a video that explains the two parts to your future retirement.  

Pension

The regular account (pension) balance shown on your statement will be used to pay for a portion of your monthly pension benefit. If you elected to participate in the Variable Annuity Program, you will also see a variable account balance on your statement. Variable account balances are included in the calculation used to determine monthly pension benefits. See more under the heading “How does my variable account balance impact my monthly Tier One or Tier Two benefit payment?” below.  

Your Tier One/Tier Two monthly pension benefit can be paid to you for your lifetime and to a beneficiary for the beneficiary’s lifetime, after you die, if you chose one. 

IAP

The other account balance you can see on your statement will be for your IAP.  

Since January 1, 2004, your PERS contributions (6% of your salary, whether paid by you or your employer) have gone into your IAP, which is invested in a target-date fund based on your year of birth. Before 2004, your contributions went into your Tier One/Tier Two account(s).  

As of July 1, 2020, if your gross pay in a month exceeds the monthly salary threshold, a portion of your 6% contributions is redirected to the Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA). EPSA will be used to pay for part of your future pension benefit. As a Tier One/Tier Two member, 2.5% of your 6% contributions will go into your EPSA. The remaining 3.5% will go to your existing IAP account.
 

Your IAP account balance can fluctuate, depending on investment gains and losses in your target-date fund. Unlike your pension, there is no guaranteed investment return for your IAP.  

The benefit from your IAP also is finite: The balance of your IAP account at the time you retire is more or less all* that you will have available from this account throughout your retirement. However, at retirement, you may choose how your IAP is paid to you: in a lump-sum rollover to a qualified plan or in installments* over various time periods.
 

(*If you choose to receive installments from your IAP in retirement, your account balance also may be credited with earnings or losses over time.)  

PERS uses three methods to calculate a Tier One monthly pension benefit amount and two methods to calculate a Tier Two monthly pension benefit amount. The calculation methods are:  

• Tier One – Full Formula, Formula Plus Annuity (only for eligible Tier One members) and Money Match
• Tier Two – Full Formula and Money Match

The highest amount produced by these calculations is what you will receive as your monthly pension benefit.  

Here is how the calculations work:
 

Full Formula

(Tier One and Tier Two)
 

Your years of service are multiplied by your final average salary and a set percentage. The percentage depends on your service type.  

General service: 

1.67% × years of service credit × monthly final average salary = monthly pension benefit 

Police and firefighters: 

2% × years of service credit × monthly final average salary = monthly pension benefit  

Money Match

(Tier One and Tier Two) 

Your member account balance is matched by your employer, and the result is multiplied by a variable representing the estimated life expectancy for people in your age group (aka your “age factor”).  

Age factor × account balance × 2 

Formula Plus Annuity

(only Tier One members who made contributions before August 21, 1981) 

This method has two parts, the first of which is similar to Full Formula but uses a different set percentage.  

Your total from this first part is then added to an annuity payment, which is calculated by multiplying your member account balance by a variable representing the estimated life expectancy for people in your age group (aka your “age factor”). This second part looks similar to the Money Match formula.  

General service: 

1% × years of service credit × final average salary + Age factor × account balance 

Legislators, police, and firefighters:
 

1.35% × years of service credit × final average salary + Age factor × account balance 

Notes and definitions:  

• Most Tier One/Tier Two members now retire under the Full Formula method. Tier Two members are unlikely to have Money Match result in their highest calculated benefit because their account balances are generally low (due to having fewer years of contributions into the member account before 2004, when contributions were diverted to the IAP).
• Service credit is the number of months and years you have worked in a PERS-qualifying position. A “qualifying” position is one in which an employee performs 600 or more hours of service in a calendar year for one or more PERS-participating employers. Hours worked with different participating employers in the same calendar year are combined to determine if the 600-hour standard has been met for that year. Under certain circumstances, if you are not employed for the full calendar year, you may earn service time for a partial year with fewer than 600 hours of employment. One month of service time is earned for each major fraction of a month worked.
• In general, your final average salary is the greater of these amounts:
• The average gross monthly salary that results from the three years in which you earned your highest total salaries from one or more PERS-participating employers, even if one of those years was less than a full calendar year.
• 1/36 of the total salary you received from one or more PERS-participating employers in the last 36 months of active membership.
  

A note about overtime

House Bill (HB) 2728 (2025) requires PERS to explain to retiring members how overtime hours were used in calculating their final average salary (FAS). This information will be included in a member’s notice of entitlement letter (NOE), which officially tells a member what their monthly pension benefit will be.  

As of January 1, 2026, NOEs must provide both of the following: 

• The total number of overtime hours the member accrued during the time period used to calculate their FAS.
  AND
• The number of overtime hours used in the FAS calculation.

For Tier One and Tier Two members, no cap on overtime exists, so the number of overtime hours accrued and the number used in the FAS calculation will be the same.  

You can create an estimate online through your Online Member Services (OMS) account. The online benefit estimator will use the most recent data supplied by your employer(s) to produce an estimate for any future retirement date. You can produce multiple benefit estimates with different retirement dates. This could help you determine if you are on track to meet your retirement goals.  

If your PERS account involves a divorce, you should request a written benefit estimate. OMS cannot correctly calculate a benefit estimate on an account with a divorce award.  

When you are within 24 months of the earliest date you are eligible to retire, you can request a PERS benefit estimate by submitting a Tier One/Tier Two Estimate Request form. (Note: PERS processes benefit estimate requests in retirement-date order, with the earliest retirement dates first. Estimate processing time may vary from member to member, as each account is different, so we are unable to tell you exactly when your estimate will be completed.)  

Your PERS benefit estimate will provide information on service time purchases available to you at retirement, which could increase your benefit or provide extra service time to allow you to retire sooner.  

We encourage you to get at least one PERS benefit estimate before your retirement date, especially if you wish to purchase service time. OMS will not estimate the cost of purchases unless you have a completed benefit estimate. Note: Benefit estimates are just that – estimates. They are not a guarantee of benefits.  

Benefit estimates only include your Tier One or Tier Two retirement benefit. You can use the IAP Balance and Installment Calculator to estimate your IAP distribution at retirement.  

PERS offers tools and resources you can use to estimate your income in retirement and strategize how to save more:  

• Benefit estimates — Read the preceding section “How can I get a retirement benefit estimate?” if you haven’t already.
• PERS education sessions — Attend a free workshop about your benefits. You can attend presentations at any time during your career and repeat them as needed.
• Explore options for extra savings — Check out our Saving more for retirement webpage.

When you retire as a participant in the Variable Annuity Program, you have the option of transferring your variable account balance into your regular account or keeping it in the variable program.  

Funds in the Variable Annuity Program are invested completely in stocks, unlike the Oregon PERS Fund, which is invested in a more diverse set of assets. Your regular account is associated with the Oregon PERS Fund.  

If you choose to remain in the variable program at retirement, a portion of your retirement benefit can change annually based on the ups and downs of stocks. The higher the percentage you originally chose (25%, 50% or 75%) to put into a variable account, the more money you will have exposed to stock market variation. You cannot retroactively change the percentage of your past contributions.  

However, other portions of your monthly benefit will come from fixed sources: a pension funded by your employer and an annuity based on your regular account balance. It is only the portion of your pension based on your variable account that would fluctuate; having a variable component in your PERS retirement plan does mean your total monthly payment could vary over the course of your retirement.  

If you remain in the variable, once you are retired, PERS will adjust the variable portion of your monthly benefit every February 1. The adjustment is based on earnings or losses for the 12-month period ending October 31 of the prior year.  

And if you originally opted into the variable program but continued working for a PERS-qualifying employer after January 1, 2004, contributions made after that date have gone into your Individual Account Program (IAP) account, rather than the variable program. Contributing to, or transferring new funds into, your variable account are no longer options.  

Yes. At or before the time you apply for retirement, you can request a one-time transfer to move all funds out of your variable account into your regular account by submitting a One-Time Variable Transfer: Active or Inactive Members form to PERS. You must meet the age and eligibility requirements listed on the form, and PERS must receive your election form by December 31 of the year in which the request is made. The transfer will become effective on January 1 of the following year.  

This transfer, once effective, is permanent. It cannot be revoked, reversed, or undone. Once made, you will no longer have a variable account and will not receive a variable annuity benefit in your retirement. You can cancel your One-Time Variable Transfer request up until December 31 of the year in which the request is made.  

You may also choose to transfer out of the variable when you apply for retirement.  

Earnings crediting for the previous year is typically determined in April of the following year. Tier One regular accounts receive the assumed earnings rate. Tier Two, Employee Pension Stability Account, and Individual Account Program (IAP) accounts receive earnings based on investment returns minus administrative expenses. Tier Two, EPSA, and IAP accounts are subject to earnings or losses.  

Earnings crediting is only visible in Online Member Services after earnings have been applied to accounts each spring.  

No. The Oregon PERS Fund (OPERF) is managed by Oregon State Treasury under the direction of the Oregon Investment Council. OPERF investment returns are posted monthly. More information about the fund and its investments is available on PERS’ Actuarial and financial reporting resources webpage.  

Yes. As of September 2020, nonretired members are able to voluntarily make an election, once per year, directing which IAP target-date funds they want their funds invested. This is called a Member Choice election.  

Any eligible choice made by the annual September 30 deadline will go into effect January 1 of the following year. For example, if you changed your TDF in September 2020, it became effective on January 1, 2021, and you will see the change reflected on your 2021 member annual statement, which will be mailed in spring 2022.  

For more information about how to change your TDF, go to the IAP target-date funds webpage.  

Fill out a Tier One/Tier Two Preretirement Designation of Beneficiary form to select or update your Tier One/Tier Two beneficiary before retirement. New beneficiary designations supersede all past selections.  

If you have worked for a PERS-participating employer after January 1, 2004, you will also need to submit the IAP Preretirement Designation of Beneficiary form to PERS to update your Individual Account Program (IAP) beneficiary before you retire.  

If you wish to change your beneficiary as the result of a divorce before retirement, your ability to do so may depend on what your divorce decree allows. See PERS’ Divorce and your benefits webpage for more information.  

You cannot name a beneficiary for your Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA). Any EPSA balance available to be paid to a beneficiary at the time of your passing would be paid to your IAP beneficiary.  

When you apply for retirement

At the time you file your PERS retirement application, you can choose anyone – but only one person – as your beneficiary, if you would like a survivorship pension option to be paid for your lifetime and for a beneficiary’s lifetime. More information on the options are available in the Tier One/Tier Two and Individual Account Program (IAP) Preretirement Guide.  

Yes, if you meet the following conditions:  

• One full calendar month has passed since the month in which you stopped working for your last PERS-participating employer, and you have not worked for any other PERS-participating employer since. This includes substitute, temporary, and on-call positions.
• You are not eligible for PERS retirement by age or years of service.

To request a withdrawal, you must submit a completed Tier One/Tier Two Member Withdrawal Applicationform.  

The amount of your withdrawal(s) will be the total of your Tier One/Tier Two, Employee Pension Stability Account, and Individual Account Program (IAP) account balance(s) at the time of withdrawal. Withdrawals will not include matching funds from your employer, and you cannot withdraw these accounts separately. If you want to withdraw one, you must withdraw all accounts, which will end your membership in PERS.  

By ending your membership, you forfeit all membership rights and future benefits provided by PERS. This forfeiture means you will not receive any PERS pension benefits upon retirement, even if you were fully vested at the time you elected the withdrawal.  

Keep in mind if you withdraw before age 59½, you could be subject to an additional income tax penalty. 

For more information, go to PERS’ Withdrawal information webpage.  

Did you know that if you are age 73 or older, a delay in taking your retirement benefits as required by the IRS may result in a federal income tax penalty?  

Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a)(9) requires PERS members who are age 73 or older to begin receiving their minimum PERS benefits (i.e., required minimum distribution) before April 1 of the year following the calendar year in which they reach 73 or when they leave PERS employment, whichever is later.  

If you are not working for a PERS-participating employer and are 73 or older, you must submit a retirement application to PERS. We will then calculate your required minimum distribution so you can begin to receive your retirement benefits.  

If you are age 73 or getting close to it, you are advised to seek the guidance of a tax or legal professional. 

Check your personal information on this annual statement to ensure it is correct. 

If you are still working in a PERS-qualifying position and need to correct errors, contact your employer. 

If you are an inactive or retired member, you can correct personal information using Online Member Services (OMS). 

Talk to PERS

Member Services can answer your questions about PERS retirement benefits from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 888-320-7377 or email customer-service.pers@pers.oregon.gov. You also can use PERS’ Submit a Question form online.  

Education sessions

PERS also offers group education workshops that cover membership, benefits, and retirement information. These workshops are for members at any stage in their careers and are held around the state. Expanded workshops that include financial planning information also are available.  

To learn more, go to PERS’ Tier One/Tier Two education presentations webpage.  

Your employer also can request a group session to go over PERS benefits by contacting Member Services or the Employer Service Center.  

Retirement application help

When you are within 90 days of your PERS retirement date, you can attend a retirement application assistance session (RAAS). This 45-minute, one-on-one appointment with a PERS staff member provides an opportunity to have your retirement application reviewed and notarized at no cost. The staff member will answer any questions you have about the retirement process. Be advised that PERS staff cannot advise or counsel you about your decision to retire nor which benefit distribution options to choose.  

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