Missed TSP Investments to Be Made Up, but No Earnings Credited

Contributions will be credited to the participant’s account on the date they are processed, but money that would have been earned or lost will not apply. Image: agustin.photo/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek Staff

Federal employees who missed making TSP investments due to being in unpaid status during the shutdown are to have those investments deducted from their back pay, the TSP has said.

In instructions to agencies, the TSP said that investments and loan repayments “associated with this lapse in appropriations should be submitted to the TSP record-keeper on current payment records.” “The TSP will receive and process payroll files that include participant contributions, as well as agency and service contributions and matching contributions where appropriate. Contributions will be credited to the participant’s account on the date they are processed,” an agency spokesman said.

However, the instructions state that such investments will not qualify under TSP rules allowing for adjusting retroactive investments in certain situations to take into account what the money would have earned (or lost) had it been on investment during that time—in the TSP’s term, “breakage.”

While in many cases the amount likely would be relatively small, many TSP investors have been eager to learn whether they would be made whole for what the missed investments would have gained.

The guidance also addresses issues with missed repayments of loans due to being in unpaid status, saying that any agency with a payroll system that does not deduct loan payments from back pay “is encouraged to inform its employees to submit their loan payments directly to the TSP by check, money order, or direct debit.”

Account holders submitting a loan payment via check or money order must note that the check or money order is for their TSP loan and include their name and loan number on it, it says.

If loan repayments are not received by December 5, either from the account holder or employing agency, the TSP will re-amortize a loan for any payments missed due to the lapse in appropriations and notify the account holder, it says.

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