When you retire from work and begin receiving your ACERA monthly pension benefit payment (your lifetime monthly retirement allowance), you can expect your pay statement from ACERA to be different from your working pay statement.

The differences are due to a number of things:

• You’ll no longer be accruing vacation, sick leave, and other leave types.
• You’ll no longer contribute 1.45% of your pay to Medicare and 6.2% of your pay to Social Security.
• You’ll no longer contribute to ACERA, nor will your employer need to contribute for you.
• You’ll no longer be able to contribute to a before-tax deferred compensation account.
• Your healthcare premiums will no longer be deducted from your check before taxes, so they will no longer reduce your tax liability.
• In fact, ACERA has no before-tax deductions.
• ACERA offers no life insurance options. You may seek life insurance on your own, but premiums cannot be deducted from your ACERA benefit check.
• You have the option of joining one or both of the retirement associations of Alameda County retirees, and ACERA will deduct the dues payments from your ACERA benefit check.
• Any additional benefits from your employer are no longer available.
• Benefits available from ACERA if eligible include medical, dental, and vision subsidies as well as Medicare Part B cost reimbursement and a Supplemental Cost of Living Adjustment.

You may also notice some similarities between the pay statements:

• Both your employer and ACERA withhold amounts for federal and California state income taxes. (If you move out of California in retirement, you can request ACERA not withhold amounts for California state taxes, but ACERA cannot withhold taxes for other states.)
• Both your employer and ACERA offer non-taxable medical, dental, and vision subsidies. (You must meet eligibility requirements to receive ACERA subsidies.)

A Comparison of Your Working Pay Statement and Your ACERA Pay Statement

The table below is a comparison of the different sections of your employer’s pay statement and ACERA’s pay statement, with examples of types of line items you may see in those sections. Sections in the same row are roughly comparable even though they have different titles. Please note that these are just some examples, and not everyone will see all of these line items on their pay statements.

*Medicare Part B Reimbursement Plan is a non-taxable subsidy.