Taxes and Your Pension

Most NYSLRS pensions are subject to federal income tax.

  • Your federal tax withholding is the amount of federal income tax withheld from your monthly pension payment.
  • Your 1099-R tax form shows the taxable amount of your NYSLRS pension and is provided annually for filing your taxes.

NYSLRS pensions are not subject to New York State or local income tax. If you permanently moved to another state or if you spend more than 183 days in that state, your pension may be subject to state or local income taxes.

  • For general information about which states tax pensions, visit the Retired Public Employees Association’s NYS Pension Taxation Requirements By State page.
  • For questions specific to your situation, consult a tax advisor or contact the state’s tax or revenue agency.

 

Federal Tax Withholding

NYSLRS is required to withhold federal income tax from your pension benefit at the default withholding status of “single with no adjustments” unless you inform us otherwise. The amount withheld is based on the information you provide to us on a W-4P Form (Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments).

Note: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revised its W-4P Form, which no longer allows tax filers to adjust their withholding by electing a specific number of allowances. To comply with IRS requirements, NYSLRS updated its tax withholding form accordingly. You do not need to submit a new W-4P Form to NYSLRS unless you want to change the amount withheld for federal income tax.

To check your current withholding, sign in to Retirement Online and view your pension pay stub.

Effective January 1, 2023, NYSLRS does not withhold federal income tax from pension benefits that are not subject to tax reporting.

If You Receive More Than One Pension Payment from NYSLRS

NYSLRS administers two retirement systems—the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS). It's possible to receive more than one pension payment from one or both systems as a retiree, a beneficiary or an ex-spouse who is receiving a benefit under a domestic relations order. 

  • If you receive more than one pension payment from the same system, you only need to submit your withholding information once and income tax will be withheld from all payments you receive from that system.
  • If you receive pension payments from both ERS and PFRS, you must submit withholding information for each system.

Your pension pay stub lists whether the payment is from ERS or PFRS.

Use Retirement Online to Update Your Withholding

Retirement Online is the fastest and most convenient way to update your withholding information.

If you update your federal withholding online by the middle of the month, your changes will generally be applied that month.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a new Tax Withholding Estimator which may help you estimate the federal income tax you want withheld from your pension. When using the tool, be sure to have your most recent tax return, pension pay stubs and other income information—your results will be based on the information you enter. To view your pension pay stubs, sign in to Retirement Online.

Step 1(c): Filing Status

Select your filing status.

Complete Steps 2 – 4 ONLY if they apply to you.

Step 2: Income from a Job and/or Multiple Pensions/Annuities (Including a Spouse’s Job/Pension/Annuity) 

Choose (a) or (b).

(a) Enter the amount from the IRS’ Tax Withholding Estimator.
Do not complete Steps 3–4 if you accounted for that information when using the tool.

OR

(b): Enter applicable amounts in (i), (ii) and (iii) if you:

  • Have income from a job;
  • Have more than one pension/annuity; or
  • Are married filing jointly and your spouse receives income from a job or pension/annuity.

For help with Step 2(b), see the instructions on page 2 of the W-4P Form.

Complete Steps 3–4(b) ONLY if Step 2 (b)(i) is blank and your NYSLRS pension pays the most annually. Otherwise, do not complete Steps 3–4(b).

Step 3: Claim Dependent and Other Credits

Enter applicable amounts if you claim dependents.

Step 4 (optional): Other Adjustments

Enter applicable amounts for:
(a) Other income (not from jobs or pension/annuity payments)
(b) Deductions
(c) Extra withholding

For help with Step 4, see the instructions and worksheet on page 3 of the W-4P Form.

Choosing not to have income taxes withheld. 

Select the box next to “Check here if you do not want federal income tax withheld from your payments.”

Do not complete Steps 2–4.

Generally, if you are a U.S. citizen or a resident alien, you are not permitted to elect not to have federal income tax withheld on payments delivered outside the United States.

Caution: If 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.

Other Ways to Update Your Withholding

You can download, print and complete a paper W-4P Form to update your withholding information. Please note, using a paper form will take longer for the information to reach us. Retirement Online is the fastest way to update your withholding. If you do use a form, please be sure to use the current version and make sure you sign and date it.

We'll notify you by mail or email (depending on your contact preference) when the update has been completed.

Note: You can refer to the steps above when completing the paper form. However, you must also complete Steps 1(a), 1(b) and 5, which are not listed.

If You Need Help

The NYSLRS form is based on the IRS form. If you need assistance completing the form:

If you’re not sure whether you need to adjust your federal withholding or if you have other tax questions, consult a tax advisor.
 

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1099-R Tax Form

A 1099-R tax form is used to report the distribution of taxable retirement benefits. It shows the taxable amount of your NYSLRS pension and is provided annually for filing your taxes.

  • Mailed Delivery: We mail printed 1099-Rs by January 31.
  • Email Delivery (Online Availability): We make 1099-Rs available in Retirement Online sooner than printed copies are mailed—we will notify you by email generally around mid-January.

Note: The default delivery preference is mail. If you did not change your 1099-R delivery preference to email in Retirement Online, you will receive a mailed 1099-R.

Use Retirement Online to Get Your 1099-R

To view, save or print your 1099-R:

  • Sign in to Retirement Online.
  • Look under My Account Summary.
  • Click Manage My 1099-R Tax Forms button.
  • Select an option from Year dropdown. (Note: 2024 and 2023 are currently available online.)
  • Click Generate button.

If you have one 1099-R, the document will open in a new browser tab. If you have more than one 1099-R, the documents will download on to your computer.

Please check your browser settings and disable pop-up blockers to ensure your 1099-R can be generated. By default, your browser may block pop-ups, which could prevent a new tab from opening or the file from downloading.

Get an Email Notification When Your 1099-R is Available Online

You can get your 1099-R online sooner than printed copies are mailed. Update your delivery preference to email and when your 1099-R is available in Retirement Online, we’ll send an email notifying you.

  • Sign in to Retirement Online.
  • Look under My Profile Information.
  • Click update next to ‘1099-R Tax Form Delivery by.’
  • Choose Email from dropdown.

Be sure the email address listed in your Retirement Online profile is current.

If you choose to receive your 1099-R by email, you will not receive a printed copy in the mail. Regardless of your delivery preference, you will be able to get your 1099-R online at the end of January.

A Quick Guide to Your 1099-R

If you made after-tax contributions to NYSLRS while you were working, a small portion of your benefit may be exempt from federal tax. The non-taxable amount is shown in Box 5 on your 1099-R. You should only report the taxable amount in Box 2a on your tax return. After you have fully recovered your after-tax contributions, the amount in Box 5 will be zero.

Some retirees may see a small difference between the non-taxable amount listed on their 1099-R tax form and the year-to-date total provided on their December 2024 pay stub. Despite this difference, the amount reported in your 2024 1099-R tax form is correct and should be used to file your 2024 tax return.

 

It appears you are viewing this page in portrait mode. To view the interactive 1099-R Tax Form, please rotate your device, or view this page on a larger device.

This interactive image will help explain your 1099-R Tax Form. Click on a blue highlighted area to get a description of the corresponding box on the form.

GO

 
 

 

1099-R Reprints1

1099-R tax forms are available in Retirement Online. (Note: 1099-R tax forms for 2024 and 2023 are currently available online.)

You may request a 1099-R reprint for calendar years 2022 through 2024 by completing and submitting the online form below. 

Before requesting a reprint, we recommend you sign in to Retirement Online and check the address we have on file for you. If your address has recently changed, select “Yes” for that question on the form. Enter both your old and new address and all required information to verify your identity.

Your reprint should be mailed within 5 to 7 business days.

 

Select the tax year(s) to be reprinted:
Has your address recently changed?

Enter your old address.

Enter your new address. This is where your 1099-R will be mailed to.

The address above is:

Enter ONE of the following to verify your identity:

Your NYSLRS ID starts with 'R' and is followed by eight digits (for example, R12345678). You can find your NYSLRS ID in your Retirement Online account or in correspondence you've received from us.

–OR–

 

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Rev. 1/25

1Updated 4/25