Superannuation administration manual: Special bulletin 2022-002
Subject: Return Of Pension Contributions Process at the Government of Canada Pension Centre
Date: September 2, 2022
1. Purpose
The purpose of this superannuation administration manual Special bulletin is to inform the Compensation community of improvements being made at the Government of Canada Pension Centre with regard to processing of Return of Contributions (ROC) when a plan member with two less than two years of substantially continuous service terminates from the public service, or dies.
The new changes, effective immediately, are being implemented in order to deliver more timely and consistent pension services to plan members and to eliminate rework and follow ups. Pension Centre will commence processing the ROC 60 days after the member is terminated, allowing Compensation Advisors time to finalize the account.
2. Procedures/Instructions
2.1 Contributions for the Return of Contributions Period
All contributions deducted between the hire date and the termination date will be included in the ROC payment. The Pension Centre will no longer reconcile contribution amounts to determine their accuracy, and will no longer reconcile contributions associated with periods of employment outside of the relevant ROC period.
After a ROC has been issued, should pension contributions be deducted in error (i.e. Revisions), the Pension Centre will not refund those contributions. The refund remains the responsibility of Compensation.
2.2 Notification of Return of Contributions Letter
A revised format of the notification of ROC letter will be sent to Compensation when the ROC payment is issued. The Pension Centre will now include the period of employment for which the ROC is applicable in addition to the ROC amount, excluding interest.
Service and contributions where the member was employed for a Non Phoenix Crown Corporation may also be included in the total of the ROC amount and the employment period will be indicated separately.
2.3 Other Process Improvements
2.3.1 Pension Centre will no longer investigate or send requests to Compensation to correct data incongruencies, such as a mismatch in employee type and pension type, while processing their ROC case.
2.3.2 The address or banking information in Phoenix will be now be used if there is no current information in Penfax.
2.3.3 Pension Centre will calculate the value of PA reversal for the year of termination and will no longer need confirmation from Compensation.
3. Inquiries
It is important to note, for any inquiries related to ROC payments, Compensation Advisors for Phoenix are instructed to contact Pension Centre at: 1-855-383-0879.
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