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Members

Voluntary Additional Contributions

If you are a WRS participant who is currently employed with a WRS employer you can make voluntary additional contributions to your WRS account. All active WRS employees are eligible to make voluntary after-tax contributions to the WRS. If you have made voluntary additional contributions you can use your additional account to buy any creditable service that you are eligible to purchase.

Note: Prior to January 1, 2009, employees of certain educational institutions could make tax-deferred additional contributions to their WRS account under Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. However, beginning January 1, 2009, the Department can no longer accept tax-deferred additional contributions.

All voluntary additional contributions earn the effective interest rates. If you participate in the variable program, 50% of your additional contributions will be allocated to your variable account. If you do not participate in the variable program, your additional contributions will earn the annual core effective rates.

The amount of additional contributions you can make each year is limited by Federal tax laws. The total contributions in any calendar year that apply to your annual limit cannot exceed 100% of your total gross compensation from your WRS employer for that calendar year or $45,000, whichever is less. This amount normally increases annually; the $45,000 limit applies to contributions made in 2007. The other WRS contributions that apply toward the annual limit are:

  • Employee required contributions to the WRS plus a matching amount of employer required contributions;
  • All Benefit Adjustment Contributions actually paid by you;
  • Voluntary after-tax employee contributions and employer additional contributions;

A worksheet is available on which you can calculate your maximum additional contributions. For more detailed information: