Arizona Laws 38-848.01. Qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement; definitions
A. The board may establish a qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement for the sole purpose of enabling the board to continue to apply the same formula for determining benefits payable to all employees covered by the system whose benefits under the system are limited by section 415 of the internal revenue code.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 38-848.01
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Board: means the board of trustees of the system, who are the persons appointed to invest and operate the fund. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Compensation: means , for the purpose of computing retirement benefits, base salary, overtime pay, shift differential pay, military differential wage pay, compensatory time used by an employee in lieu of overtime not otherwise paid by an employer and holiday pay paid to an employee by the employer for the employee's performance of services in an eligible group on a regular monthly, semimonthly or biweekly payroll basis and longevity pay paid to an employee at least every six months for which contributions are made to the system pursuant to section 38-843, subsection D. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- Fund: means the public safety personnel retirement fund, which is the fund established to receive and invest contributions accumulated under the system and from which benefits are paid. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
- Grantor: includes every person from or by whom an estate or interest in real property passes, in or by a deed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Pension: means a series of monthly amounts that are payable to a person who is entitled to receive benefits under the plan but does not include an annuity that is payable pursuant to Section 38-846. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- retired: means termination of employment after a member has fulfilled all requirements for a pension, for an employee who becomes a member of the system on or after January 1, 2012 and before July 1, 2017, attains the age and service requirements for a normal retirement date or for an employee who becomes a member of the system on or after July 1, 2017 attains the age and credited service requirements for a normal retirement date. See Arizona Laws 38-842
- System: means the public safety personnel retirement system established by this article. See Arizona Laws 38-842
B. The board shall administer the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement. The board has full discretionary fiduciary authority to determine all questions arising in connection with the arrangement, including its interpretation and any factual questions arising under the arrangement.
C. All members and retired members of the system are eligible to participate in the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement if their benefits under the system would exceed the limitations imposed by section 415 of the internal revenue code.
D. On or after the effective date of the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement, the employer shall pay to each eligible member of the system who retires on or after the effective date and to each retired member who retired before the effective date and that member’s beneficiary, if required, a supplemental pension benefit equal to the amount by which the benefit that would have been payable under the system, without regard to any provisions in the system incorporating the limitation on benefits imposed by section 415 of the internal revenue code, exceeds the benefit actually payable taking into account the limitation imposed on the system by section 415 of the internal revenue code. The board shall compute and pay the supplemental pension benefits under the same terms and conditions and to the same person as the benefits payable to or on account of a retired member under the system.
E. The employer shall not fund benefits payable under the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement. The employer shall pay benefits payable under the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement out of the general assets of the employer. For administrative purposes, the employer may establish a grantor trust for the benefit of eligible members. The employer shall be treated as grantor of the trust for purposes of section 677 of the internal revenue code. The rights of any person to receive benefits under the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement are limited to those of a general creditor of the employer.
F. The terms and conditions contained in the system, other than those relating to the benefit limitation imposed by section 415 of the internal revenue code, apply, unless the terms and conditions are inconsistent with the purpose of the qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement.
G. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Internal revenue code" has the same meaning prescribed in section 42-1001.
2. "Qualified governmental excess benefit arrangement" means a portion of the system if:
(a) The portion is maintained solely to provide to members of the system that part of a member’s annual benefit that is otherwise payable under the terms of the system and that exceeds the limitations imposed by section 415 of the internal revenue code.
(b) Under that portion, a direct or indirect election to defer compensation is not provided at any time to the member.
(c) Excess benefits are not paid from a trust that is a part of the system unless the trust is maintained solely for the purpose of providing excess benefits.