Roth TSP changing in 2015, act now to keep your deductions active

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Aaron Montoya
  • 49th Wing Public Affairs
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Active duty members who are currently making dollar-amount Roth contributions to their Thrift Savings Plan account will have to act now to ensure their deductions continue. Starting January 31, 2015, an upcoming change in myPay will require members to designate their Roth contributions as a percentage of your pay, no longer by the dollar amount. If these changes are not made in time, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service will not be able to continue processing your Roth contributions until you update your contribution method.

These changes take effect on January 1, 2015, and you will have 30 days to make the required changes. Making this change is a simple task and can be easily done through the portal. Log into myPay. You'll see a special TSP section labeled "Traditional TSP and Roth TSP" - click there. Then, in the "Contribution from Roth TSP" section, you can enter the percentage of your pay that you'd like to contribute (10 percent, for example). Finally, click "Save" at the bottom of the screen.

Now is a good time to pay attention to the TSP, make the necessary updates, or look into starting your own. When you make Roth contributions, you pay taxes on the money you save before it goes into your TSP account. So you pay no income taxes when you take it out, letting you take advantage of current tax rates.

As a member of the uniformed servies, you can make Roth contributions from tax-exempt pay, basic pay, incentive pay, special pay and bonus pay. If you make Roth contributions from tax-exempt pay earned in a combat zone, you won't pay taxes on your contributions, and you'll have the opportunity for tax-free growth.

All of this information and more is available at the Airman and Family Readiness Center. If you have any questions or would like further information about the upcoming changes you can contact Mr. Bruce Knee, a community readiness consultant at the AFRC, at (575)572-7754.