Seen this posted a lot and it’s fairly easy to find on the IRS site:
- Defined benefit plan (pension plan that pays a retirement benefit spelled out in the plan) and you are eligible to participate for the plan year ending with or within the tax year.
What is the definition of eligible to participate?
My situation is:
I work for a municipality. They contribute to a state run defined benefit pension plan; TN Consolidated Retirement System.
I have no option to contribute anything.
The employer contributes everything and it is not considered income for us. It is a benefit they provide.
For 17 years our W2s have had Box 13 Retirement Plan NOT CHECKED.
I had even inquired with HR before about why this was. They told me since we did not have any option to contribute to the pension plan and the employer funds it completely, we were not considered eligible to participate.
So my main question here is:
what makes a person eligible to participate in a defined benefit plan?
And if anyone has any further insight into my situation, I’d love to hear it.
Thanks
