I receive a state of HI pension from being a teacher. Amount was $41,416. It is not taxed by Hawaii. Do I enter the whole amount under Exclusion Amount?

[JamesG1]

Are you referring to the Exclusion Amount on the Retirement Exclusion Worksheet?  If so, many pension distributions are not subject to the Hawaii income tax.

Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), states that certain kinds of pensions, whether paid by public or private employers, are not subject to the Hawaii income tax.

Hawaii allows a subtraction for qualifying pension distributions from:

• Pension or annuity distributions from a public retirement system (such as Federal civil service annuity, military pension, state or county retirement system, and
• Distributions from a private employer pension plan received upon retirement if the employee did not contribute to the pension plan.

[erickanemura]

How do I know if this teachers pension qualify?

[LindaS5247]

If you were a public teacher in Hawaii, it is likely your pension qualifies for the exemption. Payments from the Hawaii Employee Retirement System (or ERS) are not taxed by the state. You can try checking your retirement statements to see if you can verify that you are in the Employee Retirement System or ERS. 

Per the Hawaii Department of Taxation website Hawaii teacher pensions are generally not taxed by the state if they are part of the Employees' Retirement System (ERS) and you did not contribute to the plan. If you contributed after-tax dollars to the plan, only the portion attributable to your contributions is taxed. 

If you are unsure what type of pension plan you are in and how it is taxed in Hawaii, you can contact your employer or benefits coordinator. They should be able to tell you.

Also, the Hawaii Department of Taxation has a General Assistance phone number. They may be able to answer your questions about the taxability of your teachers pension. · Phone: 808-587-4242 · Toll Free: 1-800-222-3239.
 

Please return To Community if you have any additional information or questions and we would be happy to help.