Category: Escape

Dear School Business Professionals,
Please see email below from the CDE regarding: Exemption from Fiscal Year 2020-21 Apportionment Deferrals. Regards, School Business Advisory Services Team Santa Barbara County Education Office
Please do not reply to this email. This is an unattended mailbox. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From: CDEfisc <CDEfisc@cde.ca.gov> Sent: Monday, November 9, 2020 8:13 AM To: CDEfisc <CDEfisc@cde.ca.gov> Subject: Exemption from Fiscal Year 2020-21 Apportionment Deferrals
Please forward this email to all school districts and charter schools in your county. The purpose of this email is to provide information about the deferral exemption application process. California Education Code Section 14041.8 provides the opportunity for school districts and charter schools to apply for a dollar-limited exemption from the deferral of the Principal Apportionment payments in February 2021 through June 2021. There is no exemption provision for county offices of education. The application for exemptions to the February 2021 through May 2021 deferrals will be available on the California Department of Education (CDE) web page at www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fi/ad/ beginning Thursday, November 12, 2020. This webpage is not currently live. This application is due to CDE per statute no later than December 15, 2020. If applications exceed the funds available, approvals will be made in the order in which applications are received. For questions regarding the deferral exemption process and applications, please contact DeferralExemption@cde.ca.gov<mailto:DeferralExemption@cde.ca.gov>.

Hello all,

Please take note, as of 11/5/2020 . . .

…we have updated Escape Production to v20.3

* Budget Management Optimization – The Load from HR task in Budget Management has been optimized to run faster.
* Retirement Setup – When creating a new employee’s Retirement record, the Plan Option will be required if a Person record does not exist for the new employee. If a Person record does exist, the Plan Option will default the PERS or STRS Plan Type value that exists in the Person record.
* Escape ‘HowTo’ Documentation change –
* Navigation – The navigation is controlled by links on a page * Printing – At the top of every article there is a Print button * Searching – The Search box is smart, using autofill suggestions * Giving Feedback – Yes/No button to assess the article
In Escape, click on Online Resources > Release Information to view the 20.3 Release Notes.
Regards,
School Business Advisory Services Team Santa Barbara County Education Office
Please do not reply to this message.
Replies to this message are routed to an unmonitored mailbox.

Good Morning!
Burnham is hosting an ACA Reporting & Escape User Training Session for districts that need a refresher on how to generate their ACA forms using Escape.
This training is a great review for employees who’ve previously attended a session and is especially helpful to anyone new in HR or Payroll who is responsible for the 1095-C submissions.
Please join us on December 9, 2020 by using the Zoom Link below!
Join Zoom Meeting
zoom.us/j/92850628746

Meeting ID: 928 5062 8746
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Thank you,
Carla Benevedo, Account Manager BURNHAM BENEFITS INSURANCE SERVICES Direct 805.600.6971 | Cell 209.499.6398 |Email benevedo@burnhambenefits.com<mailto:benevedo@burnhambenefits.com> 300 James Way, Suite 240 | Pismo Beach, CA 93449 CA License # 0D86695
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Annual Return of CalSTRS Excess DB/DBS Employee and Employer Contributions Instructions and Overview
Annually, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) looks at all of a member’s reported compensation after the fiscal year is over. Compensation earned by a member that is greater than one year of service credit in the Defined Benefit (DB) Program is moved by CalSTRS to the Defined Benefit Supplement (DBS) Program. This action results in “excess contributions” paid by both the employer and employee because contribution rates for the DB and DBS Programs are different.
Each October, CalSTRS returns excess employee and employer contributions to the County Office for distribution to districts and their employees. CalSTRS also sends employee adjustment data that the County Office converts for posting into Escape for each district. To see the employee transactions posted for your district and to correct any errors, follow the path and instructions below:
* HR/Payroll – Employment – Additional Contrib/Deduction * Select the “List” Tab and “Open” * Choose the “Employees” Tab to see a listing of the applicable employees with a return of excess contributions. * No further action is necessary for these transactions. * The adjustment batch has been posted as part of the upload process performed by the County. * The adjustments apply to the October Regular payroll. * Select the “Errors” Tab. * If there are employees listed in the Errors Tab it is mostly likely because the employees are no longer active in Escape. * Adjustments for this group of employees must be manually input by the district. Input data as deduction adjustments using Deduction I.D. “STRSECEE” to return the taxable income to the applicable employees. * For assistance on inputting these adjustments, please contact Sheng Xiong sxiong@sbceo.org<mailto:sxiong@sbceo.org>.
Employee deduction adjustments use monies held in the STRS Employee Trust Fund (9980) for the return of contributions.
* For non-Escape districts, please refer to Journal Entry CT 21-00391 dated 10/16/2020. * If your district would like a listing of the applicable employees in an Excel file, please contact Sheng Xiong at sxiong@sbceo.org<mailto:sxiong@sbceo.org>.
Employer contributions are transferred from the STRS Employer Trust Fund (9983) and placed into each district’s general fund as a lump sum.
* See attached STRS Excess Contributions 2019-20.pdf for a list of each applicable district and their respective employee and employer excessive contribution refund amounts. * Refer to Journal Entry CT 21-00392 dated 10/16/2020. * The account coding is 01-0000-0-1110-1000-3101-000-0000-ADJS. * The basis for the account coding is the California School Accounting Manual (CSAM) Procedure 560 Abatement of Expenditures.
For questions about the return of CalSTRS excess contributions, please contact:
Sheng Xiong sxiong@sbceo.org<mailto:sxiong@sbceo.org> Myron Porter mporter@sbceo.org<mailto:mporter@sbceo.org> CalSTRS CalSTRSFullFundingProject@CalSTRS.com<mailto:CalSTRSFullFundingProject@CalSTRS.com>
________________________________ Overview of Excess Employee and Employer Contributions related to the DB and DBS Programs
* Annually, CalSTRS looks at all of a member’s reported compensation after the fiscal year is over. Compensation earned by a member that is greater than one year of service credit in the DB Program is moved to the DBS Program. This action results in “excess contributions” paid by both the employer and employee because the contribution rates for the DB and DBS Programs are different. * In September, CalSTRS notifies active members that have excess contributions with an online message of Retirement Progress Report in Special Messages. Members see this information while logged into their myCalSTRS account and may also select Services, then Excess Contributions to see the report. CalSTRS informs retirees with excess contributions by letter. * In October, excess employer and employee contributions for active members are returned to the County Office for distribution to employers. Employers are responsible for returning the contributions to their employees. * After the end of each quarter, any excess contributions accumulated for members who refund, retire, receive a disability benefit, or die are returned to the County Office and transferred to the employer for disbursement. * Interest is not paid on excess contributions as CalSTRS has no legal requirement or authority to pay interest on the return of excess contributions. * Returned pre-tax contributions are taxable income in the year employees receive them regardless of when the contributions were initially paid. * If there is an adjustment that reduces a member’s excess service credit from a prior year, employer or member contributions may be due back to CalSTRS. * January 2, 2001 * Moving of contributions into the DBS Program from the DB Program began. * No adjustments to contributions were necessary because the contribution rates for the DB and DBS programs were the same. * January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2010 * One-fourth of a member’s 8% DB retirement contributions were moved into the DBS program. * January 1, 2011 to present * DBS Program receives contribution funds based on: * Earnings in excess of one year of service credit. * Special limited term payments. * See attached CalSTRS Employer Information Circular on Creditable Compensation Regulations Effective Jan. 1, 2015 (Volume 30; Issue 5, Dec. 10, 2014). * July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2022 * Ccontribution rates for the DB and DBS Programs are not the same. * This occurred with the passage of AB 1469, the CalSTRS 2014 Full Funding Plan<www.calstrs.com/plan-funding> (Ctrl + Click to connect to the link to see the plan). * More information on excess contributions can be found on the CalSTRS website. Type in “excess contributions” in the search box. * The attached CalSTRS Welcome to CalSTRS booklet, welcometocalstrs2019.pdf, page 9, provides an explanation of excess contributions to new members.
________________________________
Regards,
School Business Advisory Services Team Santa Barbara County Education Office

Attached, and below please see the annual memos regarding W-2 Reporting for Group Term Life Insurance and W-2 Reporting for Domestic Partner Insurance.
For questions about this subject, please contact Myron Porter at mporter@sbceo.org<mailto:mporter@sbceo.org> or 805-964-4711 x 5280.
Regards,
School Business Advisory Services Team Santa Barbara County Education Office

Regards,
School Business Advisory Services Team Santa Barbara County Education Office