Enrolling an employee in Wesleyan Pension Fund
All employees who work a minimum of 20 hours per week are eligible to participate in WPF – both clergy and laity staff.
Give Enrollment Forms to employee (on website under “Forms”). If there is an agreement between the employer and employee to also have a voluntary, salary-reduction (employee contribution), you will need to sign the form in Section C. Fax or upload completed forms to WPF. If a new employee is already a member of WPF, please do not have him/her complete another enrollment form, just give us any updated information.
The WPF Summary Plan Description is a document you should suggest to your new employees for an understanding of the Plan policies.
Begin Contributions. Enrollments are not processed until a contribution from the ministry is received by WPF.
WPF recommends contributing an amount equal to 12% of the employee’s gross salary. Salary is equal to cash salary plus housing. If the employee is provided a parsonage, the value used should be the taxable year-end amount. A portion of the employer contribution totaling 1% of the gross salary is used to purchase long-term disability and life insurance for the employee and for such other purposes as the Board of Pensions may determine. The rest is invested in the Plan account.
Exit Interviews
Remind the outgoing employee about their pension funds. They will need to keep WPF informed of contact information changes. Lay personnel can access their employee (EE) funds one year after job termination date and in five years for employer (ER) funds. They will no longer have the insurance benefits in the Plan. Clergy members may not withdraw any funds unless they register a credential surrender date with their district office and the district administration records that date in TWCHub. This will trigger the five-year waiting period before funds can be accessed. All participants may access their funds at the age of 62. *Also see “Employee Job Termination.”
Employee Job Termination
When an employee leaves their job and takes a Lump Sum Distribution after the required waiting periods, their account is closed. By doing so, they are confirming they do not plan to return to a position that would require future enrollment in WPF. If they plan to seek a position in another ministry where WPF is utilized, they must leave their funds intact.
Employer (ER) and Employee (EE) Funds
When adding employees to your Online Payment System account, be sure to mark the correct option for posting. ER funds are contributions paid by the employer (insurance premiums are paid from these funds). EE funds are contributions made from voluntary, salary-reduced funds of the employee. If the funds are not posted correctly, it can affect the employee’s insurance coverage. There are two options (or columns) for employee funds, pre-tax and ROTH (after tax).
Year-End Contributions
All Employer (ER) and Employee (EE) contributions are due to WPF by the end of December to have them credited to their accounts in the current year. We post the exact due dates on our website under “Year-End Processing.”
Year-End at Principal Financial Group (PFG)
January 1st through the 15th are blackout dates for Principal while they prepare year-end. Statements and tax documents. Withdrawals from accounts are put on hold during that time. The Annual Statements are usually sent by the end of February. If you want your contributions to show up in the current year’s statements, those must be sent in by the end of December.
Register Your Church
WPF utilizes the services of Northwest Plan Services (NWPS) for making contributions to a participant’s account on a regular basis – our Online Payment System or OPS.
To get your NEW OPS account started, email or call our office with the following information:
Ministry Name
Federal Tax ID
Address/City/State/Zip
Phone Number
Email Address
We will register your account and NWPS will send you an Invitation Email to the email address you provide when it is ready. When you get the email, click on the link in the email. This will take you through the registration screens to set up your password, bank account, etc. Once you are through the registration screens, you will be in the account. There you can enter your employees and set up a payment.
The next time you need to login, do not click on the link in the email. That link is only for registrations.
For ongoing logins, return to the WPF site, click on the “Online Payment System Login-Treasurers/Finance Personnel Only” box. This will take you to the regular NWPS login page. Bookmark this site for future logins.
Once the initial setup is complete, and a transaction is processed, NWPS will email a confirmation of the transaction being completed.
If you later add a new employee to your account, please remember that an enrollment form MUST be completed and mailed or faxed to WPF before the contribution can be processed to the new employee’s account. If he/she is already a member, please do not send us another enrollment form.