There are two Salary buckets on the RP File, Gross Salary and Total TRS Eligible Gross Salary. The Gross Salary bucket will get populated for Lump Sum Payments and submitted to TRS on the RP File.
Per TRS….
All compensation, whether TRS eligible or non-TRS eligible would be reported under Total Gross Compensation. So signing bonuses, allowances, reimbursements, etc., would be reported under Total Gross Compensation.
Regarding longevity pay, it is typically considered TRS eligible compensation. If deemed eligible, it would be reported in both Total Gross Compensation as well as Eligible TRS Gross Compensation. Please the 6th bullet from our creditable compensation page:
- Longevity pay when it is paid in periodic payments as the service is rendered. Lump sum payments paid as retention bonuses or other incentives to retain employees are not considered longevity pay and should not be reported.
https://www.trs.texas.gov/Pages/re_creditable_compensation.aspx
As for the reason why TRS requests this information, due to GASB 67/68, TRS needs to collect data on all employees, regardless of TRS eligibility. Therefore even for those who are not in TRS eligible positions, we need to collect information on all compensation. That said, reporting the same data elements for all employees would help standardize the reporting process. This also is a way for our employers to compare their payroll register to the TRS payroll file and verify salary totals match. This has helped our employers identify potential missing salary and/or individuals who were not reported to TRS in error.