Effective 28 Aug 2015

86.1270. Retirement plan deemed qualified plan under federal law — board to administer plan as a qualified plan — vesting of benefits — distributions. — 1. A retirement plan under sections 86.900 to 86.1280 is a qualified plan under the provisions of applicable federal law. The benefits and conditions of a retirement plan under sections 86.900 to 86.1280 shall always be adjusted to ensure that the tax-exempt status is maintained.

2. The retirement board shall administer the retirement system in a manner as to retain at all times qualified status under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.

3. The retirement board shall hold in trust the assets of the retirement system for the exclusive benefit of the members and their beneficiaries and for defraying reasonable administrative expenses of the system. No part of such assets shall, at any time prior to the satisfaction of all liabilities with respect to members and their beneficiaries, be used for or diverted to any purpose other than such exclusive benefit or to any purpose inconsistent with sections 86.900 to 86.1280.

4. A member's benefit shall be one hundred percent vested and nonforfeitable upon the member's attainment of normal retirement age, which shall be the earlier of:

(1) Completion of twenty-five years of service for Tier I members and twenty-seven years of service for Tier II members;

(2) Age sixty for any Tier I member who has completed at least ten years of creditable service or age sixty for any Tier II member who has completed at least fifteen years of creditable service;

(3) Age seventy without regard to years of service; or

(4) To the extent funded, upon the termination of the system established under sections 86.900 to 86.1280 or any partial termination which affects the members or any complete discontinuance of contributions by the city to the system.

­­Amounts representing forfeited nonvested benefits of terminated members shall not be used to increase benefits payable from the system but may be used to reduce contributions for future plan years.

5. Distribution of benefits shall begin not later than April first of the year following the later of the calendar year during which the member becomes seventy and one-half years of age or the calendar year in which the member retires, and shall otherwise conform to Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code.

6. A member or beneficiary of a member shall not accrue a service retirement annuity, disability retirement annuity, death benefit, whether death occurs in the line of duty or otherwise, or any other benefit under sections 86.900 to 86.1280 in excess of the benefit limits applicable to the fund under Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code. The retirement board shall reduce the amount of any benefit that exceeds those limits by the amount of the excess. If the total benefits under the retirement system and the benefits and contributions to which any member is entitled under any other qualified plan or plans maintained by the board of police commissioners that employs the member would otherwise exceed the applicable limits under Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code, the benefits the member would otherwise receive from the retirement system shall be reduced to the extent necessary to enable the benefits to comply with Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code.

7. The total salary taken into account for any purpose for any member of the retirement system shall not exceed two hundred thousand dollars per year, subject to periodic adjustments in accordance with guidelines provided by the United States Secretary of the Treasury, and shall not exceed such other limits as may be applicable at any given time under Section 401(a)(17) of the Internal Revenue Code.

8. If the amount of any benefit is to be determined on the basis of actuarial assumptions that are not otherwise specifically set forth for that purpose in sections 86.900 to 86.1280, the actuarial assumptions to be used are those earnings and mortality assumptions being used on the date of the determination by the retirement system's actuary and approved by the retirement board. The actuarial assumptions being used at any particular time shall be attached as an addendum to a copy of the retirement system's statute that is maintained by the retirement board and shall be treated for all purposes as a part of sections 86.900 to 86.1280. The actuarial assumptions may be changed by the retirement system's actuary annually if approved by the retirement board, but a change in actuarial assumptions shall not result in any decrease in benefits accrued as of the effective date of the change.

9. Any member or beneficiary who is entitled to receive any distribution that is an eligible rollover distribution, as defined by Section 402(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, is entitled to have that distribution transferred directly to another eligible retirement plan of the member's or beneficiary's choice upon providing direction to the secretary of this retirement system regarding the transfer in accordance with procedures established by the retirement board. Effective for distributions made on or after January 1, 2010, a nonspouse beneficiary may elect to directly roll over an eligible rollover distribution to an individual retirement account under Section 408(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; to an individual retirement annuity under Section 408(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; or if the participant satisfies the requirements for making a Roth contribution under Section 408(A)(c)(3)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, to a Roth individual retirement account.

10. For all distributions made after December 31, 2001:

(1) For the purposes of subsection 9 of this section, an eligible retirement plan shall also mean an annuity contract described in Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code and an eligible plan under Section 457(b) of the Internal Revenue Code which is maintained by the state, political subdivision of a state, or any agency or instrumentality of a state or political subdivision of a state and which agrees to separately account for amounts transferred into such plan from the retirement system. The definition of eligible retirement plan shall also apply in the case of a distribution to a surviving spouse or to a spouse or former spouse who is the alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order, as defined in Section 414(p) of the Internal Revenue Code; and

(2) For purposes of subsection 9 of this section, a portion of a distribution shall not fail to be an eligible rollover distribution merely because the portion consists of after-tax employee contributions which are not includable in gross income. However, such portion may be paid only to an individual retirement account or annuity described in Section 408(a) or 408(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, or to a qualified defined contribution plan described in Section 401(a) or 403(a) of the Internal Revenue Code that agrees to separately account for amounts so transferred, including separately accounting for the portion of such distribution that is includable in gross income and the portion of such distribution that is not so includable.

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(L. 2005 H.B. 323, A.L. 2013 H.B. 116 merged with H.B. 418, A.L. 2015 H.B. 515)