Retiree News

Receive Your Tax Forms Electronically

You can now opt out of paper delivery and choose to receive your IRS Form 1099-R and W-2 only through your secure myVRS account. This option offers a faster, more convenient way to access your tax documents.

Log in to myVRS to update your communication preferences. You can change your selection at any time. If you don’t opt out, you’ll continue to receive paper copies by mail.

Tax documents will be available to all retirees in myVRS by January 31, 2026, consistent with IRS guidelines.

Tax Benefit Available for Retired Public Safety Officers

Eligible retired public safety officers may qualify for a federal tax exclusion under the Healthcare Enhancement for Local Public Safety Retirees Act. This provision allows you to exclude a certain amount per year from retirement income used to pay qualified health or long-term care insurance premiums for yourself, your spouse and dependent children.

To claim the exclusion, report the eligible amount on your federal tax return. Your Form 1099-R from VRS shows your total taxable income and does not reflect any adjustment for this benefit.

To find the amount VRS deducted for insurance premiums, log in to myVRS and review your 1099-R. The form includes the total premiums withheld from your monthly benefit, minus any health insurance credit you may have received.

For more information, contact a tax advisor or visit irs.gov.

Imputed Income Subject to Taxes

If you were covered under the VRS Group Life Insurance Program as a member, this benefit continues into retirement. If the value of your group life insurance coverage exceeds $50,000, the portion above that amount is considered imputed income. This imputed income is subject to federal income tax, as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes.

VRS automatically withholds these taxes and sends you a Form W-2 each year showing the taxable amount and the taxes withheld. You’ll use this Form W-2 when filing your federal and, if applicable, state income taxes. As your life insurance coverage decreases over time, the amount of imputed income also reduces. Once your coverage drops below $50,000, these taxes will no longer be withheld, and you will no longer receive a W-2 from VRS.

Learn more about how VRS group life insurance works and how coverage reduces over time.

Changing Your VRS Pension Survivor Option

Under certain circumstances, you can name a new survivor or revert to the Basic Benefit if you chose the survivor option as your benefit payout option at retirement.

Contact VRS if one of the following qualifying events occur:

• Your survivor dies.
• Your survivor is your spouse and you divorce with fewer than 20 years of marriage.
• Your survivor is your spouse, you divorce after 20 or more years of marriage and your survivor dies, remarries or consents in writing to a change in the benefit.
• You provide VRS a written consent from your survivor giving up claim to a benefit along with proof of your survivor’s good health.

You can change the Survivor Option only once during your lifetime. If you revert to the Basic Benefit instead of naming a new survivor, the Basic Benefit is payable retroactively no more than 60 days from the date VRS receives your completed authorization form. Learn more under Benefit Payout Options.

Reminder: Return to Work Rules

If you return to a VRS-covered position, your monthly benefit will stop and any cost-of-living adjustments you’ve received will reset. This may result in a lower benefit when you retire again.

Part-time and critical shortage roles may be allowed, but specific rules apply.

Review the guidelines for returning to work.

Stay Connected

VRS is no longer active on Facebook. We’ve streamlined our communications to focus on platforms that better support our outreach and engagement goals.

You can find VRS content on YouTube and LinkedIn, along with updates delivered directly to you by email, mail, newsletters and through your myVRS account.