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Take advantage today

All employees of the UT System are eligible to participate in the UTSaver TSA.

Starting early has its advantages

Employee contributions

Through payroll deduction, your plan allows you to make pretax contributions up to the maximum IRS contribution limit. You may increase or decrease the amount you contribute to the plan as often as your employer allows. 

You have a choice regarding your elective contributions to your workplace 403(b) plan. You can direct all of your contributions to a traditional pretax account, to a Roth account or to a combination of the two. Contributions to a Roth account are after-tax. Regardless of your election, you are subject to the annual contribution limits detailed previously. 

2024 contribution limit

Your contribution limit for 2024 is $23,000.

Additional catch-up contributions 

You might be eligible to contribute up to an additional: 

2024 catch - up contributions

> An additional $3,000 if you have 15 more years of service and have undercontributed in prior years, and 

> An additional $7,500 if you are age 50 or older.

Stop/change contributions

You may change your contributions amount or discontinue contributing to your plan at any time and resume contributing again later, subject to your employer’s plan provisions. In the meantime, your account will continue to grow on a tax-deferred basis. 

Vesting

Vesting is a participant’s right of ownership to the money in his or her plan account. You are always 100% vested in your own contributions.

Accessing your money before retirement

Withdrawals

Money can be withdrawn from your 403(b) plan in these events: 

  • Attaining age 59½ (employee contributions must be 100% vested) 
  • Retirement or separation from service (distributions where the employee retires or separates from service on or after age 55 are not subject to the 10% early withdrawal federal tax penalty) 
  • Your death or total disability 
  • Hardship withdrawals (employee contributions only)

Bear in mind that income taxes are payable upon withdrawal. 

In addition, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires you to take Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) withdrawals from your retirement account(s) annually beginning the year you reach the RMD eligible age. RMD eligible age is:

  • Age 73 if you were born January 1, 1951, or later (The RMD eligible age will increase to age 75 after December 31, 2032)
  • Age 72 if you were born after June 30, 1949, and before January 1, 1951 (For individuals turning age 72 in 2023, no RMD payment is required in 2023)
  • Age 70 ½ if you were born before July 1, 1949.

Corebridge Retirement Services offers many distribution options, allowing you to tailor your benefits to meet your individual needs. Depending on your employer’s plan provisions, your withdrawal options include: 

  • Transferring or rolling over your vested account balance to another tax-advantaged plan that accepts rollovers 
  • Receiving systematic withdrawals 
  • Taking a lump-sum distribution 
  • Choosing one of the many annuity options available from Corebridge
  • Deferring distributions until a later date, allowing your account to continue to grow tax-deferred (Required Minimum Distributions apply)

Generally, income taxes must be paid on all amounts you withdraw from your plan. A 10% federal tax penalty for early withdrawal may apply to distributions taken prior to attainment of age 59½. 

Qualified distributions from a Roth account are tax-free. Generally, a qualified Roth distribution is a distribution that: 

  1. is made five years or more following the date the first Roth contribution was made to the plan 
  2. is made after attainment of age 59½, death, or disability. 

Important considerations before deciding to move funds either into or out of a Corebridge Retirement Services account
There are many things to consider. For starters, you will want to carefully review and compare your existing account and the new account, including: fees and charges; guarantees and benefits; and, any limitations under either of the accounts. Also, you will want to know whether a surrender of your current account could result in charges. Your financial professional can help you review these and other important considerations. Consult a tax professional before making a decision to move funds either into or out of a Corebridge account.

Loans

Tax-free loans make it possible for you to access your account without permanently reducing your account balance. Defaulted loan amounts (not repaid on time) will be taxed as ordinary income and may be subject to a 10% federal tax penalty if you are under age 59½. The tax penalty does not apply to 457(b) plan accounts. Loans are available on employee elective deferrals only.  

RO 2767020 (03/2023)