Payroll FAQs

Plan Service Center (PSC) is a payroll remittance portal offered by Empower (MSRS Plan recordkeeper). PSC is secure payroll administration website available to designated employer contacts to remit employee MNDCP and HCSP contributions.

Please refer to the Payroll Quick User Guide (pdf) for detailed instructions on how to remit your employee contributions to the MNDCP and/or HCSP.

The reports function is used to download the weekly MNDCP Deferral Rate Feedback Report. The Deferral Rate Feedback Report contains all contribution stops, starts, and changes that have been initiated by your employees. Only your employees will display on a Deferral Rate Feedback Report.

Designated employer contacts will receive an e-mail notification (from techsupport@retirementpartner.com) whenever a new Deferral Rate Feedback Report is available. However, sometimes the e-mail notification is blocked by network firewalls or identified as SPAM. We encourage employer contacts to log into PSC periodically to view any available Deferral Rate Feedback Reports.

To access the Deferral Rate Feedback Report:

1. Select Reports
2. Select My Reports
3. Select the desired report from the list displayed; select View
4. Use the data from the report to make updates to employee's MNDCP contribution amount.

We require information for designated employer contacts in order to provide access to the payroll remittance applications within the Empower Plan Service Center (PSC) website.

Contact information is also used to resolve any payroll issues that arise in the day to day administration of the plans.

Anytime there is a change to an employer's personnel contact information (e.g., an employee has separated from service), it is important that MSRS is notified as soon as possible so we can update/delete their access. To do that, please complete the PSC Authorization form (pdf) and return to MSRS at payroll.support@msrs.us.

Designated employer contacts initially will receive two emails from security@retirementpartner.com.

The first email will include a username and link to the website.
The second email will include a temporary password.

Then, an employer contact will follow the registration process to create their own unique username and password

• Usernames and passwords are case sensitive
• Usernames must be at least 7 characters and can contain numbers, letters and special characters.
• Passwords must be between 8-64 characters and contain at least three of the following character sets:  lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, special characters @ $ ! # % * ? & + . _ -
• Users who forget their password can reset their passwords online via the Login Help function.

Questions about PSC access or password help?

Contact MSRS Payroll Support at 1-800-657-5757, extension 7729

• Enhanced Security Users will be prompted to confirm their identity upon initial login by having a verification code sent to their email address on file. A new user can also add alternate contact information for future logins, create a new password and update their username.
  
  The site offers a "Remember this device" feature within the new login process. When a user selects this option, they will not be required to go through the multifactor authentication process to login for 90 days for that browser. Rather, they will be able to login by just entering their username and password.

No. Each employer will only be able to access information regarding employees for whom they submit contributions.

Payroll contribution files are remitted within the Plan Service Center (PSC) website. Designated employer contacts are able to remit payroll contribution files in three ways:

1. Import a file with contribution amounts from CSV or fixed length files (txt or any other extension that is treated as such). Select Upload Payroll File under the "Payroll" drop down in the left navigation menu.
2. Manually enter contribution amounts for each employee. Select Enter Payroll under the "Payroll" drop down in the left navigation menu.
3. Copy a prior contribution file and make changes.Select Enter Payroll under the "Payroll" drop down in the left navigation menu.

Once the contribution file is submitted in PSC, the application will perform a real-time edit against the existing population and immediately informs of any data issues that need to be resolved before the file can be processed. Once the data issues are resolved, PSC automatically loads the contribution file to the Empower recordkeeping system. If a contribution file is submitted by 12:00 a.m. (midnight) Central Time and the funding method is ACH Debit, the file will post to participants accounts the following business day.

Employers can only add new HCSP employees. In PSC under the "Participants" drop down in the left navigation menu, Select Search Employee

Employers should not add new MNDCP employees. An employee who wants to enroll in the MNDCP must complete a MNDCP Participant Enrollment form (pdf).

Using bank account information employers provide, PSC automatically initiates an ACH debit from the employer's designated bank account for the exact amount of the submitted payroll contribution file. This eliminates any delay in processing the file that would otherwise result from a manual transfer of funds from the employer.

No. In order to keep contribution data accurate and consistent, MSRS houses all contribution rate information within the Empower recordkeeping system; therefore, MNDCP contribution rate changes should be made by the participants through one of three options:

1. The MSRS website
2. The Automated Voice Response System (AVR)
3. By contacting the MSRS Call Center

Empower will feed the updates to the employer through a Deferral Rate Feedback Report. This method keeps all contribution rates consistent between Empower and the employers.

Exception: Employers should continue to accept any severance payouts.
 

Click here (pdf) for more information on the Deferral Rate Feedback process.

Designated employer contacts will receive an email notification whenever a Deferral Rate Feedback Report is available. The Deferral Rate Feedback Report contains all MNDCP pre-tax and/or Roth after-tax contribution rate stops, starts and changes initiated by plan participants to MSRS.

The Reports tab within the PSC website is used by designated employer payroll contacts to download the weekly Deferral Rate Feedback Report.

Tip: Sometimes the email notification is blocked by network firewalls or identified as SPAM. We encourage employers to log into PSC weekly to view any available reports. The report should be downloaded to ensure that employee initiated changes to MNDCP contribution rates become effective within the next available payroll period.

Refer to the User Guide (pdf) for detailed instructions in how to download a Deferral Rate Feedback Report.

PSC is intended to be used by all recent versions of popular web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari & Chrome. Other less popular or older versions of web browsers may also work.

For this site to function properly, java script must be enabled.

If an employee is not already a participant in the HCSP, they must be added in order to remit their contribution amount.

Please follow the steps found in the user guide (pdf) on how to add a new employee in PSC. Demographic updates may be made once an employee is in the Empower recordkeeping system.

The salary information provided should be based on the previous tax year so that it is a meaningful number to the employee. The salary information is used to provide additional services to employees.

If the employee is hourly it would be best to enter zero until the current year compensation is known. Any amount entered would be a guess until then and may create confusion for the employee. If the employee is salaried, then enter that amount.

Yes. PSC allows contributions up to the combined 457(b) limit plus catch-up for employees that are eligible.

Both the match amount and the employee contribution amount are entered as one lump sum. Employers should enter the combined amount for each employee though PSC.

Important: According to federal regulations, a MNDCP Roth account cannot accept matching contributions; therefore, employer matching contributions must be deposited as a pre-tax contribution. Roth contributions can be included in a matching formula but actual matching contributions must be deposited in the employee's MNDCP pre-tax account.

Yes, the employee will reflect in PSC as soon as MSRS receives a properly completed enrollment form and adds the employee to the Empower recordkeeping system. If processing a contribution file from scratch the new employee will be listed. If copying a prior payroll file the participant will need to be added to the batch.

Contributions for the HCSP are processed the same way as the MNDCP. Employers will select the HCSP in PSC and enter contributions for each employee into the 'Active' or 'Severance/Eligible for Reimbursement' contribution sources as appropriate.