*
*

“ FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD

*
*
*
*
‘

as 77K Street, NE Washington, DC 20002

HRIFT SAVINGS PLAN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2012

FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD ANNOUNCES
THE LAUNCH DATE FOR NEW ROTH TSP OPTION

Washington, D.C. -- The Federal Retirement Thrift
Investment Board announced today at its quarterly inter-
agency meeting of Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) coordinators
that May 7, 2012 will be the day that the TSP will begin to
accept Roth TSP contributions. The Roth TSP was authorized
by the Thrift Savings Plan Enhancement Act of 2009, which
was enacted on June 22, 2009, and will allow Federal
civilian employees and members of the uniformed services to
contribute after-tax dollars into the TSP for the first
time. Both the contributions and their earnings will be
tax-free when withdrawn, as long as IRS requirements are
met.

According to Greg Long, Executive Director of the Agency,
“the Roth TSP option offers an important new tool for
Federal civilian employees and uniformed service members in
managing their retirement income by providing greater
flexibility in the tax treatment of contributions now and
in the future.” Long noted that the Agency will continue
to provide participants and agencies with educational
materials to help them understand this new option but, as
with all tax matters, participants should seek the advice
of their qualified tax or financial advisers for answers to
questions pertaining to their specific tax situation.

The Agency has been sharing Roth TSP planning bulletins
with agency and service payroll and personnel
representatives since December 2010 to provide them with
the information they require to be able to program their
Payroll systems to accept and transmit pre-tax and after-
tax money. The Agency is aware that not all agencies or
services have completed the technical and programmatic
modifications of their payroll systems required to


implement Roth TSP. These agencies or services will
require additional time to modify their payroll systems and
will be able to begin participation in Roth as soon after
May 5, 2012 as they are able.

With the addition of the Roth TSP option, participants can
choose to invest pre-tax or after-tax dollars in any of the
TSP funds, up to the Internal Revenue Code limits. TSP
participants can currently invest in ten different funds:
the five Lifecycle (L) Funds, the Government Securities (G)
Fund, and the four broadly diversified stock and bond funds
- the Fixed Income Index Investment (F) Fund, the Common
Stock Index Investment (C) Fund, the Small Capitalization
Index Investment (S) Fund, the International Stock Index
Investment (I) Fund.

The TSP is a retirement savings plan for Federal employees;
it is similar to the 401(k) plans offered by many private
employers. As of March 2012, TSP assets totaled
approximately $308 billion, and retirement savings accounts
were being maintained for roughly 4.5 million TSP
participants. Participants include Federal civilian
employees in all branches of Government, employees of the
U.S. Postal Service, and members of the uniformed services.
Additional information can be found at www.tsp.gov.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Kim Weaver
202-942-1640

(end)