Still Time for TSP Catch-Ups

Federal employees who are 50 and older, plus those who will turn that age by the end of the calendar year, still have time to make catch-up contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan for calendar year 2004. Catch-up contribution elections need not be made during an open season, but they must be structured so that the amount is taken out in a single calendar year. With relatively few pay periods remaining in the year, investors wishing to make those contributions may need to act promptly. The maximum catch-up contribution is $3,000 this year. That figure will rise to $4,000 next year, but catch-up elections do not carry over from one year to the next. Thus, new elections will have to be made in 2005. Catch-ups are made by filing a form, the TSP-1-C, separate from regular investment elections.