It has been brought to our attention that districts may be incorrectly reporting a negative amount in account K108 (Net Pension Asset – Proportionate share, Line 7b) on Supplemental Schedule SS-4 Statement of Non-Current Governmental Assets for Net Pension Assets.
The NYS Teacher’s Retirement System (TRS) letter regarding GASB 68 statement sent to your districts in December 2017 may not have been clear on how the net pension asset should be reported on the ST-3.
According to the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC), the net pension for the TRS is often a net pension ASSET instead of a liability. However, due to the use of parenthesis for the “net pension asset” in the NYSTRS letter, districts have been reporting a negative amount on line 7b, K108 indicating this as a liability whereas this is an ASSET account.
If your district reported a negative amount in K108 and you had a “net pension asset”, you will need to submit a revision in SAMS so that K108 is a positive amount.
Additionally, we have been receiving numerous inquiries with regards to SS-2 and SS-4 Net Pension and OPEB reporting (SS-2, Line 7, W683). We received clarification from OSC that schedule SS-2 is for reporting liabilities only (Line 6B, W638). Historically, this would be a NYS Employers Retirement System (ERS) amount as districts most commonly will have a liability balance.
SS-2 Line 7, W683 (OPEB liability) refers to the district’s liability as per your annual GASB 75 Statement for reporting of Other Postemployment Benefits.
Supplemental Schedule SS-4, line 7b, K108 is for reporting a district’s net pension assets. Historically, this would be pertinent to the NYS TRS pension total at year end.
In rare instances would the year end balances for ERS be an asset balance and the TRS balance be a liability. When reporting either balance, OSC has indicated that these totals for ERS and TRS should NOT be netted. Should your ERS and TRS balances both be liability balances, then the total of these liability balances would be reported on SS-2, Line 6B. Conversely, if both balances for ERS and TRS are asset balances, the total of these assets would be reported on Line 7B, K108. Asset and liability balances are not to be netted.
