Employer eReporting is an application developed for Employers to report payrolls. This application is a web application, meaning you will log in and access it through a link on the Employer Services website. You need a browser tool such as Internet Explorer (version 6.x), Netscape Navigator (version 7.x), or Mozilla Firefox (version 1.x).

If you have access to computer programming support, please contact that person and show them the file layouts . If you do not have any technical support, we are working on a second file format that we will support later for payroll systems that can export to Excel or a text file. When this second format is available, we will post more information here as well as in the Employer News newsletter. If you have a technical question regarding your current file export or changes required by the new file layout, please email or .

You may contact your assigned payroll contact at the email or telephone number listed on the employer contact page.

Watch the Employer Services home page for information, contact your employer's regional counselor, or email us at .

A payment option is now available for your use, it is titled "Other ACH." Employers who are currently paying their contributions utilizing an "external ACH" payment method (NOT the eReporting Electronic Payment option) should use the new payment option "Other ACH" and should no longer use the "No Payment" option. The "No Payment" option is now reserved for those transmissions that have no accompanying payment.

In order to use Employer eReporting effectively, you will need to ensure your workstations and Internet connectivity meet the minimum requirements listed below:

• A 56K Internet Connection (high-speed or broadband connectivity is recommended but not required)
• Internet Explorer (version 6.x)
• Netscape Navigator (version 7.x)
• Firefox (version 1.x) This is the preferred browser
• Screen resolution of 1024 x 768
• Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7.0.8

Validations for eReporting are still in progress. Checking ERS Validation Errors before you validate your payroll will let you know what is currently being checked. New validations will be added over time.

The Status field on the Control tab identifies the “Status” of the payroll selected or the processing stage.

There are four different status types or stages:

• IN PROCESS = still working on this payroll, it has not yet been validated, has been validated but has had changes since validation OR has been validated but failed with CRITICAL errors that MUST be corrected. CANNOT be and IS NOT submitted.
• VALIDATING = this payroll is being validated, stand by; other users cannot make/save changes while this payroll is being validated. You can create or work on another payroll while this payroll is being validated.
• VALIDATED NO ERRORS = this payroll can be submitted. There are no warning or critical errors.
• VALIDATED WITH WARNING = this payroll can be submitted, however, there are warnings. You should always review these warnings as they may cause critical errors when the Division begins processing this payroll.

The policy affects all members of the Public Employees’, Teachers’, Judicial and Elected Public Officer’s Defined Benefit Retirement Plans who retire or are reemployed effective January 1, 2018.

In 2016 the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department released proposed regulations setting a normal retirement age of 62 years old. Although the proposed regulations have not been finalized, governmental plan sponsors may rely on them until the issuance of final regulations. The Division has conferred with its outside tax counsel and confirmed that to avoid potential early distribution tax penalties for our members and to avoid a risk of disqualification of our plans, retirees must clearly demonstrate a valid severance from employment with the participating employer before returning to any type of employment with the same employer.

While the Division of Retirement and Benefits (DRB) has required a minimum 30-60 day break-in-service period since 2005, the establishment of a federal normal retirement age of 62 to determine when an employee receives an in-service distribution has required a new policy to be adopted. The new policy follows the IRS guidelines for break in service duration and prevents tax penalties from being levied against our retirees.

A valid termination has always been a requirement for retirement benefits to be effective. However, the IRS has issued guidelines for what constitutes a valid termination. For a valid termination of employment to have occurred there must be no prearrangement for reemployment prior to the member’s retirement date. In addition, members under age 62 must observe a six month break in service before reemployment in any capacity can occur with the same employer. Members age 62 or older must observe a 60 day break in service before reemployment in any capacity with the same employer.

Retiring members must certify on their retirement application, under penalty of fraud, that no prearrangement for employment exists.

Yes. Clarification received from tax counsel indicates the summer break period can be used when calculating the number of months from the member’s retirement date to satisfy the break in service requirements for retirees from school district employers. For example, a teacher retiring on July 1 who is under age 62 would be able to return to non-TRS employment with the same employer on January 1st. A teacher retiring on July 1 who is age 62 or older would be able to return to non-TRS employment with the same employer on September 1st.

Reemployment in any capacity includes but is not limited to employment as a part-time, temporary, contract, or leased employee or as an independent contractor or any fee-for-service arrangement.

The requirement for no prearrangement for reemployment has been in effect since 2005. If an employee does not sever the employer-employee relationship by having a break in service of 60 days before returning to employment, their termination of employment date is considered invalid and they are not eligible for retirement benefits.

The extended requirements for a break-in-service equaling six (6) months will become effective when the regulations have been adopted. This is estimated to be by January 1, 2018.

As previously stated, the requirement for a valid termination is currently in effect. The increased break-in-service requirement of six (6) months for members under age 62 will be applied to retirees rehired after January 1, 2018.

The Division will administer the regulations prospectively for retirees rehired after the effective date and no retroactive action will be taken. However, the returned retiree is still subject to the requirement for a bona fide separation from service before receiving a retirement benefit. Should an IRS review of the retiree occur, a facts and circumstances review may be done and a final determination will be made by the IRS.

A retiree who returns to work with the same employer, without the required separation of service period, would have a violation of the return to work limitation regardless of whether the retiree was returning to work in a full-time, part-time or temporary position, or if the retiree is returning as a leased employer or an independent contractor.

Yes. The policy applies to all employment with the employer and would include substitute teaching on an on-call or incidental basis.

Yes. There is a “window of correction” period for correcting ineligible hires. The employer must determine if a retiree is eligible for rehire before the hire is made. If it is later discovered the employee is not eligible, the employer may make corrections and back the hire out of their system during the first pay period. Members who are still employed after the first pay period who have not served the break in service requirements will be deemed to be in violation or the rehire policy.

The Division will first do a facts and circumstances review to determine if a prearrangement for reemployment was made prior to the member’s retirement date. This will require certification from the employer to the facts and circumstances of rehire.

If a prearrangement for rehire was in effect, the member will be deemed to not have had a valid termination of employment and must repay the Division the full amount of retirement benefits received since the effective date of their retirement.

If no prearrangement for rehire was in effect and the member is under age 62, the Division will be required to code the member’s retirement benefits retroactively to date of retirement (or to January 1, 2018 whichever is later) as an early distribution and a 10% tax penalty will be levied by the IRS for an early distribution of retirement benefits. Retirement benefits will be stopped as of the date of re-hire.

No. The key to this requirement is whether the employee/employer relationship has been severed, not what retirement plan the member participates in. An employee must still observe the six (6) month break-in-service period before rehire with the same employer. The fact that the employee would be a member of a different retirement system before and after the return to work is irrelevant to the requirement.

Yes. In order for the IRS to consider an employee to be “retired,” the IRS requires an employee to have a bona fide separation from service with the employee’s employer. Therefore, based upon this example, a State PERS employee could retire on July 1 and immediately commence non-covered employment with a local government, even though the local government also is a PERS employer. The requirements refer to employment with the same employer only.

No. A State PERS employee could not retire from one department of the State and then begin work with another department of the State without fulfilling the six (6) month break in service. The reason for this is because all departments and branches of the State are considered to be part of the same employer – e.g. the State of Alaska.

The requirements for bona fide termination apply to both PERS/TRS defined benefit and defined contribution plans. There can be no pre-arrangement for reemployment with the same employer prior to termination of employment. If a PERS/TRS DCR Plan member terminates employment and withdraws their funds, they will automatically pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty if they are under age 59 ½ per the defined contribution plan rules. PERS/TRS DCR Plan members must be terminated from employment for 60 days before their funds can be disbursed as part of the current plan rules.

To protect the prospective employee, you can tell them that if they are a retiree and have been for less than six months to contact the Division of Retirement and Benefits to be sure they can accept employment without consequence. As the employer, your responsibility is to not have a prearrangement for retirement and to caution prospective employees about the rehire rules. Employers may also contact the division to determine eligibility for rehire. Most employer payroll staff should be aware of their own employees who have recently retired and are now back to work with the same employer.

No. Since they have only changed retirement systems and have not terminated employment with the employer, they will not be able to draw their PERS benefits while continuing employment. They will be eligible to draw your PERS benefits only when they actually terminate employment.

You need to immediately notify our Pension Adjustments section in the Division of Retirement and Benefits. If we are notified in a timely manner, we can prevent overpayment of benefits.

If this is a temporary (nonpermanent) position in which you are not making contributions or accruing PERS service, you are not required to notify us. You will continue to receive your retirement benefit as before.

If you come back to work, you will not lose your tier. If you return to work in a permanent full-time or part-time position in the PERS, you will accrue service under your original tier.

If you to return to work in a permanent full-time or part-time position in the PERS:

• Your retirement benefit will stop during your reemployment
• You will make contributions to PERS once again
• You will accrue PERS service toward a second retirement benefit

If you retired under a RIP, your retirement will be recalculated to exclude your RIP credit and you will owe the PERS 110% or 150% of the benefits you received as a result of the program, including any costs for health insurance.

An indebtedness will be established for what you owe and will be reduced by the amount that you paid to participate in the RIP.

There are some exceptions for RIP retirees, but they are very specific and narrowly defined.

BEARS stands for "BEnefits And Retirement System."

The BEARS launch has been delayed. We will post the new go-live date when it has been determined.

Once BEARS is launched, eReporting will no longer be supported. A hard cutover date will be set for all employers.

One of the key changes in BEARS is that each Employer Representative or Authorized Signer will be able to assign and update their own employer contacts directly in the Employer Self-Service Portal (ESS) without needing assistance from the DRB. The only contact types requiring DRB approval are the Authorized Signer and Employer Representative.

Employers will not have the option to clone a previously submitted personnel file. Since personnel files are only submitted during new enrollments or when demographic or employment data/events change, employers must provide personnel data either by importing a file or manually entering the information.

Payroll files can be submitted by importing a file, cloning a previous payroll, or manually entering data. If you have more than 20 employees, it is highly recommended that you import both your personnel and payroll files for efficiency.

Each employer will need to log in, upload, and validate their files before submitting.

Submitting an incorrect BEARS code will result in a critical error that must be corrected before a personnel or payroll file can be submitted. This applies to manual input and import file submissions.

Several of these codes have been updated from previous file layout versions, making it essential for employers to review and submit the correct codes on the personnel and payroll files.

For most employers, your Employer number will be your current PERS number. You will no longer have a separate employer number for each retirement system.

Each Employer contact in BEARS will be required to log in using their own unique username, which will be their email address. BEARS will implement Multifactor Authentication (MFA) at login, which is why each user or contact must have a distinct login. The same email address cannot be used for multiple contacts to access the Employer Self-Service Portal.

Because MFA will be required, Employer contacts will no longer be able to share logins and passwords. You could be held liable for any fraudulent activity, even if you did not submit the data, as all submissions will be tied to your individual login.

Yes, all employees can be reported in a single file for each retirement system they participate in (PERS, TRS, SBS, or DCP). Alternatively, you may choose to submit separate files for each retirement system.

Note: DCP will now be reported through BEARS rather than directly to Empower.

Yes, when submitting a change, all demographic and employment event information for the employee must be provided to ensure the system applies the updates to the correct account.

A changes-only file means you only submit employees on the personnel file that have a change to demographic data, employment data, or employment event.

Example: Address or marital status changes, transitions from part-time (PT) to full-time (FT), termination dates, leave without pay (LWP), etc.

Report only employees with changes, such as an address or marital status update, or a new personnel status or event requiring reporting. BEARS will process all submitted data, regardless of whether changes exist.

No. This requirement has been removed from the Personnel file layout for active employees. However, if a physical address is available in your payroll system, it can still be submitted to BEARS.

The Position Titles can be whatever you, as the employer, use to use to distinguish different groups of positions or specific roles. It can be simple, such as Teacher, Maintenance Technician, Maintenance Supervisor, Janitor, Accountant, Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director, Superintendent, Mayor, Human Resource Manager, Personnel Technician, or Payroll Supervisor. Alternatively, you can use the exact job title associate with each position description for more specificity.

An Appointment ID is a new concept for most employers. It applies when an employee holds more than one position with the same employer simultaneously, known as a Dual Appointment.

For example, an employee working as an on-call emergency worker (e.g., snow removal) who later takes on a permanent full-time position would have a dual appointment with the same employer. The first appointment (or earliest hire) should be reported using either a dash (-) or a zero (0), depending on the employer's preference. The second appointment should be reported as "1".

Please note, reporting an Appointment ID is not required for Political Subdivision Employers.

Service Level Percent represents the teaching contract percentage or the PERS Alternate Option employee contract/agreement under which the employee is hired for the school year.

• For TRS: Service Level Percent is the teaching contract percentage for the specific school year.
• For PERS: Alternate Option: Service Level Percent is based on the employee’s contract or agreement under PERS.

To be eligible for TRS or the Alternate Option, the service level percent must fall between 50% and 100%.

The percentage must be reported as a multiple of 10% (e.g., 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100%). For instance, if a contract specifies 68%, you would report the service level percent as 60%, not 68%. Percentages cannot be rounded up.

• Personnel Status is used to report whether an employee is Full-Time or Part-Time.
• Employment Status specifies the type or capacity of the employee’s role – for example, permanent, temporary, substitute teacher, intern etc.
• Employment Events are tied directly to service accrual and include actions such as HIRE, TERM, LWP, TSE, etc.

The Division is now requesting employment status codes to ensure employees receive all benefits they are entitled to. The key change from eReporting is the requirement to report an Employment Status for every employee, which will be linked to their Personnel Status of Full time or Part-time.

For example, for a Permanent Employee (PE), you would report an Employment Status of “PE” and a Personnel Status of either Part-Time or Full-Time accordingly.

No. Employees who are not eligible for any retirement system should not be reported to DRB.

For PERS, SBS, or DCP, review your participation agreement(s) to determine an employee’s eligibility and only report employees who are eligible to participate in a retirement system. If you have questions or need a copy of your participation agreements, please contact your regional counselor.

For TRS, only report teachers with a valid teaching certificate. The exception is the 120-day rule: if a teacher has submitted a completed application that is pending approval with the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), then they can be reported to the TRS.

• PE - Permanent Employee: Must meet Alaska’s statutory requirements for Part-Time (PT) or Full-Time (FT) personnel status.
  • PT works a minimum of 15 hours per week
  • FT works a minimum of 30 hours per week
  • PERS, TRS, SBS, and DCP eligible, based on participation agreement
• LTNP - Long-Term Non-Permanent
  • Employment Status Reported by State of Alaska
  • Eligible for SBS and DCP
• STNP - Short-Term Non-Permanent Employee
  • Employment Status Reported by State of Alaska
  • Not eligible for PERS or DCP
  • Eligible for SBS
• TEMP - Temporary Employment: Employment Status Reported by Political Subdivision Employers
  • The position is for a limited duration and must have a defined start and end date, not exceeding two years
  • Classification is based on the position itself, not the employee filling it
  • Funding sources do not determine whether a position can be classified as temporary
  • Not eligible for PERS or DC
  • Eligible for SBS, based on participation agreement
• WKC - Workers Compensation
  • If the employee is PERS-eligible, report any hours worked while on worker's compensation (i.e. light duty)
  • Do not report worker’s compensation pay
• SUB - Substitute Teacher
  • Not eligible for PERS or TRS
  • SBS Eligible, based on participation agreement
• INTN - Student Intern/Student Teacher
  • Not eligible for PERS or DCP
  • SBS eligible, based on participation agreement
• ONCL - On-Call Employees
  • Employees who are available to report to work on an as needed basis
  • Not eligible for PERS
  • SBS eligible, based on participation agreement
• EMRG - Emergency Employees
  • Emergency Fire Fighter, Disaster Relief, etc.
  • Not eligible for PERS
  • SBS eligible, based on participation agreement

Please note, the difference between On-Call and EMRG is determined by how the employer classifies the position.

The new events that are available to report in BEARS are RTN2, MLWP, and CEXP.

• RTN2 (Return to Work): This event is reported when an employee returns to pay status after a period of leave.
• MLWP (Military Leave Without Pay): Report this event when an employee is called to Active Duty. Employees returning from Military Leave may have rights for employee and employer contributions to be reported to their retirement system, provided they meet the specific Federal requirements of the Uniform Military Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Employees must file a military claim (for Defined Benefit (DB) employees) or request a military buyback (for Defined Contribution Retirement (DCR) employees) with the DRB for contributions to be reported.
• CEXP (Certificate Expired): This event is reported when a teacher’s certificate has expired. It is typically entered by your Active Payroll contact but can also be reported by the School District using the certificate expiration date. BEARS will include specific validations for CEXP events.

• STAT is an Employment Event reported only when there is a change in employment status, such as an employee transitions from Part-time to Full Time or vice versa, or when there is a change in the employee’s Occupation Code or Service Percentage Level.
• RTN2 is an Employment Event used when an employee returns to pay status. This event replaces the STAT event previously reported when an employee resumed pay status.

For example, if an employee is on Leave Without Pay (LWP), Sabbatical (SAB), or Teacher Service End (TSE), and returns to pay status, you must report the Return-To-Work Employment Event. This event should be reported as the first day the employee returns to work.

MLWP (Military Leave Without Pay) is reported whenever an employee is called to Active Duty. Upon returning from Military Leave, employees have rights for employee and employer contributions to be reported to their respective retirement systems, provided they meet the specific Federal requirements of the Uniform Military Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA).

For a member to earn service for the time they were on military leave, the employee must notify the DRB and:

• File an active military claim if they are a Defined Benefit (DB) employee, or
• Request a military buyback of contributions if they are a Defined Contribution Retirement (DCR) employee through the DRB.

No. Only one pay period should be reported per payroll file.

• Pay Period End (PPE) dates: These are the end dates of your payroll cycle and must be reported consistently according to your pay schedule.
• Issue dates: These should reflect the actual date employees are paid.

The only exception for not reporting an expected PPE date based on your normal payroll cycle is end-of-school-year reporting for TRS. BEARS has provisions in place to accommodate this exception.

Yes. An Employer will have the option to submit employer contributions either as a lump sum or broken down into specific categories, such as Employer Match, Occupational Death and Disability (ODD), Retiree Medical Plan (RMP), Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), and Defined Benefit Unfunded Liability (DBUL). However, unlike eReporting, there will not be a “calculate all” button.

If employer contributions are submitted as a lump sum, you will enter the total employer contribution amount with the appropriate deduction code, and the system will automatically allocate it to the appropriate categories.

The Interface Run Date can be either the date the employer created the file for BEARS or submitted the file in BEARS.

The Division is currently developing a BEARS Employer Manual and will schedule training sessions as the launch date, or “Go Live” approaches. The Division is also working with the vendor to determine if Employers will have access to the Employer Self Service (ESS) test environment.

You can submit any questions about BEARS to

No. If you do not plan to import your personnel and payroll files in BEARS, then there is no need to develop comma-separated value (CVS) files in your system.

If you intend to manually import or clone previous payrolls, we recommend reviewing the BEARS code in the file layouts. Many of the codes currently submitted through eReporting are changing, and several new employment statuses and codes will be required that are not currently reported in eReporting.

The Division is working with the vendor to determine if Employers will have access to the Employer Self Service (ESS) test environment.

You can submit your files securely via Alaska ZendTo. When you are ready to submit your files, please email the BEARS communication queue at , and we will provide you the instructions for submitting your layouts for testing.

For detailed guidance, please use the following examples:

• Personnel Import File
• Payroll Import File

• Comma-Separated Values (CSV): A text file format that uses commas to separate values for each column.
• Incorrect Codes: Many of the personnel and payroll file reporting codes have changed from what is currently reported, so it’s essential to submit the correct codes in BEARS. Please carefully review the BEARS codes in both the Personnel and Payroll file layouts.
  Examples of Incorrect Codes:
  1. Name Prefix: Incorrect Code MRS; correct code MS
  2. Marital Status: Incorrect Code M; correct code MRRD
  3. Plan Code: Incorrect Code DCR; correct code DC
• Leading Zeros: Row headings must include leading zeros (e.g., 01, 02, 03, or 04) Instead of single digits (e.g., 1,2,3,4).
• Record Type Headers:
  • There should be no rows before record type 01
  • In the record type column, there should be no text before or after any record type number (01, 02, 03, 04)
• Blank Fields: If a value is not reported for a specific field, a comma must be used to indicate the blank field.
• Exact Column Count: Ensure the file layout contains the exact number of required columns for each record type.

  Personnel File Column Count				Payroll File Column Count
  Record Type Header		Number of Required Columns		Record Type Header		Number of Required Columns
  01		3		01		5
  02		35		02		12
  03		22		03		12
  04		7		04		10

• Employee Records Grouping:
  • Each employee’s records should be grouped together
  • Do not report a record type if there is no data for that record type

  Personnel File Record Grouping

  If Employee 2 does not have any Employment Event data to be reported, then Record Type 04 (Employment Events) should not be reported for that employee since there is no data to report.

  Personnel File Record Grouping
  Proper Record Type reporting					Improper Record Type reporting
  Employee		Record Type	Header Description		Employee		Record Type	Header Description
  		01	Header Information				01	Header Information
  Employee 1		02	Demographic		Employee 1		02	Demographic
  		03	Employment		Employee 2		02	Demographic
  		04	Employment Event		Employee 3		02	Demographic
  Employee 2		02	Demographic		Employee 1		03	Employment
  		03	Employment		Employee 2		03	Employment
  					Employee 3		03	Employment
  Employee 3		02	Demographic		Employee 1		04	Employment Event
  		03	Employment		Employee 2		04	Employment Event
  		04	Employment Event		Employee 3		04	Employment Event

  Payroll File Record Grouping

  If Employee 2 does not have any data such as Leave Without Pay hours or Part-time days or hours to report, then Record Type 04 (Service Information) should not be reported for that employee since there is no data to report.

  Payroll File Record Grouping
  Proper Record Type reporting					Improper Record Type reporting
  Employee		Record Type	Header Description		Employee		Record Type	Header Description
  		01	Header Information				01	Header Information
  Employee 1		02	Employment Earnings		Employee 1		02	Employment Earnings
  		03	Deduction Information		Employee 2		02	Employment Earnings
  		04	Service Information		Employee 3		02	Employment Earnings
  Employee 2		02	Employment Earnings		Employee 1		03	Deduction Information
  		03	Deducation Information		Employee 2		03	Deduction Information
  					Employee 3		03	Deduction Information
  Employee 3		02	Employment Earnings		Employee 1		04	Service Information
  		03	Deduction Information		Employee 2		04	Service Information
  		04	Service Information		Employee 3		04	Service Information

Yes. If errors are detected during file import, the file can be modified. An error log will be available for file layout issues, and validation errors will appear on the relevant personnel or payroll screens after files are imported, manually entered, or cloned. All validations will be visible to employers and must be resolved before personnel or payroll files can be submitted.