Contribution Calculator
Step 1 - Setup
Plan year:
Pay Agency:
BRS or Non-BRS
FERS or CSRS
(determines if you get 5% match)
Step 2 - LES
Pay Period
End Date:
Reg Pay x80:
$
Contributions YTD:
Traditional:
$
Roth:
$
Total:
$0
Contributions This Pay Period:
Traditional:
$
or
%
Roth:
$
or
%
Total:
$0
Step 3 - Goals
Combined year-end goal:
$
2024 Limit: $23,000. 2025 Limit: $23,500
Pay period min/max contribution
Pay PeriodPP Maximum:
$
Pay PeriodPP Minimum:
$
5% 6%
Step-Up/Step-Down (optional)
Number of Steps
Step Size
Flat
Step 4 - Contribution Table Step 4 - Contribution Table Step 4 - Contribution Table Step 4 - Contribution Table
PP # PP Start Date PP End Date Pay Date Contribution Running Total
Load from Account
Save to Account
Save/Load For $19.99/year
Contribution Graph
Additional Information

Contribution Calculator Instructions

1. Select what year you are planning.
2. Select your payroll agency. This will tell the calculator what your pay cycle is.
3. Select the pay period of the LES (or ELS) that you are entering information from. The calculator will assume you are looking at your most recent LES unless told otherwise.
4. Enter your Base Pay for this LES. For civilians this will be something like "Regular Pay 80 $XXXX.XX". This will prefill the "minimum" and "maximum" contributions for any given pay period. But you can change these values.
5. Change your year-end goal if it is something other than the Elective Deferral Limit. Government contributions do not count toward the Elective Deferral Limit.

That's it!

Stepping (optional):
6. Choose how many steps you want. 1 is a single "Step" (You change your contribution once during the year).
7. Move the "Step Size" slider to the left or to the right. Left will frontload your contributions, right will backload them.

Manually changing contributions (optional):
8. Using the "Contributions Table", you may manually change your contributions to any value you choose.
9. Note the shortcuts "Min/Max/Copy". Min/Max copy their respective value from "Step 3". The "Copy" shortcut will copy the contribution from the prior pay period.

Other Information

The pay date is the deciding factor of what year your TSP contributions count towards. For example, if your last pay period ends in December, but pays in January, then that TSP contribution is considered to fall in January's tax year. This calculator is programmed to account for this.

The calculator assumes your minimum contribution is 6%. You only need to contribute 5% in order to get the match. But if you plan a year-end contribution based on 5% of your current pay, and then get a raise, you will miss out on gov matching. Using 6% of your current salary will cover for step increases and promotions.

The old-school way of changing your TSP contribution is to fill out form TSP-1 and submit it to your agency. However, most federal payroll agencies (if not all), now allow you to make this change online. See below.

This calculator is free to use and print. If you subscribe to TSPcalc for $19.99/year, you can save your plan to your account for easy access.

DFAS - Civilian

Payroll Processor: Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS)
Payroll Software: MyPay
Payroll Sample LES: Click Here
TSP Election Software: EBIS, DLA link Navy/MC link
TSP Election Effective: Next pay period.

Change your TSP contribution via EBIS. Changes made via EBIS will take effect for the next pay period. For example, if you make a TSP election during pay period 20, it will become effective when pay period 21 starts. Therefore, your first paycheck to show the new election will be the check for pay period 21.

DFAS - Military

Payroll Processor: Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS)
Payroll Software: MyPay

TSP Election Software: MyPay
TSP Election Effective: Next pay period. (next month)

Change your TSP contribution via MyPay. Changes made via MyPay will take effect for the next pay period (the next month). For example, if you make a TSP election during February, it will become effective for March. Therefore, your first paycheck to show the new election will be the check on April 1st.

GSA

Payroll Processor: Government Services Administration (GSA)
Payroll Software: Employee Express (EEX)
Payroll Calendars: Click here
Payroll Sample ELS: Click here
TSP Election Software: ????
TSP Election Effective: ????

Change your TSP contribution via ???? (is it Employee Express? Not sure).

NFC

Payroll Processor: National Finance Center (NFC)
Payroll Software: MyEPP
Payroll Calendars: Click here
Payroll Sample SEL: Click here
TSP Election Software: MyEPP
TSP Election Effective: Current pay period.

Change your TSP contribution via MyEpp. Changes made via Employee Express will take effect for the current pay period. For example, if you make a TSP election during pay period 20, it will become effective immediately. Therefore, your first paycheck to show the new election will be the check for pay period 20.

Internal Business Center (IBC)

Payroll Processor: Internal Business Center (IBC)
Payroll Software: ????
Payroll Calendars: Click here<
Payroll Sample ELS: Click here
TSP Election Software: ????
TSP Election Effective: ????

I don't know what software is used by the IBC. I also don't know when elections become effective. Please send me an email at admin@tspcalc.com if you know. Thanks.

USPS

Payroll Processor: USPS
Payroll Software: LiteBlue
Payroll Calendars: Click Here

TSP Election Software: LiteBlue
TSP Election Effective: ????

Change your TSP contribution via Liteblue. Changes made via Employee Express will take effect for the ???? pay period.

 

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