(1) All reporting agencies shall submit required employer reports, other than working retiree reports required by ARM 2.43.506, no later than five working days after each regularly occurring payday. Each report must be accompanied by statutorily required employer and employee contributions to the retirement system.

(a) Beginning July 1, 2003 , reporting agencies shall use the MPERA's online web-based reporting system and shall remit payment via automated clearing house (ACH) .

(b) If the reporting agency does not have access to the internet, the employer reports may be either hard-copy or electronic, but must be in the format provided by the MPERA, and must be accompanied by the payment.

(2) The report must be in alphabetical order by last name and contain for each employee, including any state or local elected official who is an active member of PERS:

(a) social security number;

(b) last and first name;

(c) salary;

(d) regular contributions;

(e) additional contributions if any;

(f) the actual hours for which the employee received compensation; and

(g) each employee who terminated during the pay period being reported.

(3) Reporting agencies of the Montana university system (MUS) shall report employees in PERS covered positions who elect the MUS optional retirement program (ORP) . The MUS ORP report must include all information required in (2) . At the same time, reporting agencies of the MUS shall transmit amounts equal to the statutorily required plan choice rate and the education fund rate for those employees.

(4) Reporting errors affecting defined benefit plan members may be corrected on subsequent pay period reports via a letter of explanation that must include all salary and service documentation for the reported error and the affected time period. The MPERA will then notify the reporting agency of the necessary action, including contributions and interest due.

(5) Reporting errors affecting PERS members who elect the PERS defined contribution retirement plan (DCRP) will be corrected as follows:

(a) Corrections increasing a contribution will be credited to the participant's individual account within the timeframe established in ARM 2.43.1031 and will not be retroactive.

(b) Corrections reducing a contribution will decrease the participant's individual account.

(i) The DCRP recordkeeper will recover the incorrect contribution from the participant's individual account and submit a refund to the MPERA.

(ii) The MPERA will submit the refund to the reporting agency.

(iii) It is the reporting agency's responsibility to correct payroll records and submit the refund to the DCRP participant.

(6) Corrections reducing an employee's contribution cannot be accepted if the employee has received a refund.