TRS 90-Day Retirement Timeline — Paperwork, Employer Certification, and Effective Date

The 90 Days That Decide When Your First Check Arrives

Once you are within 90 days of your planned retirement date, the paperwork clock is running. Every form, every employer certification, and your effective date selection must align for TRS to process your first annuity payment on time. Miss one step or file one form late, and your first check slides to the next month — or later.

Here is the sequence, working backward from your effective retirement date.

Choosing Your Effective Retirement Date

TRS service retirement benefits take effect on the last day of a calendar month. You cannot select a mid-month effective date. Generally, you must end TRS-covered employment by that date. For a May 31 retirement, a school-year contract may allow you to work through June 15; you cannot return to TRS-covered employment before August 1.

You may select the last day of the month your application is received or either of the two preceding month-ends, provided you ended covered employment by the selected effective date. TRS must receive Form TRS 30 by the last day of the second calendar month after the effective month. For example, an application received June 3 may still select May 31 if you had ended covered employment by May 31.

For teachers on standard academic-year contracts, the two most common effective dates are May 31 and June 30. May 31 starts your pension a month earlier but means your final district paycheck and your first TRS annuity payment may overlap or create a brief income gap depending on your district's pay schedule. June 30 gives a cleaner separation — your summer pay runs out, then TRS picks up — but delays your first pension payment by a month.

90 Days Out: File Form TRS 30

Submit your Form TRS 30 (Application for Service Retirement) through MyTRS or by mail. The form locks in your intended retirement date, your selected annuity option (Standard, Options 1–5), and your PLSO election if applicable. TRS must receive it no later than the last day of the second calendar month after your selected effective month.

Key fields to get right on the first submission:

• Effective date: Must be the last day of a month, with covered employment ended by that date (subject to the May 31 school-contract exception)
• Annuity option: Standard Annuity, Joint & Survivor (Options 1, 2, or 5), or Guaranteed Period (Options 3 or 4)
• PLSO election: 12, 24, or 36 months if eligible — plus rollover vs. cash distribution instructions
• Beneficiary: Must match your option selection (Joint & Survivor options require a single named beneficiary)

You can generally change your option election or cancel before TRS issues the first payment. After payment begins, changes are limited to circumstances allowed by TRS rules.

60 Days Out: Companion Forms

File these alongside or shortly after Form TRS 30:

Form TRS 15 (Designation of Beneficiary). Names your primary and contingent beneficiaries. Must align with your annuity option — if you selected Option 1, the named beneficiary on Form TRS 15 is who receives 100% of your reduced annuity after your death.

Form W-4P or TRS tax portal election. Sets your federal income tax withholding on monthly annuity payments. Texas has no state income tax, so this is federal only. If you skip it, TRS applies the default IRS withholding table, which may withhold more or less than you want.

Direct deposit authorization. Ensures your payments arrive electronically rather than by paper check. Paper checks add days of mail delay to an already tight timeline.

30 Days Out: Employer Certification

Your employer must execute Form TRS 7 (Notice of Final Deposit and Expected Date of Final Payment) immediately after your last paycheck. This form certifies your final working day, your final creditable salary, and that all payroll contributions have been submitted to TRS.

You do not file this form — your district's payroll or HR office does. But you need to make sure it happens. Contact your payroll department at least 30 days before your retirement date to confirm they know your last day and will submit Form TRS 7 promptly. If your district is slow with this form, TRS cannot finalize your benefit calculation, and your first payment gets delayed.

For members purchasing service credit with unused state sick or personal leave, your employer must complete Form TRS 587 (Certification of Unused State Sick and/or Personal Leave) and return it to you to submit to TRS. TRS accepts the form only within 30 days before retirement. At least 10 years of TRS service and 50 days or 400 hours of qualifying leave are required. TRS sets the purchase cost using actuarial present value, and this credit cannot be used to establish retirement eligibility.

Your Effective Date: Termination and the Break Begins

On your retirement effective date, you are officially separated from TRS-covered employment, subject to the May 31 school-contract exception described above. The mandatory one-calendar-month break generally starts the following day. If you retire effective May 31 under that exception, you may work through June 15 but cannot return to TRS-covered employment before August 1.

First Payment: Last Business Day of the Following Month

If everything is filed and processed on time, TRS issues your first monthly annuity payment on the last business day of the calendar month following your effective retirement date. Effective date May 31 → first payment arrives the last business day of June. Effective date June 30 → first payment arrives the last business day of July.

If TRS is still waiting on your employer's Form TRS 7, on a pending service credit purchase, or on a QDRO resolution, the first payment can be delayed further. If a May 31 or June 30 retiree is paid salary through August, the first payment may not be released until early September. When a payment is delayed, TRS pays amounts due back to the effective retirement date.

Any PLSO lump-sum distribution you elected is processed alongside the first monthly payment.

What Delays the Timeline

The three most common delay causes:

1. Late Form TRS 7 from the employer. Districts processing summer departures sometimes take weeks to submit final payroll certification.
2. Pending service credit purchases. All service credit payments must clear before TRS can finalize the benefit calculation. A purchase payment still in processing on your effective date holds up everything.
3. Unresolved QDRO. If TRS has a pending domestic relations order on your record that has not been qualified, the entire claim pauses until TRS legal clears it.

The Texas TRS Retirement Guide includes a month-by-month paperwork calendar covering the full 12-month timeline, with the specific forms due at each stage and coordination steps with your employer's HR office.

See more Texas guides →