Frequently Asked Questions

Each year, the annual report is due to STRS Ohio by the first Friday in August. Specific instructions for completing the annual reporting process will be available on the employer website in June. No extensions will be granted to the deadline. Employers are asked to anticipate and address issues that could cause problems, such as changing payroll systems or the absence of key personnel.

To check the submission status of your report, please log in to ESS and select “Employer Reports” in the banner menu at the top of the home page. On the Employer Reports screen, select “Annual” in the Report Source column. If “Submitted” or “Complete” appear in the Report Status column, STRS Ohio has received your report. (Reports listed in “Initial” status have not yet been submitted using ESS.) If you cannot find the annual report in your list of work reports, contact [email protected] to be granted access.

You can submit your annual report via ESS or secure file upload. To change the submission method, call STRS Ohio toll-free at 888‑535‑4050 or send an email to Employer Reporting.

Yes. In the event STRS Ohio does not receive your report or technical problems arise, you will be asked to resubmit it.

STRS Ohio compares the total member contributions to fiscal year payroll reports to ensure contributions reported in the annual report agree with payroll reports. We also check service credit. If there are discrepancies, we will contact you.

For STRS Ohio to properly pay benefits for all members, we need to know the amount of compensation and service credit each member earns during the fiscal year. Payroll report information is based on paid compensation during the pay period. However, a member’s retirement benefit is based on compensation earned, not paid, during the fiscal year. STRS Ohio currently uses the annual report as a tool for balancing paid compensation to earned compensation. The annual report also provides earned service credit. Therefore, annual reports are necessary to give us the extra information we need.

This information can be found on your Employer Detail Listing, which is sent to employers every year starting in October. An electronic copy is located in the Documents section of ESS.

Yes, you should still submit your report even if some member contributions do not match payroll reports. STRS Ohio will identify these members and contact you for a resolution. STRS Ohio may also make minor corrections to your annual report based on payroll reports, withdrawal applications or deposit and service report information received.

The answer is based on whether or not you have submitted your report.

If you have not submitted your report:

Check to see if the problem can be corrected through your payroll system or Information Technology Center (ITC).

If the problem can be corrected, correct your annual report as needed before submitting it to STRS Ohio.

If the problem cannot be corrected, submit a written explanation via letter or email detailing the corrections for each member affected. All corrections must include:

• Member name and Social Security number;
• Contribution amounts reported in your annual report (total and accrued);
• Corrected contribution amount and difference;
• Service credit reported in your annual report (if applicable); and
• Corrected service credit (if applicable).

If you have submitted your report:

You can submit corrections via letter or email. All corrections must include:

• Member name and Social Security number;
• Contribution amounts reported in your annual report (total and accrued);
• Corrected contribution amount and difference;
• Service credit reported in your annual report (if applicable); and
• Corrected service credit (if applicable).

STRS Ohio can provide a list of current contributions and service credit upon request.

Corrections processed outside of payroll require additional contributions. These corrections cannot be processed until STRS Ohio receives the contributions. Contributions for a prior fiscal year may be assessed interest.

If your entire report is incorrect, please contact STRS Ohio regarding resubmission. When in doubt, call the Employer Reporting Department toll-free at 888‑535‑4050.

To calculate total contributions for each member, multiply the total amount of compensation earned during the fiscal year by the contribution rate in effect at the time the money was earned.

Example: A teacher with a nine-month contract is paid $42,000 over 12 months for work performed September through June. Total contributions due to STRS Ohio for the fiscal year are $5,880 ($42,000 x 14% = $5,880).

Accrued contributions are contributions on compensation earned by June 30 but not paid until July or August of the next fiscal year. Sometimes employers refer to accrued contributions as summer stretch pay or advance. Keep in mind, other types of payments made in July and August that are earned in the prior fiscal year, such as a late time card or a TIF payment, can also be accrued.

To calculate accrued contributions, determine the amount of compensation that was earned by June 30 but not paid until July and August. Then multiply this amount by the contribution rate in effect at the time the money was earned.

Example: A teacher has a contract for $45,000 for nine months of work from September to June. Her work is completed by mid-June, but she is paid over 12 months. By the end of June, she has been paid $37,500, and the remaining $7,500 will be paid to her during July and August. Total accrued contributions for this teacher for the fiscal year are $1,050 ($7,500 x 14% = $1,050).

Yes. Accrued contributions are part of the total contributions for each member. They are also listed separately to allow STRS Ohio to balance annual report figures to payrolls during the fiscal year.

Employers should refer to the Administrative Code Rule 3307:1-2-01 and the Service Credit Decision Tree when calculating service credit. STRS Ohio also has a service credit calculator on the employer website to assist you. The service credit earned for a full year should be reported as 1.00 for full credit. For partial credit, it should be reported as a percentage of full credit (e.g., 0.27, 0.62, 0.75).

For members on sabbatical or a partially paid leave, the compensation paid divided by annual contract should be used to determine the service credit earned. Example: $20,000 paid ÷ $50,000 contract = .40 of a year of service credit.

You must report service credit for each active member. Although reemployed retirees do not earn service credit, you must still report service credit as zero (0.00) for reemployed retirees — do not leave this field blank.

No. Service credit must be reported for each active member if contributions are greater than zero. Although reemployed retirees do not earn service credit, you must still report service credit as zero (0.00) — do not leave this field blank.

No. Negative contribution amounts or adjustments for a prior fiscal year cannot be included in the annual report. If an employee did not earn compensation during the fiscal year, report contributions as zero. If an employee worked a portion of the year before discontinuing employment, report contributions on compensation earned while he or she was employed.

Please provide supporting documentation via letter or email containing the fiscal year affected, correct amount of service credit and how it was calculated.

If accrued contribution amounts reported in the annual report do not match those marked as accrued on payroll reports, you will be asked to verify accrued contributions by completing an accrued verification report in ESS. This online report will list the total amount of accrued contributions reported through payroll, as well as the total accrued contribution amount reported in the annual report. To complete this report, click on the drop-down menu in the Accrued Indicator field to select the report that shows the correct amount of accrued contributions (either “Annual” or “Payroll”). If neither amount is correct, select “Neither” and indicate the correct amount of accrued contributions in the “Notes” field for that particular member. For step-by-step instructions, please refer to the online tutorial or ESS Instructions on our website.

Occasionally service credit reported in the annual report appears inconsistent with the contributions reported. When this occurs, STRS Ohio asks you to verify service credit by submitting a service credit verification report. If you are asked to submit this report, you must provide the number of days, hours or full-time equivalent by semester for each member listed in the report. Reports can be submitted on our website in ESS. By completing this report, you will eliminate requests for service credit verification when members retire. For step-by-step instructions on how to properly complete a service credit verification report, please refer to the online tutorial or the ESS Instructions on our website.