(a) Except as provided under §31.2 of Chapter 31, Subchapter A, Part 3 of this Title, payroll reports and all member and employer deposits for a report month are due before the seventh day after the last day of the month. If the sixth day of the month falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the payroll reports and all member and employer deposits are due on the last business day before the sixth day of the month. The executive director shall establish the form and method to be used in reporting information regarding compensation and employment and such member and employer deposits as are due to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). School officials shall be notified of such regulations. Each employer that fails to remit all required member and employer contributions to TRS before the seventh day after the last day of the month shall pay to TRS penalty interest on the unpaid amounts in the amount provided in Section 825.408, Government Code. Effective with the employer reports due for the report month of January 2018, each employer that fails to attain a completed status on all required reports or fails to submit all documentation required by TRS before the seventh day after the last day of the month shall pay, in addition to any deposits and penalty interest owed, the late fee established in subsection (j) of this section for each business day that the report fails to attain a completed status.
(b) Each employer must report each month in a form prescribed by TRS information on the total amount of salary paid to employees eligible to participate in TRS from federal funds and/or private grants. Reporting districts must transmit to TRS the current state contribution rate of the monies paid as salary for those employees covered by TRS in addition to the amount transmitted for member contributions. If the maximum percentage legally provided for retirement purposes from the funds is less than the current state contribution rate, the employer shall transmit the amount provided and indicate by letter the name of the grant and the rate.
(c) Effective September 1, 2015, each employer must report each calendar month in a form prescribed by TRS, information regarding the persons it employs, the positions held, the time worked and the compensation paid, including the number of days and/or hours worked and the amount and type of salary paid to employees during that calendar month, including salary paid from federal funds and/or private grants. Employers must transmit to TRS the current state contribution rate of the monies paid as salary from federal funds and/or private grants for those employees covered by TRS in addition to the amount transmitted for member contributions and contributions required by §§825.405, 825.4034 and 825.4071, Government Code. If the maximum percentage legally provided for retirement purposes from the federal funds and/or private grants is less than the current state contribution rate, the employer shall transmit the amount provided and indicate by letter the name of the grant and the rate.
(d) Employees who have a qualified contract or an oral or written work agreement shall have information about the contract reported by each school district in a form prescribed by TRS.
  (1) A qualified contract is an employment agreement which meets the following criteria.
    (A) Service under the agreement must begin on or after July 1, but not later than August 31, of the same calendar year.
    (B) Service contemplated by the agreement must be for a definite period extending past August 31 of the same calendar year in which service under the agreement began, as evidenced by an enforceable legal obligation on the part of the employer to employ and to compensate the employee for such period.
    (C) Employees who can be terminated by the employer without the employer being obligated to pay a fixed amount stated in a contract are not included in the report.
  (2) Reports on contracts and oral or written work agreements with a beginning date in July should be submitted to TRS in the July report. Reports on contracts and oral or written work agreements with a beginning date in August should be filed with the August or September report.
(e) Any employer may ask the retirement system for a written statement on whether a particular form of compensation is salary and wages subject to member deposits under the law and rules governing the system. A request for such a statement should be submitted in writing to the retirement system together with any contracts, board minutes, briefs, memoranda, or other material relevant to the request.
(f) An employer paying amounts to a member pursuant to a settlement agreement must obtain a written determination from TRS that the amounts are creditable compensation before reporting such amounts to TRS as compensation. In the absence of the written determination from TRS, amounts paid pursuant to a settlement agreement are not creditable compensation for TRS purposes and will not be included in determining the amount of benefits payable by TRS. The requirement in this subsection to obtain a written determination from TRS before reporting amounts to TRS that are paid pursuant to a settlement agreement does not apply to normal amounts of compensation paid to the employee while the employee is on paid leave of any type, including paid administrative or emergency leave, pursuant to a settlement agreement.
(g) If due to a technological error, an employer does not report all service rendered and/or salary paid as required in subsection (a) of this section and the error regards service rendered and/or salary paid in the immediately preceding school year, the error may be corrected if the following requirements are met:
  (1) the person for whom contributions were due is currently employed by the employer and compensation for the current year remains due to the employee;
  (2) the employer requests a waiver of the reporting requirements under §825.408(a), Government Code and the request is granted by TRS;
  (3) the employer submits member contributions on the unreported amounts pursuant to §825.409, Government Code, from any remaining compensation due and any employer contributions due on the compensation are paid by the employer;
  (4) the employer pays the interest required by §825.408, Government Code and corrects the records for the report months in which the compensation was paid as directed by TRS; and
  (5) the error is corrected by the end of the school year following the school year in which the service was rendered and/or the compensation was paid. Upon receipt of the member and employer contributions and the corrected report(s), the service credit and/or compensation credit will be credited to the member. In no event may service or compensation credit be granted under this subsection for service rendered or compensation received in a school year prior to the immediately preceding school year.
(h) An employer must report each calendar month only compensation paid in that calendar month in accordance with normal pay periods for all employees. In no event may an employer include salary paid in a prior month or may an employer delay payment of salary that should have been paid in a prior month for the purpose of increasing the employee's annual compensation for benefit calculation purposes. If compensation should have been paid in a prior month but due to a technological or accounting error, the compensation was not reported in the report month that it was paid and the error occurred in the current school year, or if the employer is required by law to correct an error in payment that occurred during the current school year, the monthly report shall be adjusted in the manner prescribed by TRS.
(i) An employer may not pay an employee less than the amount owed in a calendar month for the purpose of extending the employee on payroll in order to receive a year of service credit or to establish eligibility for participation in health care benefits as provided in Chapter 1579, Insurance Code, Title 8, Subtitle H.
(j) Effective with the employer reports due for the report month of January 2018, employers that fail to remit all required reports and documentation or fail to attain a completed status for the report(s) as required in this section shall pay to TRS, in addition to the required deposits and any applicable penalty interest on unpaid amounts, the late fee established in this subsection for each business day that the report fails to attain a completed status. The late fees required to be paid are as follows:
  (1) For employers with fewer than 100 employees eligible for membership in TRS, the late fee for the first business day after the due date that the report fails to attain a completed status is $100. For each subsequent business day that the report fails to attain a completed status, the employer shall pay an additional $10.
Cont'd...