Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 27 - Personnel
Part 210 - PERS, Regulations for Retirement Plans Administered by the Board of Trustees
Chapter 54 - Administration of Retired Public Safety Officer Retirement Distribution for Health Insurance
Section 27-210-54-101 - Description of Tax Exclusion

Section 845 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 amends IRC §402 to allow an "eligible retired public safety officer" to make an election to exclude from federal gross income up to $3,000 of his or her retirement plan benefits if such amount is deducted from the retired member's benefit and paid directly by the retirement plan for health insurance or long term care insurance premiums. For this purpose, all eligible retirement plans must be treated as a single plan, i.e., a retiree gets only one $3,000 exclusion per calendar year.

The income exclusion is only available if and to the extent the retirement plan agrees to deduct and then remit qualifying premiums directly to the insurance provider. Statutory authority as found in Miss. Code Ann. § 25-11-129, 25-13-31 and 21-29-307 allows a retired member receiving a retirement benefit to authorize deductions from his or her retirement benefit for the payment of employer or system sponsored group health insurance, subject to the rules and regulations adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Public Employees' Retirement System on behalf of the retired members of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS), the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Retirement System (MHSPRS), and the Municipal Retirement Systems (MRS). This tax exclusion is only available to those Eligible Retired Public Safety Officers who have health insurance premiums deducted by PERS from their retirement or disability benefits.