Sirmium Capital · FDNY

What to Have Ready

14 papers and answers, grouped by where each one lives. Tick each one as you find it. Details: sirmiumcapital.com/fdny/what-to-have-ready/

The checklist

Tap any item for what it is, where to get it, and which plan question it answers.

From your own memory 3

1 The date you became a member of the Fire Pension Fund

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: Your membership date sets your tier, and your tier sets the formula. Tier 2 is anyone who became a member from July 1, 1973 through June 30, 2009. Tier 3 is July 1, 2009 or later. The Fund uses three names inside Tier 3: Tier 3 (July 1, 2009 to March 31, 2012), Tier 3 Modified (April 1, 2012 or later), and Tier 3 Enhanced (members placed in the Enhanced Disability Benefits from June 15, 2016, which earlier Tier 3 and Tier 3 Modified members could elect into).
Where to get it: Your own memory. The Fund’s record is the one that counts. If you were an EMT first and bought that time in, your statement may show an earlier date (item 12).
The plan question it answers: Which formula your plan runs on. Tier 2: 50% of final average salary at 20 years, plus 1/60th of your total earnings after your 20th anniversary. Tier 3: 50% of final average salary at 20 years (Chapter 692 of the Laws of 2025), capped at 50%, and reduced from age 62 by half of your primary Social Security benefit from New York public work.
If you don’t have it: Give the year if that’s all you have. We’ll confirm it against your Fund statement.

Source: NYC Fire Pension Funds financial statements, FY2025 (tiers); Chapter 692 of the Laws of 2025; FDNY Pension Manual, Tier 1 and Tier 2 chapter; RSSL §511

2 Your years of service, your rank, and your years of uniformed FDNY service

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: Credited service isn’t always the same as the years since your start date, because transferred or purchased time can add to it. Uniformed FDNY service is narrower: it’s the time you actually served on the fire side. Your rank is the one you expect to retire in.
Where to get it: Your own memory, then your Fund statement for credited service.
The plan question it answers: Which milestone dates your plan is built around. Twenty years of credited service is a service retirement in both tiers. Tier 3: full escalation (the yearly inflation raise) starts at 23 years of credited service under Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, Part ZZ; start the pension earlier and escalation is cut by 1/36 for each month early, with none at all if it starts more than 36 months early. Both tiers: at 25 years of uniformed FDNY service, 5% of the top pay for the rank you retire in is added to the salary your pension is figured on, plus 1% for each further whole year, up to 15% at 35 years (Part AAA). That count uses uniformed FDNY years, not purchased or transferred credit, which is why the plan needs your rank. Tier 3 contributions also stop at 25 years.
If you don’t have it: Your best honest number is fine. The Fund’s record settles it.

Source: RSSL §510(b)(2-a) and (c), added by Chapter 58 of the Laws of 2026, Part ZZ; NYC Admin Code §15-110.1 (Part AAA); RSSL §517

3 The month you might put your papers in

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: Your best guess at your retirement month. It’s the one date the written-plan request on the calculator asks for.
Where to get it: Your own decision. A guess is fine.
The plan question it answers: Which years of pay count toward your final average salary, how much escalation a Tier 3 pension starts with (item 2), and when the first Variable Supplements Fund (VSF) payment lands. The VSF needs a service retirement with at least 20 years. It’s paid once a year, typically in December, and the first year’s payment is cut down to the number of months you were retired.
If you don’t have it: Pick a year. We can run two dates side by side.

Source: NYC Admin Code §13-383; FDNY Tier 3 Enhanced Summary Plan Description, rev. July 2022 (VSF)

Back to the list

From the Fire Pension Fund 3

4 Your latest annual statement from the Fire Pension Fund

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: The Fund’s own record of your service and your contributions. If you transferred or bought EMT time, it shows here as an earlier “equated date”, the date your service is counted from. Tier 3 members pay 3% of wages until 25 years of service; any excess can be withdrawn at retirement as a lump sum or taken as an annuity, and you can’t retire with a shortfall.
Where to get it: The statement the Fund sends you each year. If you can’t find the latest one, ask the Fire Pension Fund for a copy.
The plan question it answers: It confirms the dates and service your plan starts from. The Fund works out your final average salary and your pension from its own payroll and service records, and the NYC Office of the Actuary checks it, so the plan’s figure is an estimate until the Fund’s figure exists.
If you don’t have it: Send what you have. A plan can start from your own dates and be corrected when the statement arrives.

Source: RSSL §513(c)(2)(ii) (equated date); RSSL §517; NYC Office of the Actuary

5 Any pension loan balance

Tier 1 and Tier 2

What it is: Tier 1 and Tier 2 members can borrow against their own contributions. Any balance still unpaid when you retire is converted to its actuarial value and cuts the pension for life. You can also take a loan at retirement, which trades lifetime pension for cash now. Tier 3 has no pension loans.
Where to get it: Ask the Fire Pension Fund for the balance as of the month you might retire.
The plan question it answers: How much the loan takes off your pension each year, and whether a final loan at retirement is worth what it costs.
If you don’t have it: Say whether you have one. The exact cut is a question for the Fund, and it goes on your question list.

Source: NYC Admin Code §13-342; NYC Fire Pension Funds financial statements, FY2025, Note 4; FDNY Tier 3 Enhanced Summary Plan Description, rev. July 2022

6 Whether your World Trade Center Notice of Participation is on file

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: If you took part in the World Trade Center rescue, recovery or clean-up, filing a Notice of Participation keeps your right to apply later under the WTC presumption. The deadline is September 11, 2030, set by Chapter 296 of the Laws of 2026, which moved it from September 11, 2026. Once the Notice is on file, there’s no separate deadline for the later application, though you still have to meet the medical and procedural rules.
Where to get it: Ask the Fire Pension Fund to confirm in writing that your Notice is on file. More in FDNY and the 9/11 WTC Presumption.
The plan question it answers: Whether a WTC disability claim stays open as a separate path next to your service retirement.
If you don’t have it: If you’re not sure you filed, ask the Fund before you do anything else on this list.

Source: Chapter 296 of the Laws of 2026 (S10605/A11531), amending RSSL §2(36)(a); NYC Admin Code §13-353.1

Back to the list

From your pay records 2

7 A recent pay stub

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: Your current base pay, overtime and the deductions taken out: Deferred Comp contributions and any loan repayments.
Where to get it: Your most recent pay stub.
The plan question it answers: Today’s pay is where the plan starts projecting your final average salary. Overtime counts toward FDNY pension pay; it isn’t cut off by a statutory overtime ceiling, though it’s still subject to the limit on how fast your pay can rise in the years that count. Exactly which pay items the Fund counts isn’t published in any source we hold, so the Fund’s own figure settles it.
If you don’t have it: Your yearly base pay from memory is enough to start.

Source: RSSL §501(24)(a)

8 Your W-2s for the last five years

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: Your total pay for each calendar year.
Where to get it: Your W-2s, or the copies attached to your tax returns.
The plan question it answers: Your final average salary, the figure your whole pension is built on. Tier 2: the greater of your pensionable earnings in your final 12 months or the average of your highest three consecutive years, and in that three-year average no year can be more than 120% of the average of the two years before it. Chapter 540 of the Laws of 2021 gave members who started on or after July 1, 2000 the same choice. Tier 3: the average of the three consecutive years with the highest average, with each year tested against the average of the two before it; anyone retiring on or after April 20, 2024 uses three years, not five. Five years of W-2s cover the three years and the two before them.
If you don’t have it: Three years is enough to start. Leave the rest blank.

Source: RSSL §443(a) and (h) (Chapter 540 of the Laws of 2021); RSSL Article 14 §§512-513; Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2024, Part QQ

Back to the list

From Deferred Compensation 2

9 Your 457(b) and 401(k) statements

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: The NYC Deferred Compensation Plan is two plans, a 457 and a 401(k), and each has pre-tax and Roth money. Bring the latest statement for each, with the pre-tax and Roth split and any money you rolled in from somewhere else.
Where to get it: Your latest Deferred Compensation Plan statement for each plan.
The plan question it answers: When you can draw it and how it’s taxed. While you work for the City you generally can’t take money out. After you leave, money you put into the 457 has no 10% early-withdrawal tax at any age. Money rolled into the 457 from a 401(k), 403(b) or IRA can still carry that 10% tax, which is why the plan needs to know where it came from.
If you don’t have it: A rough balance for each plan is enough to start.

Source: NYC Deferred Compensation Plan (nyc.gov/olr/deferred); IRS, governmental 457(b) distributions; IRC §72(t)

10 Any Deferred Compensation loan

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: A loan from your 457 or 401(k) account.
Where to get it: Your Deferred Compensation Plan statement shows the balance.
The plan question it answers: A Deferred Comp loan comes due when you leave City service. You can pay it off, or file the Plan’s Loan Offset Form, and the Plan then issues a Form 1099-R for the whole unpaid balance, which counts as income that year. The Plan’s guide names a 10% early-withdrawal penalty only for a 401(k) loan offset before age 59½. The plan needs the balance to show the cash or the tax that falls in your retirement year.
If you don’t have it: Say whether you have one and roughly what’s left.

Source: NYC Deferred Compensation Plan, Frequently Asked Questions About Loans

Back to the list

From your union annuity fund 1

11 Your union annuity statement (UFA or UFOA)

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: An account the City pays into for you through your union, separate from the pension. Firefighters and fire marshals have the UFA fund; the City pays in for each paid working day, firefighters hired on or after April 1, 2007 get no contributions in their first five years, and you choose how it’s invested. Fire officers have the UFOA Annuity Fund; the City pays in for each paid working day, Empower keeps the records, and you choose the investments.
Where to get it: UFA: the fund’s own statement. UFOA: your Empower account.
The plan question it answers: What it’s worth, how it’s invested, and where it could go. The NYC Deferred Compensation Plan accepts union annuity rollovers into its 401(k) Special Rollover Account. How and when your fund pays out is set by the fund’s own plan documents, so check those, and don’t assume the public-safety exception to the 10% early-withdrawal tax covers it; that hasn’t been confirmed for either fund.
If you don’t have it: Leave it blank and say which union you’re in.

Source: UFA contract 2010-2017, Art. XI; fire officers contract 2018-2021, Art. XI; NYC Deferred Compensation Plan final pension payment form (June 2026); IRC §72(t)(10)

Back to the list

If you were an EMT before the fire side 1

12 Your NYCERS EMT service history

Tier 3

What it is: Since May 3, 2023 (Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2023, Part HH), a Tier 3 member, including Tier 3 Modified and Tier 3 Enhanced, can get credit for NYCERS EMT service that came immediately before uniformed FDNY service, by transferring or paying the member contributions plus 5% interest. The law counts that time for eligibility and for the amount of the pension.
Where to get it: Your start and end dates as an EMT, from your own records or from NYCERS, and your Fire Pension Fund statement, which shows any credit already granted as an earlier equated date.
The plan question it answers: Whether you reach 20 years sooner, and what the credit costs. Three things aren’t settled, so they go to the Fund in writing: whether the credit counts toward full escalation at 23 years, whether it counts for the VSF, and whether it counts for the Part AAA add-on, which uses uniformed FDNY years. The details are in Were you an EMT before the FDNY?
If you don’t have it: Approximate dates are fine. Leave it blank if you weren’t an EMT.

Source: RSSL §513(c)(2)(ii), added by Chapter 55 of the Laws of 2023, Part HH

Back to the list

From Social Security 1

13 Your Social Security statement, and your spouse’s

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: Your estimated Social Security benefit at different claiming ages. FDNY firefighters are covered by Social Security for their FDNY work, so your FDNY pay counts toward your own benefit. WEP and GPO never applied to FDNY service, so the Social Security Fairness Act (signed January 5, 2025) does not raise a benefit based on it. It matters only if you or your spouse also have a pension from work Social Security did not cover.
Where to get it: Your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.
The plan question it answers: What Social Security adds and when: you can claim as early as 62 and as late as 70. Tier 3: from age 62 the pension is reduced by half of your primary Social Security benefit from New York public employment, whether or not you’ve started collecting, so the plan needs that figure.
If you don’t have it: Leave it blank. The plan uses a placeholder until your statement arrives.

Source: SSA, Police Officers and Firefighters (ssa.gov/slge/pol_fire.htm); Social Security Fairness Act, Pub. L. 118-273; RSSL §511

Back to the list

From your household 1

14 Your spouse’s or beneficiary’s date of birth, and who you’ve named on each account

Tier 2 and Tier 3

What it is: The survivor options pay you a smaller pension so someone keeps getting a payment after you. The cut depends on the option, your age and sometimes your beneficiary’s age, and the Fund prices it; no published table lets anyone else do it. Once you get your first full pension check, the option can’t be changed.
Where to get it: Your own records, plus the beneficiary forms for your 457, your 401(k) and your union annuity.
The plan question it answers: Which survivor choices the plan compares, and who actually inherits what. A 457 beneficiary form controls that account even over a will. Every option is described on FDNY survivor options, with no dollar figures.
If you don’t have it: Dates of birth are enough to start.

Source: FDNY Pension Manual, Tier 1 and Tier 2 chapter, Options; FDNY Tier 3 Enhanced Summary Plan Description, rev. July 2022, Options

Back to the list

These are hypothetical, educational explanations of how the plan rules work, not investment, tax or legal advice. Sirmium Capital LLC is a New York state-registered investment adviser and is not registered with the SEC. Confirm your own figures with the New York City Fire Pension Fund, and take tax questions to a tax professional. Plan rules are read from New York statute, the FDNY Pension Manual (Tier 1 and Tier 2 chapter), the FDNY Tier 3 Enhanced Summary Plan Description (revised July 2022) and the Fire Pension Funds’ fiscal 2025 financial statements.

Ask for your written plan

Run the calculator with your membership date, your salary and the month you might put your papers in. Your pension figure is free, with no email. The only thing the calculator asks for is your email: in Step 3, to see your pension at 20 years and at 23 side by side, or under your pension figure, to get a personal pension guide and a short video by email within one business day. Then, if you want the whole picture, ask for your written plan: one page of short questions and your latest Fire Pension Fund statement. No cost. Eslyn Hernandez reads every request.

Open the FDNY calculator Book a Free 15-Min Call