Roth 403(b) Retirement Plan Option

Boston College offers a “Roth 403(b)” option for contributions to the Voluntary 403(b) Retirement Plan, using both TIAA and FIDELITY. Roth contributions differ from traditional “pre-tax” 403(b) contributions in that Roth contributions are “after-tax,” which means you don’t get a tax savings on your contributions currently. However, the advantage of Roth contributions is that, when you are eligible to take distributions from your Roth account (presumably when you are retired), nothing is taxable, including all of the accumulated earnings on the Roth contributions, as long as you’ve had the account for at least five years. Another advantage, thanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act, is that Roth 403(b) contributions and earnings are no longer subject to Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) during the original owner’s lifetime.  This allows accumulations to grow tax-free for a longer period without forced withdrawals.

Whether Roth contributions are advantageous to you will depend on your particular situation and your expectations. For example, if you expect that you will be in a higher tax bracket in retirement than you are now, you will likely benefit from making Roth contributions now and paying taxes on those amounts at the lower current rate. If you do not expect to be in a higher tax bracket in the future, than you might prefer to make your contributions on a pre-tax basis.

Regardless of the tax bracket, however, with the Roth account you never pay taxes on the dividend earnings, which can be significant over a long period.

Please note that the Roth option applies only to the 403(b) plan and not to the 401(k) plan.

You have the option to designate all or a portion of your future 403(b) contributions, with Fidelity and/or TIAA, as Roth contributions. The annual limits on contributions are the same, regardless of whether the contributions are on a pre-tax or a post-tax basis: a maximum of $24,500 for 2026, or $32,500 for someone age 50 and over at the end of the year, plus another $3,250 for employees age 60-63 at the end of the year. (The limits include the required 2% employee 401(k) Plan contribution.)

If you would like to discuss the Roth features you can call Fidelity (800-343-0860) or TIAA (800-842-2776).

If you are now making 403(b) contributions and you decide that you want to use the Roth option for some or all of those contributions, and you want to continue using the same vendor (TIAA or Fidelity), you need only to complete a new Salary Reduction Agreement. 

Retirement Forms