§ 1653.4 Calculating entitlements.

(a) For purposes of computing the amount of a payee's entitlement under this section, a participant's TSP account balance will include any loan balance outstanding as of the entitlement date unless the court order provides otherwise. (b) If the court order awards a percentage of an account as of a specific date, the payee's entitlement will be calculated based on the account balance as of that date. If the date specified in the order is not a business day, the TSP record keeper will use the participant's account balance as of the last preceding business day. (c) If the court order awards a percentage of an account but does not contain a specific date as of which to apply that percentage, the TSP record keeper will use the effective date of the court order. (d) If the court order awards a specific dollar amount, the payee's entitlement will be the lesser of: (1) The dollar amount stated in the court order; or (2) The vested account balance on the payment date. (e) If a court order describes a payee's entitlement in terms of a fixed dollar amount and a percentage or fraction of the account, the TSP will pay the fixed dollar amount, even if the percentage or fraction, when applied to the account balance, would yield a different result. (f) The payee's entitlement will be credited with TSP investment earnings as described: (1) The entitlement calculated under this section will not be credited with TSP investment earnings unless the court order specifically provides otherwise. The court order may not specify a rate for earnings. (2) If earnings are awarded, the TSP record keeper will calculate earnings by: (i) Identifying the beginning balance, ending balance, and the cash flows between the two balances over the period of time between the entitlement date and the payment date; (ii) Calculating the rate of return that increases (or reduces in the case of a loss) the balance at the beginning of the period, accounting for all cash flows, to equal the balance at the end of the period; and (iii) Multiplying the payee's award amount by the resulting rate of return. (g) The TSP record keeper will estimate the amount of a payee's entitlement when it prepares the decision letter and will recalculate the entitlement at the time of payment. The recalculation may differ from the initial estimation because: (1) The estimation of the payee's entitlement includes both vested and nonvested amounts in the participant's account. If, at the time of payment, the nonvested portion of the account has not become vested, the recalculated entitlement will apply only to the participant's vested account balance; (2) After the estimate of the payee's entitlement is prepared, the TSP record keeper may process account transactions that have an effective date on or before the date used to compute the payee's entitlement. Those transactions will be included when the payee's entitlement is recalculated at the time of payment; and (3) The amount available for payment from the account may be reduced due to changes in share price (i.e., investment losses).