Updated October 21, 2026. Quick answer: The New Jersey PFRS Member Guidebook lets active members buy certain types of service credit, and it lists the types that qualify. It says the cost rests on four factors and that some types cost the member twice as much as others. Read the guidebook section and check your own member account for what applies to you.
What this section covers
The Police and Firemen’s Retirement System Member Guidebook from the New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits has a section headed “Purchasing Service Credit”. It opens with the reason a member might look at it: “Since your retirement allowance is based in part on the amount of service credit posted to your account at the time of retirement, it may help you to purchase additional service credit if you are eligible to do so”.
For the wider set of choices in this system, see New Jersey PFRS retirement decisions. For the general question of whether a purchase pays off, see whether buying service credit is worth it.
Who it applies to
The guidebook limits the section to active members: “Only active members of the retirement systems are permitted to purchase service credit”. It defines the term: “An active member is one who has not retired or withdrawn, and who has made a contribution to the retirement system within two consecutive years of the purchase request”.
Each type of service has its own conditions, shown in the table below. Check your own tier and record on your member account.
The rules, one by one
Each row below is a rule from the purchasing section, in the guidebook’s own words.
| Rule | What the handbook says |
|---|---|
| Who may buy | “Only active members of the retirement systems are permitted to purchase service credit” |
| Dual members | “A dual member cannot purchase concurrent service from any other retirement system.” |
| Types not listed | “If a type of service is not listed, it is not eligible for purchase.” |
| Temporary service | “Members are allowed to purchase temporary service rendered under a former account.” Section 43:16A-4(a) attaches a condition: the purchase is open “if that temporary service shall have resulted, without interruption, in a valid permanent or probational appointment as a policeman or fireman”. |
| Leave without pay, illness | “Up to two years may be purchased for leaves taken for personal illness.” |
| Leave without pay, personal | “Up to three months may be purchased for leaves taken for personal reasons.” |
| Out-of-State service | “Members may be eligible to purchase up to 10 years of public employment rendered in any state, county, municipality, school district, or public agency outside the State of New Jersey” Section 43:16A-11.11 adds a bar: “No application shall be accepted for the purchase of credit for the service if, at the time of application, the member has a vested right to retirement benefits in another retirement system based in whole or in part upon that service”. |
| U.S. Government service | “Members may be eligible to purchase up to 10 years of credit for civilian service rendered with the United States government” |
| Military service before enrollment | “Members may be eligible to purchase up to 10 years of active-duty military service rendered prior to enrollment” |
| Military service after enrollment | “Under the requirements of USERRA, members may receive credit for military service rendered after October 13, 1994.” |
| Uncredited service | “Members may be eligible to purchase regular employment with a public employer in New Jersey for which the member did not receive service credit” |
| Employment with other agencies | “you may be eligible to purchase a maximum of three years of such service upon your return to covered employment.” Section 43:16A-11.9 limits it to a member “who has at least 20 years of creditable service in the retirement system and who leaves a position covered by the retirement system, with the approval of the employer, to take a full-time position” with a federal agency or an agency of another state or local government, and the purchase “may be made within four years of the date of the member’s last contribution”. |
| Layoff | “may be eligible to purchase up to three years for the time period in which the member was laid off.” Section 43:16A-11.13 applies to “any member who is separated involuntarily from the police service covered by the retirement system, and not by removal for cause or charges of misconduct or delinquency, and who subsequently becomes a police service employee covered by the retirement system”. |
| Local retirement system service | “Members may be eligible to purchase service credit established within a local retirement system in New Jersey if they were ineligible to transfer that service to the PFRS upon withdrawal from the local retirement system.” |
| Limit for non-veterans | “you are eligible to purchase an aggregate of 10 years of service credit for work outside New Jersey” |
| Limit for veterans | “you may be eligible to purchase an additional five years of military service rendered during periods of war for an aggregate of 15 years of service outside New Jersey” The statute, section 43:16A-11.11, says a member purchasing the maximum credit “may purchase up to five additional years for additional military service qualifying the member as a veteran as defined in section 1 of P.L.1983, c.391”. |
| Tax treatment | “Purchases of service credit are voluntary and are not tax deferred unless funded by a rollover from another tax-deferred plan.” |
| Partial purchases | “You may purchase all or part of any eligible service.” |
The figures the handbook prints
The guidebook sets the cost as the product of four things, which it lists: “The cost of a purchase is based on four factors:” the purchase factor for your nearest age, your salary, the time being purchased and the type of service. It adds “The cost of the purchase will rise with an increase in your age and/or salary.” For the purchases under section 43:16A-11.11 the statute applies the actuary’s factor to the member’s salary at that time, “or to the highest annual compensation for service in this State for which contributions were made during any prior fiscal year of membership, whichever is greater”.
On who bears the cost, it says “you, as the member, are responsible for the full cost; therefore, the cost quoted to you for purchasing these types of service will be twice the cost for other types of purchase.” It names those types as “U.S. Government Service, Military Service before Enrollment, Local Retirement System Service, Layoff, or Employment with Other Agencies”. The age-by-age factors sit in the guidebook’s Purchase Rate Chart, which this page does not reproduce; read it in the guidebook itself.
What to do and where to look
The guidebook says “All purchase requests must be submitted using the Purchase Application program of MBOS.” For an estimate before applying, it points to “the online Purchase Calculator on MBOS”. On the paper route it says “Any other paper applications to purchase service credit received by mail will not be processed”.
After the application, “you will receive a Purchase Cost Quotation Letter indicating the cost of any service approved for purchase.” It adds “You must respond to the quotation letter within the specified time period.” For funding, the guidebook lists “In one lump-sum payment;” and “With a direct rollover or trustee-to-trustee transfer of tax-deferred funds from a qualified plan”.
A separate tool is on this site: the pension buyback calculator. For the wider picture, see public pension retirement decisions and pension and annuity decisions.
A worked example
The guidebook prints its own example, and this page recomputes its arithmetic. It begins: “Example: A member, age 45, earning $60,000 a year, wishes to purchase 18 months Temporary Service.” The guidebook gives the formula as “Purchase Factor x Annual Salary x Time Being Purchased = Purchase Cost”. Applying that formula to the example’s inputs gives the cost shown in the table below (the figure is recomputed here from the example’s own factor, salary and time, as a labelled illustration).
For the same member buying military service, it says “the Purchase Cost would be $18,387”, which matches the temporary service result doubled.
| Step | Arithmetic |
|---|---|
| Temporary service cost (illustration, recomputed) | 0.102150 x $60,000 x 1.5 years = $9,193.50 |
| Doubled for military service before enrollment | $9,193.50 x 2 = $18,387.00, printed in the guidebook as $18,387 |
Edition
This page reads New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits, Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) Member Guidebook (February 2026), the current file New Jersey PFRS served on October 21, 2026. Check the edition and your own tier or plan on your own member account; the handbook’s text controls over this summary.
Common mistakes
- Assuming any past work can be bought. The guidebook says “If a type of service is not listed, it is not eligible for purchase.”
- Counting on a tax break for the purchase. The guidebook says “Purchases of service credit are voluntary and are not tax deferred unless funded by a rollover from another tax-deferred plan.”
- Expecting the same price for every type of service. The guidebook says the member pays “twice the cost for other types of purchase.” for the types it names, such as military service before enrollment.
Related: New Jersey PFRS retirement decisions, whether buying service credit is worth it, the pension buyback calculator, public pension retirement decisions, and pension and annuity decisions.
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Answer againSources
- New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits, Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) Member Guidebook (February 2026): www.nj.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): New Jersey Division of Pensions and Benefits home page: www.nj.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): New Jersey Division of Taxation: www.nj.gov
Read from the pension system handbooks linked above on October 21, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a pension system or a qualified professional is the right place to confirm anything consequential.