New Jersey-Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust

Every public employee in the State of New Jersey may make voluntary after-tax contributions to the NJ Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust (SACT -Regular Plan).

Let's assume one has contributed for 40 years and is about to retire.  May the account  balance be rolled over to a Roth IRA?

If the NJ SACT is a qualified plan and the member has not reached the required beginning date (70 1/2), then the after-tax portion could be rolled to the Roth IRA, while the not yet taxed earnings could be rolled to a traditional IRA.  From the IRS website:

Can I roll over my after-tax contributions to a Roth IRA and the earnings on my after-tax contributions to a traditional IRA?

Yes.  Earnings associated with after-tax contributions are pretax amounts in your account.  Thus, after-tax contributions can be rolled over to a Roth IRA without also including earnings.  Under Notice 2014-54, you may roll over pretax amounts in a distribution to a traditional IRA and, in that case, the amounts will not be included in income until distributed from the IRA.

I am in full agreement.  

The Trust also has a pre-tax 403(b) component for the public education community. 

Why can't the after-tax plan be treated as a Roth?