401k Separation From Service Form
401k Separation From Service Form
DISTRIBUTION NOTE: Refer to your summary plan description to determine whether installment and/or annuity payments are available to you in addition to
INSTRUCTIONS those types of distributions listed below. If installment and/or annuity payments are available to you and you wish to receive your distribution in
one of those forms, please see your plan administrator for additional details.
I wish to: (select one)
1. Receive a distribution of my entire vested account.
2. Receive $______________________ of my vested account balance.
3. Roll over my entire vested account balance to the plan and/or IRA described in the Direct Rollover Information section below.
4. Roll over $______________________ of my vested account balance to the plan and/or IRA described in the Direct Rollover
Information section below.
(If you choose item 4, select one of the following options)
Leave the remainder of my vested account balance in the plan.
Pay the remainder of my vested account balance to me.
DIRECT I wish to directly roll over my distribution(s) to the following plan and/or IRA. (Select from the listed retirement plans and IRAs and
ROLLOVER complete the financial organization information below. If you are rolling over to more than one type of plan or IRA, specify the percentage of the
INFORMATION amount to be rolled over into each account.)
NOTE: Eligible rollover distributions taken after December 31, 2007, may be rolled over to a Roth IRA. A rollover to a Roth IRA will result in
all pre-tax assets you roll over being included in your taxable income. Eligibility restrictions also apply to Roth IRA rollovers through 2009.
Consult with your tax advisor to determine if you are eligible to perform a Roth IRA rollover.
WITHHOLDING NOTE: This Withholding Election section only applies (for Federal withholding purposes) to a distribution that is not an eligible rollover distribution.
ELECTION Therefore, unless State withholding applies to your distribution, you may skip this Withholding Election section and proceed to the Authorization
Form W-4P section below if your distribution is eligible to be rolled over. Refer to the instructions to this form for assistance in making this determination.
OMB #1545-0074 If the boxes below are checked, Federal and State (if applicable) income tax will not be withheld from your distribution. If the boxes below are
not checked, Federal and State (if applicable) income tax will be withheld as described in the instructions unless you provide a specific number
of allowances and/or additional dollar amount or withholding rate percentage. Refer to the instructions provided with this form for more
information regarding withholding.
Do not withhold Federal Income Tax Do not withhold State Income Tax
Withholding Rate ____________% (must be at least 10 percent)
AUTHORIZATION I certify that I have read, understand and agree with the information provided in the instructions to this form. I acknowledge that
I have timely received a written explanation of the optional forms of benefit payments and have received, if applicable, my
spouse’s consent to take a distribution. I understand that I have 30 days to decide on my payment options and I elect to waive the
30-day period. I understand there may be a distribution fee charged against my account for this transaction and have been
advised to contact the plan administrator for a description of any applicable fees. I instruct the plan administrator to authorize this
distribution from the plan as soon as administratively possible.
Withholding Election
Distributions from your plan are subject to Federal (and in some cases, State) income tax withholding. For some distributions, you can elect not to have
withholding apply. However, you cannot waive withholding on any eligible rollover distribution that is paid to you. Refer to the information provided above
for the definition of eligible rollover distribution and a description of the mandatory 20% withholding. Therefore, unless State withholding applies to your
distribution, you may skip the Withholding Election section and proceed to the Authorization section of this form.
If your distribution is not an eligible rollover distribution, you may elect not to have withholding apply. Check the Do Not Withhold box if you do not want
any Federal (or State, if applicable) income tax withheld from your distribution. Even if you do not have income tax withheld, you are liable for payments of
income tax on the taxable portion of your distribution. You may also be subject to tax penalties under the estimated tax payment rules if your payments of
estimated tax and withholding, if any, are not adequate.
The election to not have withholding apply does not apply to any periodic or nonperiodic distributions that are delivered outside the U.S. or its possessions to
a U.S. citizen or resident alien. If you are a non-resident alien, do not complete this section. Your distributions are generally subject to a tax-withholding rate
of 30 percent. A reduced withholding rate, including exemption, may apply if there is a tax treaty between your country of residence and the United States,
and you submit Form W-8-BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding, or satisfy the documentation requirements as
provided under the regulations.
Periodic Distribution
For purposes of the withholding rules on distributions that are not eligible rollover distributions, a periodic distribution is one that is includible in your income
for tax purposes and that you receive in installments at regular intervals (e.g., annually, quarterly, monthly, etc.) over a period of time (more than 1 year).
Periodic distributions are treated as wages for purposes of withholding. If you do not waive withholding on your periodic distributions, Federal income
tax will be withheld from each payment as if you were a married individual claiming three withholding allowances. However, you can change the amount
of the withholding by completing the blanks below.
Withholding Allowances _______________ Marital Status: Single Married Married, but withhold at higher “single” rate
Additional dollar amount to be withheld $_______________________
Nonperiodic Distributions
If you do not waive withholding on any nonperiodic distribution that is not an eligible rollover distribution, Federal income tax will be withheld at the
rate of 10%, unless you specify a higher rate by completing the blank on the front of this form.
Remember that there are penalties for not paying enough tax during the year, either through withholding or estimated tax payments. New retirees, especially,
should see Publication 505. It explains the estimated tax requirements and penalties in detail. You may be able to avoid quarterly estimated tax payments by
having enough tax withheld from your pension or annuity using Form W-4P.
Authorization
You must authorize this distribution by signing and dating the Separation From Service Distribution Request Form.
INTRODUCTION
As a participant in your employer’s qualified retirement plan, you have accumulated a vested account balance. You may receive your vested account balance
only if you incur a triggering event. You may incur a triggering event if:
• you are no longer working for your employer,
• you attain the normal retirement age indicated in the Plan,
• you become disabled under the Plan’s definition,
• your employer terminates the Plan,
• your Plan permits in-service distributions (may be limited to certain contribution sources),
• your Plan permits distributions during phased retirement (only applicable to certain plans and limited to participants that have attained age 62), or
• you incur a hardship (only applicable to certain plans and may be limited to certain contribution sources).
However, you must refer to your Summary Plan Description to identify the specific triggering events which apply under your Plan.
NOTE: Generally, payments from your employer’s qualified retirement plan must be delayed for a minimum of 30 days after you receive this notice, to allow you time to
consider your distribution options. Although you are entitled to consider your distribution options for a period of 30 days, you may waive this 30 day notice requirement. If
you waive the 30 day notice requirement, your employer must wait seven days from the date you received this notice before commencing distributions.
The law dictates the optional forms that your payments may take. The law also specifies how the different types of payments will be taxed. This notice
summarizes your distribution options and illustrates the financial effect and the tax consequences of each distribution option.
PART ONE of this notice describes the Plan payment options available to you. PART TWO describes your beneficiary(ies) payment options. PART THREE
contains a special tax notice, required by the IRS, that explains the tax treatment of your Plan payment that is not from a designated Roth account and
describes the rollover options available to you. PART FOUR contains a special tax notice, required by the IRS, that explains the tax treatment of your Plan
payment from a designated Roth account and describes the rollover options available to you.
NOTE: The payment amounts indicated in this notice are only examples. You may obtain financial projections based upon your account balance by submitting a request, in
writing, to the Plan administrator (usually the employer).
DISTRIBUTION OPTIONS
OPTION I — LUMP SUM PAYMENT
You may request a lump sum payment.
How do I do a rollover?
There are two ways to do a rollover. You can do either a direct rollover or a 60-day rollover.
If you do a direct rollover, the Plan will make the payment directly to your IRA or an employer plan. You should contact the IRA sponsor or the administrator of
the employer plan for information on how to do a direct rollover.
If you do not do a direct rollover, you may still do a rollover by making a deposit into an IRA or eligible employer plan that will accept it. You will have 60 days
after you receive the payment to make the deposit. If you do not do a direct rollover, the Plan is required to withhold 20% of the payment for federal income
taxes (up to the amount of cash and property received other than employer stock). This means that, in order to roll over the entire payment in a 60-day
rollover, you must use other funds to make up for the 20% withheld. If you do not roll over the entire amount of the payment, the portion not rolled over will
be taxed and will be subject to the 10% additional income tax on early distributions if you are under age 59½ (unless an exception applies).
• Contributions made under special automatic enrollment rules that are withdrawn pursuant to your request within 90 days of enrollment
• Amounts treated as distributed because of a prohibited allocation of S corporation stock under an ESOP (also, there will generally be adverse tax
consequences if you roll over a distribution of S corporation stock to an IRA).
The Plan administrator or the payor can tell you what portion of a payment is eligible for rollover.
If I don’t do a rollover, will I have to pay the 10% additional income tax on early distributions?
If you are under age 59½, you will have to pay the 10% additional income tax on early distributions for any payment from the Plan (including amounts
withheld for income tax) that you do not roll over, unless one of the exceptions listed below applies. This tax is in addition to the regular income tax on the
payment not rolled over.
The 10% additional income tax does not apply to the following payments from the Plan:
• Payments made after you separate from service if you will be at least age 55 in the year of the separation
• Payments that start after you separate from service if paid at least annually in equal or close to equal amounts over your life or life expectancy (or the
lives or joint life expectancy of you and your beneficiary)
• Payments from a governmental defined benefit pension plan made after you separate from service if you are a public safety employee and you are at
least age 50 in the year of the separation
• Payments made due to disability
• Payments after your death
• Payments of ESOP dividends
• Corrective distributions of contributions that exceed tax law limitations
• Cost of life insurance paid by the Plan
• Contributions made under special automatic enrollment rules that are withdrawn pursuant to your request within 90 days of enrollment
• Payments made directly to the government to satisfy a federal tax levy
• Payments made under a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO)
• Payments up to the amount of your deductible medical expenses
• Certain payments made while you are on active duty if you were a member of a reserve component called to duty after September 11, 2001 for more
than 179 days
• Payments of certain automatic enrollment contributions requested to be withdrawn within 90 days of the first contribution.
If I do a rollover to an IRA, will the 10% additional income tax apply to early distributions from the IRA?
If you receive a payment from an IRA when you are under age 59½, you will have to pay the 10% additional income tax on early distributions from the IRA,
unless an exception applies. In general, the exceptions to the 10% additional income tax for early distributions from an IRA are the same as the exceptions
listed above for early distributions from a plan. However, there are a few differences for payments from an IRA, including:
• There is no exception for payments after separation from service that are made after age 55.
• The exception for qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs) does not apply (although a special rule applies under which, as part of a divorce or
separation agreement, a tax-free transfer may be made directly to an IRA of a spouse or former spouse).
• The exception for payments made at least annually in equal or close to equal amounts over a specified period applies without regard to whether you
have had a separation from service.
• There are additional exceptions for (1) payments for qualified higher education expenses, (2) payments up to $10,000 used in a qualified first-time
home purchase, and (3) payments after you have received unemployment compensation for 12 consecutive weeks (or would have been eligible to
receive unemployment compensation but for self-employed status).
If your payment includes employer stock that you do not roll over
If you do not do a rollover, you can apply a special rule to payments of employer stock (or other employer securities) that are either attributable to after-tax
contributions or paid in a lump sum after separation from service (or after age 59½, disability, or the participant’s death). Under the special rule, the net
unrealized appreciation on the stock will not be taxed when distributed from the Plan and will be taxed at capital gain rates when you sell the stock. Net
unrealized appreciation is generally the increase in the value of employer stock after it was acquired by the Plan. If you do a rollover for a payment that
includes employer stock (for example, by selling the stock and rolling over the proceeds within 60 days of the payment), the special rule relating to the
distributed employer stock will not apply to any subsequent payments from the IRA or employer plan. The Plan administrator can tell you the amount of any
net unrealized appreciation.
If you are an eligible retired public safety officer and your pension payment is used to pay for health coverage or qualified long-term care insurance
If the Plan is a governmental plan, you retired as a public safety officer, and your retirement was by reason of disability or was after normal retirement age,
you can exclude from your taxable income plan payments paid directly as premiums to an accident or health plan (or a qualified long-term care insurance
contract) that your employer maintains for you, your spouse, or your dependents, up to a maximum of $3,000 annually. For this purpose, a public safety
officer is a law enforcement officer, firefighter, chaplain, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.
How do I do a rollover?
There are two ways to do a rollover. You can either do a direct rollover or a 60-day rollover.
If you do a direct rollover, the Plan will make the payment directly to your Roth IRA or designated Roth account in an employer plan. You should contact the
Roth IRA sponsor or the administrator of the employer plan for information on how to do a direct rollover.
If you do not do a direct rollover, you may still do a rollover by making a deposit within 60 days into a Roth IRA, whether the payment is a qualified or
nonqualified distribution. In addition, you can do a rollover by making a deposit within 60 days into a designated Roth account in an employer plan if the
payment is a nonqualified distribution and the rollover does not exceed the amount of the earnings in the payment. You cannot do a 60-day rollover to an
employer plan of any part of a qualified distribution. If you receive a distribution that is a nonqualified distribution and you do not roll over an amount at
least equal to the earnings allocable to the distribution, you will be taxed on the amount of those earnings not rolled over, including the 10% additional
income tax on early distributions if you are under age 59½ (unless an exception applies).
If you do a direct rollover of only a portion of the amount paid from the Plan and a portion is paid to you, each of the payments will include an allocable
portion of the earnings in your designated Roth account.
If you do not do a direct rollover and the payment is not a qualified distribution, the Plan is required to withhold 20% of the earnings for federal income taxes
(up to the amount of cash and property received other than employer stock). This means that, in order to roll over the entire payment in a 60-day rollover to a
Roth IRA, you must use other funds to make up for the 20% withheld.
If I don’t do a rollover, will I have to pay the 10% additional income tax on early distributions?
If a payment is not a qualified distribution and you are under age 59½, you will have to pay the 10% additional income tax on early distributions with respect
to the earnings allocated to the payment that you do not roll over (including amounts withheld for income tax), unless one of the exceptions listed below
applies. This tax is in addition to the regular income tax on the earnings not rolled over.
The 10% additional income tax does not apply to the following payments from the Plan:
• Payments made after you separate from service if you will be at least age 55 in the year of the separation
• Payments that start after you separate from service if paid at least annually in equal or close to equal amounts over your life or life expectancy (or the
lives or joint life expectancy of you and your beneficiary)
• Payments made due to disability
• Payments after your death
• Payments of ESOP dividends
• Corrective distributions of contributions that exceed tax law limitations
• Cost of life insurance paid by the Plan
• Contributions made under special automatic enrollment rules that are withdrawn pursuant to your request within 90 days of enrollment
• Payments made directly to the government to satisfy a federal tax levy
• Payments made under a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO)
• Payments up to the amount of your deductible medical expenses
• Certain payments made while you are on active duty if you were a member of a reserve component called to duty after September 11, 2001 for more
than 179 days
• Payments of certain automatic enrollment contributions requested to be withdrawn within 90 days of the first contribution.
If I do a rollover to a Roth IRA, will the 10% additional income tax apply to early distributions from the IRA?
If you receive a payment from a Roth IRA when you are under age 59½, you will have to pay the 10% additional income tax on early distributions on the
earnings paid from the Roth IRA, unless an exception applies or the payment is a qualified distribution. In general, the exceptions to the 10% additional
income tax for early distributions from a Roth IRA listed above are the same as the exceptions for early distributions from a plan. However, there are a few
differences for payments from a Roth IRA, including:
• There is no special exception for payments after separation from service.
• The exception for qualified domestic relations orders (QDROs) does not apply (although a special rule applies under which, as part of a divorce or
separation agreement, a tax-free transfer may be made directly to a Roth IRA of a spouse or former spouse).
• The exception for payments made at least annually in equal or close to equal amounts over a specified period applies without regard to whether you
have had a separation from service.
• There are additional exceptions for (1) payments for qualified higher education expenses, (2) payments up to $10,000 used in a qualified first-time
home purchase, and (3) payments after you have received unemployment compensation for 12 consecutive weeks (or would have been eligible to
receive unemployment compensation but for self-employed status).
If your payment includes employer stock that you do not roll over
If you receive a payment that is not a qualified distribution and you do not roll it over, you can apply a special rule to payments of employer stock (or other
employer securities) that are paid in a lump sum after separation from service (or after age 59½, disability, or the participant’s death). Under the special rule, the
net unrealized appreciation on the stock included in the earnings in the payment will not be taxed when distributed to you from the Plan and will be taxed at
capital gain rates when you sell the stock. If you do a rollover to a Roth IRA for a nonqualified distribution that includes employer stock (for example, by
selling the stock and rolling over the proceeds within 60 days of the distribution), you will not have any taxable income and the special rule relating to the
distributed employer stock will not apply to any subsequent payments from the Roth IRA or employer plan. Net unrealized appreciation is generally the
increase in the value of the employer stock after it was acquired by the Plan. The Plan administrator can tell you the amount of any net unrealized appreciation.
If you receive a payment that is a qualified distribution that includes employer stock and you do not roll it over, your basis in the stock (used to determine
gain or loss when you later sell the stock) will equal the fair market value of the stock at the time of the payment from the Plan.
If you receive a nonqualified distribution and you were born on or before January 1, 1936
If you were born on or before January 1, 1936, and receive a lump sum distribution that is not a qualified distribution and that you do not roll over, special
rules for calculating the amount of the tax on the earnings in the payment might apply to you. For more information, see IRS Publication 575, Pension and
Annuity Income.
If you receive a nonqualified distribution, are an eligible retired public safety officer, and your pension payment is used to pay for health coverage or
qualified long-term care insurance
If the Plan is a governmental plan, you retired as a public safety officer, and your retirement was by reason of disability or was after normal retirement age,
you can exclude from your taxable income nonqualified distributions paid directly as premiums to an accident or health plan (or a qualified long-term care
insurance contract) that your employer maintains for you, your spouse, or your dependents, up to a maximum of $3,000 annually. For this purpose, a public
safety officer is a law enforcement officer, firefighter, chaplain, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.