How to Complete and Submit Your Oregon PERS Withdrawal Application

To file an Oregon PERS withdrawal application, print and complete the packet that matches your plan — Form 459-401 for Tier One/Tier Two members or Form 459-731 for OPSRP members — have your signature notarized, attach proof of age or identity and your tax withholding election, and mail or fax it to PERS. Before PERS will process anything, you must stop all PERS-covered work and stay separated for a full calendar month after the month you left.

Stay Separated for a Full Calendar Month First

PERS calls this a “bona fide separation period.” You have to stop working for every PERS-participating employer, including substitute, temporary, and on-call positions, and remain separated through the entire calendar month that follows the month you left. If you quit on any day in February, you cannot return to PERS-covered work until April 1 at the earliest.¹

Any paid work for a PERS employer during that calendar month, even a single shift, voids the separation and resets the clock. If PERS pays out a withdrawal and later finds you were still employed or didn’t complete the separation, you have to return the full amount.²

The rule applies whether you’re vested or not. Vested members have the alternative of leaving the account in place and drawing a lifetime monthly pension at retirement. Non-vested members do not, so withdrawal is the only way to get their contributions back.

Pick the Right Packet

PERS uses two separate application packets, and the one you use depends on when you were hired:

Tier One/Tier Two members (hired on or before August 28, 2003) use Form 459-401.
OPSRP members (hired on or after August 29, 2003) use Form 459-731, which covers the IAP balance and the Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA) if you have one.

Both are on the PERS withdrawal information page and the most requested forms page.³ One rule catches people who have moved between plans: if you participate in more than one PERS plan, you have to withdraw from all of them. Oregon law doesn’t let you cash out one account and keep another active.⁴

Filling Out the Application

The two packets follow the same general shape. You’ll give PERS your identifying information, choose how you want the money paid, elect your tax withholding, verify your identity, and sign in front of a notary.

Member and Account Information

Enter your full legal name, Social Security number (mandatory), mailing address, date of birth, and phone numbers. The PERS ID field is optional; leave it blank if you don’t know it.⁵ Use a personal email address so PERS isn’t trying to reach you through a former employer’s system. On the Tier One/Tier Two form you’ll also choose which accounts to withdraw; most members pick “All of my eligible PERS accounts.” The OPSRP version has a single box to apply for withdrawal of your OPSRP membership.

Payment Method

You pick one of three ways to receive the money:

A 100% direct transfer rollover, where the full balance moves straight into an IRA or another eligible employer plan with no tax withheld at the time of transfer.
A partial direct transfer rollover, where you specify a percentage or dollar amount to roll over and the rest is paid to you as cash with withholding applied.
A cash payout, where the full amount is issued to you as a check with mandatory federal and state tax withholding.

If you choose any rollover option, complete the Withdrawal Direct Transfer Rollover Acceptance form in the packet. It asks for the receiving institution’s name and address and the account number. The account name has to match your PERS records exactly, or the transfer stalls.

Tax Withholding Election

Fill out the separate W-4R Withdrawal Lump Sum Withholding form that comes with the packet, then check the box on the main application confirming you did. The W-4R handles both federal and Oregon state withholding.

Citizenship, Residency, and the Tax Disclosure

Indicate whether you’re a U.S. citizen or resident noncitizen, or a nonresident noncitizen. Tier One members also mark whether they are Oregon residents, which affects certain benefit calculations. A later section confirms you received the federal tax disclosure PERS provides with the packet; checking the waiver box there lets PERS skip the 30-day review period and start processing immediately.

Notarized Signature

Your signature has to be notarized, and the date you sign has to match the notary’s date exactly. PERS accepts remote online notarization that meets Oregon Secretary of State requirements.³ No spousal consent is required for a withdrawal; that requirement applies only when a married member elects a retirement allowance.

Proof of Age or Identity

You have to send documentation from one of two groups.

Group 1 requires one document: an Oregon driver’s license or ID card issued after February 4, 2008; any state’s REAL ID-compliant license or ID; a current out-of-state driver’s license; a state or county birth certificate; a current or expired passport; naturalization papers; or a hospital birth certificate signed by the attending physician.

Group 2 requires two documents from different sources: a notarized affidavit from an older immediate family member, a military DD214, a marriage record showing your birth date, a county voter registration showing your birth date, a Social Security benefits estimate dated within the last 12 months, or a child’s birth certificate listing your age as a parent.

Send copies only; PERS cannot return originals. If you have a document that’s illegal to photocopy, bring it to a PERS office in person for verification.⁵

What the Taxes Will Do to Your Payout

A cash payout triggers mandatory federal withholding of 20%, even if you plan to roll the money into an IRA within 60 days.⁶ Oregon’s default state withholding is 8%. You can opt out of state withholding entirely on the W-4R, or add a flat dollar amount on top of the 8%. You cannot request a custom percentage; only a whole-dollar add-on is allowed.⁷

If you’re under 59½ when you take the distribution, the IRS generally adds a 10% early withdrawal penalty on top of ordinary income tax.⁸ One exception: public safety employees of a state or local government who separate from service during or after the year they turn 50 can avoid the 10% penalty.⁹ A direct rollover into an IRA or qualified plan sidesteps both the 20% withholding and the early distribution penalty, since the money never passes through your hands.

What You Give Up by Withdrawing

A withdrawal cancels your membership. You receive only your own contributions plus earnings; no employer-matched dollars are included in a Tier One/Tier Two withdrawal.¹ You forfeit all membership rights, your accumulated service credit, and any future monthly pension PERS would have paid for life. For a vested member, that lifetime income can be worth considerably more than the lump sum.

OPSRP members who withdraw receive their IAP balance and their EPSA balance. Vested OPSRP members also get any vested optional employer contributions; members who aren’t vested lose unvested optional employer contributions. Either way, OPSRP membership is canceled.²

Where to Send the Packet and How Long It Takes

There is no online submission. Print the completed packet, sign it in front of a notary, and either mail or fax it. If you fax, hold onto the original application and your fax confirmation receipt.¹

Mail to:

PERS
PO Box 23700
Tigard, OR 97281-3700⁵

Most applications are processed within 120 days of your “effective withdrawal date.” That date is the later of two things: the first day of the calendar month in which PERS receives your application, or the first day of the second calendar month after the month you terminated employment. If you quit in February and PERS receives your form in April, your effective date is April 1 and you should expect payment by early August at the latest.¹⁰

Missing wage data from a former employer, conflicting termination dates, or incomplete paperwork can push the timeline past 120 days. Waiving the 30-day federal tax disclosure review period on the application removes one source of delay.

If You Return to PERS Employment Later

Coming back to PERS-covered work after a withdrawal is possible, but restoring what you gave up is hard. Tier One/Tier Two members have two paths.

The first is redeposit: you repay the withdrawn amount plus the interest it would have earned, as a lump sum. You have to be rehired into a PERS-qualifying position within five years of the separation that preceded your withdrawal.

The second is a forfeited service purchase, available if more than five years have passed. You need to accumulate 10 years of new creditable service after re-employment, then repay the withdrawn amount plus 7.5% interest compounded annually from the refund date to your retirement date. You can purchase one month of forfeited service for every three months of new service earned, and the purchase has to be made within 90 days of your retirement date.¹¹

OPSRP members who withdrew and return cannot purchase Tier One/Tier Two forfeited service. They start fresh under OPSRP and build new service credit from zero. If there’s any reasonable chance you’ll come back to public employment in Oregon, run that math before you cash out.

1
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Withdrawal Information
2
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Senate Bill 1049 and OPSRP Withdrawals
3
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Most Requested Forms
4
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Withdrawal (Tier One/Tier Two)
5
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. OPSRP Member Withdrawal Application Packet
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 412, Lump-Sum Distributions
7
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Instructions for W-4R Lump Sum Withholding Forms
8
Internal Revenue Service. Hardships, Early Withdrawals and Loans
9
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
10
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Withdrawal (IAP)
11
Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. Tier One/Tier Two Purchases