To withdraw money from your California Savings Plus account, complete the Benefit Payment Request Form if you have left state or CSU employment, or the In-Service Withdrawal Form if you are still working and qualify for an early distribution. Both forms live in your account at savingsplusnow.com under the Manage Account menu, and both can be submitted online, by fax, or by mail. A clean submission is processed in three to five business days; a form missing a signature, a notarization, or a routing digit comes back and restarts the clock.
Which Form You Need
Savings Plus runs two separate retirement plans — a 401(k) and a governmental 457(b) — and the form you file depends on your employment status, not the plan.
- Use the Benefit Payment Request Form after you have separated from state or CSU employment. It handles lump-sum payouts, partial distributions, and periodic installment payments from either plan.
- Use the In-Service Withdrawal Form if you are still working for the state and qualify for an age-based withdrawal, an unforeseeable emergency distribution, or a de minimis 457(b) distribution.
Pull the current version from your online account rather than reusing an old PDF; the plan updates forms periodically. If you prefer paper, call the Savings Plus Service Center at 1-855-616-4776, Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific Time.1Savings Plus. Contact Us
When You Can Withdraw
After You Separate
Once your personnel office has processed your final separation paperwork, both your 401(k) and 457(b) balances are available. There is no waiting period. You can elect a full lump sum, a partial lump sum for a specific dollar amount, or installments spread over several years.
Still Employed, Age 59½ or Older
If you are at least 59½ and still on the state payroll, you can withdraw from any Savings Plus account for any reason, with no documentation required.2Savings Plus. Withdrawals While Still Employed Use the In-Service Withdrawal Form.
457(b) Voluntary In-Service Withdrawal
The 457(b) has an in-service option that does not depend on age, but the bar is strict. You must have had no contributions into or out of the 457(b) for the previous 24 calendar months, and the account balance must sit under the SECURE 2.0 cap of $7,000.3Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP. Benefits Brief: Non-Governmental 457(b) Plan Amendments Due by December 31, 2025 PST contributions and reverse-contribution transactions count against the 24-month inactivity window.4Savings Plus. 457 Voluntary In-Service Withdrawal Request This type of distribution pays out the entire balance, not a chosen amount.
Unforeseeable Emergency and Hardship
The 457(b) plan permits a distribution for an unforeseeable emergency only in narrow circumstances defined by the IRS: illness or accident affecting you, your spouse, your beneficiary, or a dependent; uninsured property loss from a casualty such as a natural disaster; funeral costs for a spouse or dependent; or similar extraordinary events like imminent foreclosure on your home. You must first exhaust insurance, other liquid assets, and stop plan deferrals. Credit card debt does not qualify.5Internal Revenue Service. Unforeseeable Emergency Distributions From 457(b) Plans The amount is capped at what is needed to cover the emergency, and you will need documentation.
The 401(k) has a parallel hardship withdrawal standard — “immediate and heavy financial need” — again limited to the amount necessary to meet the need.6Internal Revenue Service. Hardships, Early Withdrawals and Loans
Filling Out the Form, Section by Section
Have your most recent quarterly statement open while you work. The information lines up with what the form asks for and will save you from guessing.
Personal and Account Information
Enter your full legal name, your Savings Plus account number or Social Security number, and your current mailing address.4Savings Plus. 457 Voluntary In-Service Withdrawal Request If you hold both a 401(k) and a 457(b), each has its own account number — reference the one matching the plan you are drawing from.
Payment Method and Amount
Pick full lump sum, partial lump sum for a specific dollar amount, or periodic installments. Not every option exists on every form. The 457(b) voluntary in-service withdrawal, for instance, only pays the whole balance. Separation withdrawals give you the full menu.
Tax Withholding
Specify federal and California state withholding percentages. For eligible rollover distributions from the 401(k) plan, federal law requires a mandatory 20% federal withholding unless you elect a direct rollover to another qualified plan or IRA.7Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding You cannot waive it on a cash distribution. For 457(b) distributions that are not eligible rollover distributions, default withholding rates differ and you may have more latitude to adjust. Read the instructions on your specific form, because underwithholding now means a bill in April.
Direct Deposit
Fill in the bank name, phone number, ABA routing number, and account number, and mark the account as checking or savings. Verify the routing number digit by digit. If you leave this section blank, Savings Plus mails a paper check to your address of record. Overnight delivery is available for a $25 fee deducted from your account.4Savings Plus. 457 Voluntary In-Service Withdrawal Request
Pre-Tax Versus Roth Dollars
Your account can hold both pre-tax and Roth (after-tax) money, and each is taxed differently on the way out. Pre-tax dollars and their earnings are fully taxable. Roth contributions come out tax-free, but the earnings on them are tax-free only if the distribution is “qualified” — meaning the Roth money has been in the account for at least five years and you are 59½, disabled, or deceased.8Empower. Roth 457(b) vs. Roth 403(b) vs. Roth IRA: Key Differences The five-year clock starts on January 1 of the year you made your first Roth contribution. Check that date on your statement before you file the form.
Spousal Consent Trap for 401(k) Withdrawals
This is where most rejected forms die. If you are married and withdrawing from the Savings Plus 401(k), federal law under IRC Section 417 requires your spouse’s written consent, witnessed by a notary public or a certified plan representative.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 417 – Definitions and Special Rules for Purposes of Minimum Survivor Annuity Requirements A missing notarization or a signature that does not match sends the form back.
Governmental 457(b) plans are not subject to the Section 417 spousal consent rules, which apply to plans covered under Section 401(a)(11). If your withdrawal is only from the 457(b), or you are not married, skip that section entirely. If you hold both account types and are drawing from both, the 401(k) portion still needs the spouse’s notarized signature.
How to Submit and What Happens Next
You have three submission channels:
- Online upload. Log into your Savings Plus account and use the secure document upload inside the dashboard. Fastest route, and you get an immediate confirmation.
- Fax. Send the completed form to (877) 677-4329.10CalHR. Contact Savings Plus
- Mail. Use the address printed on the form instructions, and pick a tracked delivery service. If the form never arrives, you have no proof of mailing.
Run a final check before you send: account number right, every required signature and date filled in, spousal consent notarized for married 401(k) participants, tax withholding elected, and banking information complete if you want direct deposit. Anything missing comes back as a deficiency notice telling you what to fix.
A clean form is processed within three to five business days of receipt.11Nationwide Financial. Savings Plus Withdrawal Form Direct-deposited funds usually land in your bank account within a few business days after processing. Paper checks by first-class mail take five to ten business days from the processing date.4Savings Plus. 457 Voluntary In-Service Withdrawal Request You will get a transaction confirmation by whichever method matches your communication preference, and a 1099-R at tax time showing the distribution and taxes withheld. A rejected form restarts the processing clock entirely, so getting it right the first time matters.
Tax Hits to Weigh Before You Sign
The most important rule to understand before you take money out: distributions from the governmental 457(b) plan are not subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty, regardless of your age.12Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions The exception is money rolled into the 457(b) from another plan type such as a 401(k) or traditional IRA; that money keeps its 10% penalty exposure if withdrawn before 59½.
The 401(k) follows standard rules. Withdrawals before 59½ generally trigger a 10% additional tax on top of ordinary income tax. There is a useful carve-out: if you separate from state service during or after the calendar year you turn 55, 401(k) distributions escape the 10% penalty. This “Rule of 55” applies only to the plan at the employer you just left, not to IRAs or plans from previous jobs.
Pre-tax distributions from either plan owe ordinary income tax. That is unavoidable whether you take a lump sum or installments; the only decision is how much to withhold now versus settling up at filing time.
Rollover as an Alternative
If you do not need the cash now, a rollover avoids the current tax bill. Funds from both the 401(k) and the governmental 457(b) are eligible to roll into a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA (the rolled amount counts as taxable income for the year), or another employer plan that accepts incoming rollovers.13Internal Revenue Service. Rollover Chart
A direct rollover, where Savings Plus sends the funds straight to the receiving institution, is the clean path. Nothing is withheld and the money never touches your personal account.14Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions If instead a check is cut to you (an indirect rollover), 20% federal withholding applies, and you then have 60 days to deposit the full gross distribution — including the amount withheld — into another qualified account. Miss the deadline and the whole distribution becomes taxable income for the year.
One warning if you are under 59½ and separating: think hard before rolling 457(b) money into a traditional IRA. Inside the 457(b) that money is penalty-free. Once it moves to an IRA, it picks up the 10% early withdrawal penalty, and the rollover cannot be reversed on that point.