Revised 10/2016
APPLICATION FOR REFUND OF PLAN
CONTRIBUTIONS — TEACHERS
(Refund Request Important Information for Members)
Please use this Application for Refund of Plan Contributions if you are a former member of the District of Columbia
Teachers’ Retirement Plan and have been separated from employment for at least 31 days.
If you have less than 5 years of eligible teaching service, you are required to be refunded your Plan contributions.
You are not eligible for a deferred retirement annuity. If you have 5 years or more of eligible teaching service, you
are vested in a deferred retirement annuity and you may leave your contributions in the Plan and elect to receive a
deferred retirement annuity beginning at age 62 instead of taking a refund. Regardless of whether you are vested
when you separate from service, if you are reappointed to DCPS to a position covered under the Plan, you may buy
back your prior refunded service credit by re-depositing the amount of your refund (plus any required interest).
Election of Refund Payment: You must decide how your refund should be paid: (i) directly to you or (ii) a direct rollo-
ver to an IRA or another employer plan. Depending on your date of hire, your refund may consist of post-tax and/or
pre-tax contributions. Although a refund of post-tax contributions is not taxable, you still may be interested in rolling
over your post-tax contributions so future investment earnings on your post-tax contributions grow tax-free. If your
Plan contributions include pre-tax contributions, you may be interested in doing a rollover to defer taxation. Any vol-
untary purchase of service contributions you may have made to the Plan may consist of pre-tax and/or post-tax pay-
ments. Before requesting a rollover to an IRA or another employer’s plan, you must make sure that IRA or plan will
accept your rollover from this Plan (a governmental defined benefit plan).
To request a balance of your Plan contributions and their tax treatment, you may need to submit to DCRB the Contri-
bution Balance Request Form, which is available on DCRB’s website. If you are an active member and have not sep-
arated, contact the District of Columbia’s Office of Pay and Retirement Services ((202) 741-8660) for your contribu-
tion balance.
Completing the Application
Section I: Member Information: Enter your personal information as requested.
Section II: Notice to Member: Please read the Special Tax Notice Regarding Rollovers before electing your distribu-
tion option and/or consult with a tax advisor if necessary. DCRB does not provide tax advice or recommendations
regarding which distribution option may be appropriate for you.
Section III: Distribution Options: Post-tax contributions are those contributions on which taxes have already been
paid whereas pre-tax contributions have not been taxed and are taxed when you receive them. Your contributions
may be a combination of post-tax and pre-tax.
If you want to receive your total refund amount in a check made out to you, elect the first option. DCRB will withhold
the 20% mandatory federal tax from any taxable portion (if you are a District of Columbia resident DCRB will also
withhold the mandatory District tax).
If you want DCRB to rollover the total amount of your refund in a direct rollover, elect the second option. Any taxes
that would have been owed if you received the payment will not apply at this time. You will have to provide the finan-
cial institution’s Letter of Acceptance of the rollover in addition to this Application.
If you want DCRB to rollover only a portion of your refund in a direct rollover and issue you a check for the remaining
portion, elect the third option. Designate the percentage you want rolled over by DCRB. DCRB will withhold the 20%
mandatory federal tax from any taxable portion (if you are a District of Columbia resident DCRB will also withhold the
mandatory District tax) you elect to have paid to you rather than rolled over. Provide the name of the financial ac-
cepting the rollover and include their Letter of Acceptance of the rollover to this Application.
Section IV: Member Authorization: Sign and date the Application in front of a Notary Public and return the original
notarized Application and required documents to DCRB. Make a copy for your records.