Yes for your Individual Account Program (IAP), if you meet certain conditions. However, due to Senate Bill 1049, if you withdraw your IAP, this means you will
completely cancel your membership in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, including
forfeiting your right to a pension benefit earned as of your effective withdrawal date.
More details are available on the
Senate Bill (SB) 1049 changes and OPSRP withdrawals webpage.
Individual Account Program
You can withdraw your IAP account balance if:
- One full calendar month has passed since the month in which you stopped working for your last PERS-participating employer, and you have
not worked for any other PERS-participating employer since. This includes substitute, temporary, and on-call positions.
To request a withdrawal, you must submit a completed
OPSRP Member Withdrawal Application Packet.
The decision to leave money in or withdraw money from your IAP account when you are no longer working for a PERS-participating employer is
yours to make.
PERS staff cannot advise you.
Keep in mind that while you were working in a qualifying position, your IAP account received an annual contribution of 6% of your salary (whether paid by you or your employer). As of July 1, 2020, if your gross pay in a month exceeds the
monthly salary threshold, a portion of your 6% contributions is redirected to the Employee Pension Stability Account (EPSA).
Once you stop working, no additional contributions are made to your accounts. The balance that remains in your IAP account and EPSA if you have one,will continue to be credited with annual earnings or losses, depending on investment returns. To learn about how your IAP is invested, visit
Oregon.gov/IAP.
If you withdraw your IAP account, you also will receive the balance of your EPSA.
OPSRP Pension Program
Withdrawing your IAP balance means you will
completely cancel your membership in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, including
forfeiting your right to a pension benefit earned as of your effective withdrawal date.
More details are available on the
Senate Bill 1049 Changes: Withdrawals Effective July 1, 2020 webpage.
Keep in mind that:
- If you withdraw, you lose any vesting and retirement credit you had earned up to the point of withdrawal. You will have no rights to a PERS pension benefit in retirement based on of this pre-withdrawal history.
- If you later return to work in a PERS-qualifying position, you will start over in the pension program, which will require another six-month waiting period to re-establish membership. You will also start over in terms of vesting (see “How do I become vested?” above).
- If you withdraw before age 59½, you may be subject to an additional income tax penalty.
If, however,
you opt not to withdraw your accounts and are vested, you will be eligible for a lifetime monthly pension benefit at retirement and distribution of your IAP.
For more information, go to PERS’
Withdrawal information webpage.