If you were automatically enrolled in the TSP, you may request a refund of your employee contributions that were made under the automatic enrollment program during the first 90 days of your automatic enrollment period.
- Requesting Your Refund
- Your Refunded Amount
- Refund Requests for Rehired Participants
- No Refunds of Automatic Reenrollment Contributions
- Refund Requests for Separated Participants
Requesting Your Refund
To request a refund, you must submit Form TSP-25, Automatic Enrollment Refund Request, before the expiration of your 90-day refund period. When the TSP receives your first contribution, you will receive a "welcome letter" from the TSP. The information in the letter includes the date your refund request must be received in order to be processed, as well as other details related to your refund.
Your Refunded Amount
Upon processing your properly completed and timely submitted request, the TSP will refund your employee contributions (plus earnings or minus losses) associated with the automatic enrollment period.
Refund Requests for Rehired Participants
If you are a FERS, CSRS, or BRS participant who was rehired after a break in service of 31 or more full calendar days, you will be automatically enrolled in the TSP. If you had been automatically enrolled in the TSP prior to your break in service, your eligibility for a refund of your contributions depends on whether or not your previous refund period had expired and the length of time since your last automatic enrollment contribution.
If the refund deadline from your prior automatic enrollment period has expired, you will not be eligible to request a refund of your automatic enrollment contributions until one full calendar year (January to December) has passed since your last automatic enrollment contribution. If one full calendar year has passed, you will be issued a new refund deadline date.
If the refund deadline from your prior automatic enrollment period has not expired, you will have up until that date to request your refund.
No Refunds of Automatic Reenrollment Contributions
Some BRS participants will be automatically reenrolled if they stop contributing to their TSP accounts. If in the final pay period of a calendar year such a participant shows no contributions to the TSP, that participant will be reenrolled in the first pay period of the new year. These participants will have the opportunity to stop the automatic reenrollment from taking place. If they fail to do so, however, they are not eligible for refunds of the contributions that result from it.
Refund Requests for Separated Participants
If you separate from service within the first 90 days of becoming automatically enrolled, and your balance is $200 or more, you can request a refund of your automatic enrollment contributions or a withdrawal from your account.
CSRS Participants
Use Form TSP-25, Automatic Enrollment Refund Request. Your own contributions (plus earnings or minus losses) will be refunded to you. There will be 10% withholding for Federal income tax, and you'll pay no early withdrawal tax penalty.
FERS and BRS Participants
You can use Form TSP-70, Request for Full Withdrawal, instead of Form TSP-25, Automatic Enrollment Refund Request, to obtain your refund. You'll receive your own contributions (plus earnings or minus losses) and all Agency/Service Matching Contributions (plus earnings or minus losses). There will be 20% tax withholding and you may be subject to the 10% IRS early withdrawal tax penalty. You will forfeit your Agency/Service Automatic (1%) Contributions, unless you were vested (entitled to keep them).
