The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) announced Tuesday it is making a temporary change to the financial hardship withdrawal rules for participants affected by Hurricanes Florence or Michael.
Below are the details from the TSP’s announcement:
As of December 4, 2018, we will treat any Financial Hardship In-Service Withdrawal Request as a qualifying hardship and will waive the rule prohibiting employee contributions for 6 months after taking a hardship withdrawal provided one of the following is true:
1. The participant’s residence or place of employment is located in a covered disaster area and has incurred a loss as a result of Hurricanes Florence or Michael.
OR
2. The participant’s hardship withdrawal will be used to assist an eligible family member who lives or works in a covered disaster area and who has incurred a loss as a result of Hurricanes Florence or Michael.
IN ADDITION, the participant must also meet all of the following requirements:
- The participant must be actively employed with the federal government.
- The participant must complete Form TSP-76, Financial Hardship In-Service Withdrawal Request. This form can be requested by calling the toll-free ThriftLine at 1-877-968-3778
- The participant must check the “Personal Casualty Loss” box as the reason for requesting financial hardship.
- The participant must write “Hurricane Florence” or “Hurricane Michael” at the top of page 1 above the name of the form.
- The participant request must be received in our office by March 5, 2019 and, in compliance with IRS guidelines, the distribution must occur before March 15, 2019. Any Financial Hardship In-Service Withdrawal Request forms received after March 5, 2019 will be processed as a standard hardship withdrawal, and the participant’s TSP contributions will automatically stop for 6 months.
If the participant wants to stop TSP contributions, he or she must complete Form TSP-1 file or use the applicable automated system.
This rule change is not retroactive and all other Form TSP-76 rules apply. Participants may only receive one hardship withdrawal under this change.