Withdrawals, Rollovers and Loans

You should read the Summary Plan Description that was provided to you as a participant in your employer’s plan to learn whether your employer’s plan allows either withdrawals or loans (or both) and if there are any restrictions imposed by the plan or the IRS on either. If you have questions or are not sure about the features of your employer’s plan, please contact us.

As a reminder, your employer established a retirement savings plan to enable and encourage you to save for retirement. Although the plan may contain an in-service withdrawal or loan provision, Mutual of America does not encourage participants to take in-service withdrawals or loans, and your plan savings are not intended to be used for current expenses. When available, in-service withdrawals are generally taxed as ordinary income (and may be assessed a 10% tax penalty if taken before age 59½, or for SIMPLE IRA withdrawals, a 25% tax penalty if taken before age 59½ and within the first two years of participation). And, there are participant charges for loans and loan servicing. There may be significant adverse tax consequences to participants who do not repay loans on a timely basis. Failing to repay loans may have a negative impact on your ability to meet your retirement savings goals. We encourage you to evaluate these issues carefully before requesting a withdrawal or applying for a loan.

If you need access to money before you retire, you should carefully consider and exhaust your other options before making a decision to take an in-service withdrawal or loan from your retirement savings.

With that, we have provided a general explanation of the difference between a withdrawal and a loan. The provisions of your employer’s plan may be different than the descriptions we provide here. Again, you should read the Summary Plan Description that was provided to you by your employer as a participant in your employer’s plan to learn about the withdrawal and loan provisions, if any, offered through that plan.

An in-service withdrawal allows you to take money from your employer’s plan, while you are still employed, without having to pay the money back. Unless the in-service withdrawal is on account of an immediate and heavy financial need (otherwise known as a “hardship distribution”), your plan can not permit in-service distributions of elective deferrals (i.e., the money you have contributed to the plan from your paycheck), or certain other types of contributions, prior to age 59½. If your plan permits in-service withdrawals, you will be able to request a withdrawal of certain employer contributions, any funds you may have rolled over from another plan or IRA and any designated Roth contributions.* You will have to pay ordinary income taxes on a withdrawal amount (unless from your Roth account), and a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you take the withdrawal prior to age 59½, unless an exception applies.

*If the Roth distribution does not meet certain rules, earnings will be taxable. Nonqualified Roth distributions must contain pro rata share of earnings and basis.↵

If you are younger than age 59½ and do not qualify for a hardship withdrawal, you will incur an additional 10% income tax penalty, unless an exception applies. See the IRS’s Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions page for applicable exceptions.

A hardship withdrawal is made because of an immediate and heavy financial need and is limited to the amount necessary to satisfy that financial need. You pay ordinary income tax on the amount withdrawn and do not have to pay the withdrawal back. You may also have to pay a 10% penalty tax if you are younger than 59½ or do not meet an exception.

You are not automatically eligible for a hardship distribution. Your employer must first approve any hardship withdrawal and make sure your request meets the rules under the Internal Revenue Code and Internal Revenue Service regulations. Generally, an immediate and heavy financial need results from:

• Medical care expenses for you, your spouse, dependents or beneficiary.
• Tuition, related educational fees, and room and board expenses for the next 12 months of postsecondary education for you or your spouse, children, dependents or beneficiary.
• Costs directly related to the purchase of your principal residence (excluding mortgage payments).
• Payments necessary to prevent the eviction of you from your principal residence or foreclosure on the mortgage on that residence.
• Certain expenses to repair damage to the employee’s principal residence.
• Funeral expenses for you, your spouse, children, dependents or beneficiary.
• Any other expense specified by the Internal Revenue Service.

How to Make a Hardship Withdrawal

To initiate a hardship withdrawal from your Retirement Plan, please contact us at 800.468.3785 so we can provide you with the appropriate form.

Your employer’s plan may accept rollovers from accounts you have with former employers or IRAs with different financial institutions.

You may be able to save time, money and effort by transferring your retirement savings from other retirement plans or IRAs into your Mutual of America retirement plan account. You will receive one convenient quarterly statement, and you can manage your account anytime.

Before making a rollover or transfer, you should review the accounts you have with other providers to determine the fees and expenses you currently pay and whether there are any surrender charges that may result and to ensure that it is in your best interest to transfer your other accounts to your current retirement plan account.

A loan enables you to borrow money from your retirement savings and pay it back over time, with interest. Like most loans, you will have to pay interest until the loan is paid back in full; however, the payments and interest will go back into your retirement savings account. In most cases, such as with a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, loans must be paid back within a certain period (usually five years), and in some cases, may require consent from a spouse or partner, depending on your domestic status and plan type.

There may be significant adverse tax consequences to participants who do not repay loans on a timely basis. Failing to repay loans may have a negative impact on your ability to meet your retirement savings goals.

Before you apply for a loan, you should review the Summary Plan Description that was provided to you as a participant in your employer’s plan to learn:

• Whether your employer’s plan permits loans; and
• Whether you are eligible for a loan.

If the plan allows for loans, we also provide some important information about loans in your My Account (under the Loans section). In your My Account, you can also model a loan and begin the application process.

You can also discuss your options with a Mutual of America loan specialist by calling 800.468.3785.

Before you initiate a withdrawal or rollover from an employer-sponsored retirement plan that is subject to spousal consent and is funded by a group annuity contract, please complete the following steps:

Review the Summary Plan Description that was provided to you as a participant in your employer’s plan to learn:

• Whether your employer’s plan allows for withdrawals or rollovers;
• If the plan does allow for withdrawals, the type of withdrawals it allows (e.g., in-service or only at termination of employment); and
• Whether you are eligible for a withdrawal (i.e., you have money in your account that is available for a withdrawal)

Simply visit My Account to begin the process.

Please see the “Individual Retirement Products” section below.

You can mail your form and any additional documentation to the following address:

Mutual of America Financial Group Withdrawal Processing Center
P.O. Box 20208
New York, NY 10011

Alternatively, you can email the form and additional documentation as a PDF file to us from the email address we have on file for you. We will only be able to process emailed forms that are in PDF format. If you email the form to us using an email address other than the email address we have on file for you, we will reject your email. We do this to safeguard your account and to prevent fraudulent withdrawals from your account.

For your protection, please note the following risks associated with sending information to us using unencrypted email:

If you send your form and any additional documentation to us within an email that is not encrypted, your information is not secure during transmission. This means that individuals who intend to steal your personal information can potentially intercept the email, read or copy the information you provided, and use your information for an illegal purpose. By sending us your personal information in an unencrypted email, you are agreeing to accept these risks. Instead, we recommend you send the form and any additional documentation to us by U.S. mail.

If you still choose to send the form via email, please send your form to WPC@mutualofamerica.com.

If you are eligible, you can make a withdrawal from an IRA, Roth IRA or FPA.

As a reminder, you established an IRA, Roth IRA or FPA to save for retirement. Although you may be able to take a withdrawal, Mutual of America does not encourage you to do so, and your savings should not be used for current expenses. When available, withdrawals are generally taxed as ordinary income (and may be assessed a 10% tax penalty if taken before age 59½, except for withdrawals of an amount deposited to a Roth IRA as a qualified rollover contribution). For Roth IRA withdrawals, earnings are not taxed if they are part of a qualified distribution (see the Roth IRA Withdrawal Request form for more information). We encourage you to evaluate these issues carefully before requesting a withdrawal.

If you need access to money before you retire, you should carefully consider and exhaust your other options before making a decision to take a withdrawal from your retirement savings.

Simply visit My Account to begin the process.

A retirement account is a great way to save for your future, but once you reach a certain age, the IRS requires that you start withdrawing a percentage of your assets from your 401(k), 403(b) and other types of tax-deferred retirement accounts each year. This is known as the Required Minimum Distribution, usually referred to as an RMD for short. 

Note: RMDs apply to traditional IRAs, but they do not apply to Roth IRAs because contributions are made with income that has already been taxed.

RMD rules apply to the following types of plans:

• 401(k) plans
• 403(b) plans
• 457(b) plans
• Profit-sharing plans
• SEP IRAs
• SIMPLE IRAs
• Traditional IRAs
• Other defined contribution plans

Past: The SECURE Act of 2019 changed the RMD rules to increase the age for the required beginning date for RMDs from age 70½ to age 72, applicable to participants who reach age 70½ on or after January 1, 2020.

Present: The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 increases the age for the required beginning date for RMDs still further, to age 73, as of January 1, 2023.

Future: In ten years, the RMD age will rise yet again to 75.

The amount changes each year. The IRS uses a formula for determining the amount of your RMD, which divides the total of all your tax-deferred retirement savings accounts by your life expectancy. If you’ve reached the mandatory age for making withdrawals, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) makes available a calculator to determine how much money you need to take out of your 401(k) or traditional IRA.

IRAs and 403(b)s

If you have more than one IRA or more than one 403(b) account, you must calculate the RMD for each IRA or account separately each year. However, you may aggregate your RMD amounts for all your IRAs and all your 403(b)s and withdraw the total from one IRA or 403(b) account. Alternatively, you can withdraw a portion from each of your IRAs or each of your 403(b) accounts. 

401(k) and other Defined Contribution Plans

If you have more than one defined contribution plan, you must calculate and withdraw your RMDs separately for each plan.

RMD withdrawals are required once you reach age 72. For example:

• If you reached age 72 in 2022, you would have needed to make your first RMD withdrawal by April 1, 2023, and an additional withdrawal by December 31, 2023, of each subsequent year.
• If you reach age 72 in 2023, you need to make your first RMD withdrawal by April 1, 2025, and an additional withdrawal by December 31, 2025, of each subsequent year.

Missing and RMD deadline can result in consequences, but there are instances where you can resolve this issue without repercussions:

• If you correct the error in a timely manner, the penalty tax is reduced to 10%. In order to make the correction and pay the excise tax, you will need to file IRS Form 5329 with an accompanying check to cover the payment.
• As an alternative, you might consider requesting a waiver. The IRS may waive the penalty if you made what the IRS considers a “reasonable error” that caused you to miss the RMD payment deadline or underpay what you owed. To make your request, return IRS Form 5329 with a letter explaining why you believe you qualify, including the steps you have taken to rectify the error. You will be notified by the IRS about its decision to grant or deny your request. 

                Note: No payment is required when making the waiver request.