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The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is answering frequently-asked questions on temporary changes to required minimum distributions (RMDs). The changes—included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARE)—aim to give account balances time to recover during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Many TSP accounts might have seen a decline in value since the end of 2019 (the time period RMDs would have been calculated on). Waiving RMDs for 2020 allows retirees to leave their retirement accounts alone for another year to let them recover from the market turndown.
Here are FAQs released today from TSP.gov:
Q: Will my installment payments get stopped automatically? If they don’t and I want to stop them, how do I do that?
Answer: The temporary waiver of RMDs does not stop installment payments you have elected to take, even if you only chose to take them to meet your RMD. If you want to stop receiving payments, you must log in to My Account on tsp.gov and select Withdrawals and Changes to Installment Payments.
Q: If I took a withdrawal less than 60 days ago, will I be able to use the TSP-60 form to roll over that distribution back into TSP using a personal check, even if it was a required minimum distribution?
Answer: Yes, you can use the TSP-60 form to roll over that distribution back into the TSP using a personal check.
Q: What if I’ve already received a required minimum distribution in 2020 and it was more than 60 days ago? Can the TSP extend the 60-day deadline for rollovers?
Answer: The authority to extend the 60-day deadline belongs to the IRS. When a law similar to the CARES Act went into effect in 2009, the IRS created an extended period in which people could roll over that money into an IRA or eligible employer plan. If the IRS does the same for the CARES Act, we will provide updates about it here.
Q: What does the TSP intend to do with the automatic RMD payments that were scheduled to occur either before the end of December 2020 (for separated participants who reached the age of 70½ before the end of 2019) or before the end of March 2021 (for participants whose first RMD year is 2020)?
Answer: We will not be making those payments, which are normally sent automatically before the deadline.