TSP withdrawals

Participants in the Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) have two options for withdrawing from a TSP account after leaving federal service. Participants can take  as a partial withdrawal or a full withdrawal.

Withdrawal options
See: TSP Withdrawals at TSP.gov

See this article's Discussion tab for a discussion of withdrawals for non-Roth accounts.

Partial
After leaving Federal service, a TSP may make only one partial withdrawal from the TSP, if you haven't already made an in-service withdrawal.

For TSP participants, when and whether to make their single partial withdrawal is a very important decision to make, since you get only one and need to use it wisely.

According to the instructions for Section II of TSP Form 77, "Your withdrawal will be disbursed pro rata (i.e., proportionally) from any traditional (non-Roth) and Roth balances in your account." Therefore, participants cannot remove only their Roth contributions, which are also subject to RMD's.

Roth TSP
As an employer sponsored retirement plan, the Roth TSP, like a Roth 401(k), has required minimum distributions According to the TSP, "Required minimum distributions apply to both traditional and Roth balances and are paid proportionally from both balances." One of the many advantages of Roth IRAs is that they are not subject to RMD. Employer sponsored retirement plans like the Roth TSP and Roth 401(k)s, by contrast, do not enjoy that advantage unless they are rolled over to a Roth IRA. For TSP participants who expect to have significant Roth TSP balances, who would prefer not to withdraw from those balances, and who want to remain in the TSP, the decision to contribute the Roth TSP should be reconsidered, since they will be required to take RMD's. Alternatively, a full withdrawal of both Traditional and Roth contributions is possible. A qualified Roth 401(k) distribution is generally a distribution that is made after a 5-taxable-year period of participation and is either: When you roll over a distribution from a designated Roth account to a Roth IRA, the period that the rolled-over funds were in the designated Roth account does not count toward the 5-taxable-year period for determining qualified distributions from the Roth IRA. However, if you had contributed to any Roth IRA in a prior year, the 5-taxable-year period for determining qualified distributions from a Roth IRA is measured from the earlier contribution. So, if the earlier contribution was made more than 5 years ago and you are over 59 ½ a distribution of amounts attributable to a rollover contribution from a designated Roth account would be a qualified distribution from the Roth IRA. If you take a distribution from your designated Roth account before the end of the 5-taxable-year period, it is a nonqualified distribution. You must include the earnings portion of the nonqualified distribution in gross income. However, the basis (or contributions) portion of the nonqualified distribution is not included in gross income. The basis portion of the distribution is determined by multiplying the amount of the nonqualified distribution by the ratio of designated Roth contributions to the total designated Roth account balance. For example, if a nonqualified distribution of $5,000 is made from your designated Roth account when the account consists of $9,400 of designated Roth contributions and $600 of earnings, the distribution consists of $4,700 of designated Roth contributions (that are not includible in your gross income) and $300 of earnings (that are includible in your gross income). See FAQ's on Designated Roth Accounts, IRS.
 * 1) made on or after the date you attain age 59½
 * 2) made after your death, or
 * 3) attributable to your being disabled.