Form TSP-19, Transfer of Information Between Agencies, is the document your departing federal agency uses to send your Thrift Savings Plan account details to the agency you’re joining. Despite the name, you don’t fill it out. The losing agency’s personnel and payroll offices complete every section so the new payroll office can pick up your contributions, vesting, and any loan payments without a gap. Your role is to make sure it actually gets sent and that everything resumes on your first paychecks at the new job.
When TSP-19 Applies
TSP-19 is used whenever a federal employee moves from one agency to another or switches payroll offices within the government. The losing agency must provide every data element on the form to the gaining agency, whether it travels on paper or through an electronic payroll system.1The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Revision of Form TSP-19, Transfer of Information Between Agencies It typically moves alongside other transfer paperwork like the SF-75, arriving at the new HR office before or shortly after your start date.
The form applies even if you weren’t actively contributing when you transferred. Gaining agencies have to obtain your TSP information regardless of contribution status,2Thrift Savings Plan. TSP-19 Transfer of Information Between Agencies because your account may still hold a balance, still be accruing vesting time on Agency Automatic (1%) Contributions, or carry an outstanding loan.
Two situations look like transfers but don’t use TSP-19. If you left federal service and are returning after a break of 31 or more calendar days, your new agency automatically re-enrolls you and sets up your account fresh; no TSP-19 changes hands.3The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Returning to the Federal Government And if you have both a civilian and a uniformed services TSP account, TSP-19 does not combine them; that takes Form TSP-65 after you separate from one of the two roles.4The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Attention: Obsolete Forms
What Information Gets Transferred
The form has three sections, all completed by the losing agency.2Thrift Savings Plan. TSP-19 Transfer of Information Between Agencies Section A records your name, Social Security number, date of birth, and the effective date of the transfer. A transposed digit in your SSN can disconnect the record from your account entirely, so confirm those identifiers with your departing HR office before you leave.
Section B is the core of the form. On the enrollment side, it carries your TSP status code and status date, your contribution elections (traditional and Roth, expressed as either a percentage or a dollar amount), and your year-to-date employee contributions including catch-up amounts. The year-to-date figure matters because the new payroll office uses it to keep you under the annual elective deferral limit. For FERS employees, it also carries the TSP Service Computation Date used to calculate vesting for Agency Automatic Contributions, along with a vesting code showing whether you’re partially or fully vested. The gaining agency has to verify the service computation date against your Official Personnel Folder when it arrives.5The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Thrift Savings Plan Vesting Requirements and the TSP Service Computation Date
The loan portion of Section B asks whether you have an outstanding TSP loan and, if so, records up to two loan numbers and their per-pay-period payment amounts. Section C identifies the losing agency by name, location, payroll office number, and a contact person, so the new agency can call if anything on the form looks wrong.
Who Is Responsible for What
The work splits three ways. The losing agency fills out the entire form and forwards it to the gaining agency’s HR office, providing every data element whether on paper or through its payroll system.1The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Revision of Form TSP-19, Transfer of Information Between Agencies
The gaining agency does most of the downstream work. Its payroll office has to establish your account in the new payroll system, submit an Employee Data Record to the TSP, set up your contribution deductions including any catch-up contributions, and continue deducting and reporting any loan payments. The gaining personnel office should also verify the enrollment data against your Official Personnel Folder once it arrives, and correct anything that transferred incorrectly.1The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Revision of Form TSP-19, Transfer of Information Between Agencies
You don’t fill out the form, but you’re the backstop. The TSP advises transferring employees to tell their new personnel or benefits office that they’ve been contributing, so contributions don’t get interrupted.6Thrift Savings Plan. Summary of the Thrift Savings Plan If contributions don’t resume at the new agency, you may lose the ability to make up what you missed later. A quick heads-up to the new HR office makes sure someone is expecting the paperwork.
Why Loan Information Deserves Extra Attention
A botched loan transfer is where a paperwork problem turns into a tax bill. If a participant misses two or more loan payments and doesn’t cure the delinquency within the allowed period, the TSP recordkeeper declares the entire unpaid balance, principal and interest, as a deemed distribution.7eCFR. 5 CFR Part 1655 – Loan Program That balance gets reported to the IRS as taxable income; under Internal Revenue Code Section 72(p), plan loans that fail repayment requirements are treated as distributions.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts If you’re under 59½, an additional 10% early withdrawal tax may apply.
The failure mode is simple. If the losing agency doesn’t record your loan details on TSP-19, the new payroll office won’t know to deduct anything, and two pay periods later the loan is in trouble. Before you leave, confirm that Section B lists each loan number and the correct per-period payment. If you carry two loans (the TSP maximum), both should appear.
Confirming the Transfer Worked
Once you’ve started, check your first couple of leave and earnings statements and your TSP online account for three things:
- Your traditional and Roth TSP withholding matches the elections that were recorded on the TSP-19. Nothing being withheld usually means the form hasn’t arrived or hasn’t been processed.
- Loan deductions appear at the correct per-period amount, for each outstanding loan.
- Your contribution allocations and loan status on tsp.gov reflect what should be happening at the new payroll office.
If contributions or loan payments haven’t resumed after your first full pay period, contact the new agency’s HR or benefits office right away. Corrective action is the gaining agency’s responsibility,1The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Revision of Form TSP-19, Transfer of Information Between Agencies and the earlier you flag it, the less catch-up there is to do.