How to Complete and Submit the T. Rowe Price Hardship Withdrawal Form

The T. Rowe Price hardship withdrawal form — labeled FRP4RPDT on troweprice.com and titled Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Distribution — is what you use to pull money from a 401(k) or profit-sharing plan before age 59½ when you have a qualifying financial emergency. You can download it from the T. Rowe Price website or start the request through the online Withdrawal Center, complete the sections that apply to hardship requests, attach IRS Form W-4R and any supporting documents your plan requires, and mail it to T. Rowe Price’s processing center in Baltimore.

Before you start, confirm you qualify, gather your documents, and understand what the withdrawal will cost you at tax time. The form itself is straightforward once those pieces are ready.

Do You Qualify for a Hardship Withdrawal

Federal rules require an immediate and heavy financial need that you can’t cover through other reasonably available resources. T. Rowe Price follows the IRS safe harbor list, so your request automatically satisfies the “immediate and heavy” test if it falls into one of these categories:¹

Unreimbursed medical expenses for you, your spouse, dependents, or your plan’s primary beneficiary.
Costs of buying a principal residence, not counting regular mortgage payments.
Up to twelve months of post-secondary tuition and related fees for you, your spouse, children, dependents, or plan beneficiary.
Payments needed to prevent eviction from or foreclosure on your primary home.
Funeral or burial expenses for a parent, spouse, child, dependent, or plan beneficiary.
Repairs to your principal residence that would qualify for a casualty deduction.
Expenses and lost income from a federally declared disaster when your home or workplace sits in a FEMA individual-assistance zone.²

The withdrawal cannot exceed the actual need, but you can request enough extra to cover the income taxes and penalties the distribution itself triggers.¹

Since January 1, 2023, SECURE 2.0 lets plans accept written self-certification: you certify you meet a safe harbor reason, that the amount doesn’t exceed your need, and that you have no other way to pay, and the administrator can approve without collecting documents unless it doubts the claim. Not every employer has adopted this. Ask your plan sponsor or call T. Rowe Price to find out whether your plan uses self-certification.

Documents to Have Ready

If your plan hasn’t adopted self-certification, the form directs you to your plan documents for the specific paperwork required.³ Administrators generally expect documents matched to the expense:⁴

Medical bills or invoices showing amounts not covered by insurance.
A signed purchase agreement or closing cost estimate for a home purchase.
A bursar’s statement or enrollment billing for tuition.
An eviction notice, court filing, or lender’s notice of default.
An itemized funeral home bill.
Contractor estimates or invoices plus evidence of the casualty event.
Proof that your home or workplace is inside a FEMA disaster area.

Missing or mismatched documents are the most common reason a request stalls.

Filling Out the Form

The distribution form has multiple sections, but hardship requests specifically require Sections 5 and 8B, plus any others that apply.³

Your Personal and Plan Information

Enter your full legal name, Social Security number, and T. Rowe Price Plan ID at the top. The Plan ID appears on your account statements and in the participant portal. If you participate in more than one employer plan at T. Rowe Price, file a separate form for each.

Section 5: Financial Hardship

Identify your hardship category from the safe harbor list and state the dollar amount you need. Two things matter here. The amount can only cover the actual need plus taxes and penalties from the distribution — no rounding up. You also choose whether to pull from all eligible contribution sources, from Roth contributions only, or from all sources except Roth. That choice affects your tax bill, because Roth contributions were already taxed when you made them.

Section 8B and Form W-4R

Section 8B covers payment method and delivery. Alongside it, you must submit IRS Form W-4R, which tells T. Rowe Price how much federal income tax to withhold. Without a completed W-4R, the default withholding is 10% of the distribution.³ You can elect a higher percentage if you want to reduce what you’ll owe at tax time. The 10% floor exists because hardship distributions cannot be rolled over, so they count as nonperiodic distributions rather than the rollover-eligible payouts subject to 20% withholding.⁵

Plan Administrator Signature

Money purchase pension plans, profit-sharing plans, and Individual 401(k) plans require the plan administrator’s signature before T. Rowe Price will process the distribution.³ For 403(b) plans, contact your administrator to ask whether their approval is needed. Coordinate with HR before mailing the form. A missing administrator signature will send it back.

When Your Spouse Has to Sign

Most 401(k) and profit-sharing plans don’t require spousal consent for a hardship withdrawal, as long as your spouse is already listed as the full beneficiary and the plan doesn’t offer a life annuity option. Two situations change that. If your account holds assets transferred in from a money purchase pension plan, those specific assets keep their original spousal consent requirements. And if your plan is subject to qualified joint and survivor annuity rules — more common with defined benefit and older pension-style plans — spousal consent applies. When it’s required, the signature must be witnessed by a notary public or a plan representative.

Submitting the Completed Form

T. Rowe Price accepts the form by mail. There is no fax option on the current version.³

Regular mail: T. Rowe Price, P.O. Box 17350, Baltimore, MD 21297-1350
Express mail only: T. Rowe Price, Mail Code 17350, 4515 Painters Mill Road, Owings Mills, MD 21117-4903

Some plans also let you start a hardship withdrawal in the online Withdrawal Center at troweprice.com or by phone. The 24-hour automated Plan Account Line is 800-922-9945, and representatives are available Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET.⁶ The form-specific number printed on FRP4RPDT is 800-492-7670.³

What the Withdrawal Will Cost in Taxes

If you’re under 59½, a hardship withdrawal creates two separate tax hits. The full amount (minus any Roth contributions you already paid tax on) counts as ordinary income in the year you receive it, and the IRS adds a 10% early distribution penalty.⁷ A $10,000 hardship withdrawal for someone in the 22% bracket runs roughly $3,200 in combined federal tax before any state tax.

The default 10% withholding usually won’t cover both the income tax and the penalty, so plan for a balance due when you file. That’s why the IRS lets you build anticipated taxes into the requested amount: if you need $10,000 for medical bills, you can request enough extra to absorb the tax hit, provided you document the math.¹

A hardship distribution cannot be rolled over into an IRA or another qualified plan. It is permanent and irreversible.¹ T. Rowe Price reports the distribution to the IRS on Form 1099-R, with distribution code 1 in Box 7 if you’re under 59½. State income tax may apply on top of federal; W-4R covers federal withholding only, so check your state’s rules separately.

How Long Processing Takes

Once T. Rowe Price receives a complete, properly signed form with all required documentation and plan administrator approval, review typically runs a few business days. After approval, funds are liquidated from your investments and sent by direct deposit (usually two to three business days) or paper check (seven to ten days).³

Incomplete submissions are the biggest cause of delay. The frequent misses: the plan administrator’s signature when required, Form W-4R, supporting documentation, or an amount that exceeds the documented need. A returned form restarts the clock.

Cheaper Alternatives Worth Checking First

Before committing to a hardship withdrawal, look at whether your plan offers something less costly.

A 401(k) Loan

If your plan allows loans, you borrow from your own account and repay with interest through payroll deductions. The borrowed amount isn’t taxed as long as you stay on schedule, and the interest goes back into your account. A hardship withdrawal can’t be repaid, is taxed as income, and adds the 10% penalty if you’re under 59½. A loan is almost always cheaper when it’s available and you can handle the payments.

SECURE 2.0 Emergency Expense Distribution

Since 2024, plans that adopt this optional provision can let you take one penalty-free withdrawal of up to $1,000 per calendar year for an unforeseeable personal or family emergency. You self-certify the need with no documentation. Your vested balance must stay above $1,000 after the withdrawal, and if you don’t repay within three years, you can’t take another emergency distribution until you do.⁸ Repayment can be made through payroll deductions or by check. It won’t cover a $30,000 medical bill, but for smaller emergencies it avoids both the penalty and the permanent account reduction.

The Long-Term Cost to Your Retirement

A hardship withdrawal permanently shrinks your retirement savings. You don’t pay it back, and the withdrawn amount stops compounding. Over decades, the lost growth can dwarf the original withdrawal: $15,000 taken at age 35 could represent $100,000 or more in lost retirement income by age 65, depending on returns.

One rule that used to make things worse no longer applies. Since January 1, 2020, plans cannot suspend your contributions after a hardship withdrawal. You can keep deferring and keep receiving any employer match immediately, so at least the account can start rebuilding as soon as the distribution is done.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding Hardship Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Hardship Distributions
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T. Rowe Price. Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Distribution
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Internal Revenue Service. Substantiation Guidelines for Safe-Harbor Hardship Distributions From Section 401(k) Plans
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3405 – Special Rules for Pensions, Annuities, and Certain Other Deferred Income
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T. Rowe Price. Contact Us
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
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Nationwide. Partnering With You to Help Implement Key SECURE 2.0 Provisions