How to Complete and Submit Your Wells Fargo 401(k) Withdrawal Form

If you are looking for a Wells Fargo 401(k) withdrawal form, the account is no longer administered by Wells Fargo. Principal Financial Group took over Wells Fargo’s institutional retirement business, so the withdrawal form, the online portal, and the phone line you need all belong to Principal. Log in at principal.com and start the request under “My options,” or call 800-547-7754 to have the paperwork mailed or faxed to you.1Principal. Help With Your Principal Retirement Plans

Why the Form Now Comes From Principal

Wells Fargo sold its Institutional Retirement and Trust business to Principal in 2019,2Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo to Sell Institutional Retirement and Trust Business to Principal Financial Group and the integration finished in mid-2021.3Principal. Principal Completes Integration of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement Business Any old Wells Fargo statement, portal link, or withdrawal form you still have is outdated. Do not mail a Wells Fargo form to a Wells Fargo address; it will not be processed.

Getting the Correct Form

The fastest route is Principal’s online portal. Sign in at principal.com, open your 401(k) account from the dashboard, click “My options,” and follow the prompts.1Principal. Help With Your Principal Retirement Plans Some plans let you complete everything digitally. Others generate a PDF that you download, sign, and return.

If you left the employer years ago and no longer have a login, you can register a new account on Principal’s site using your Social Security number and date of birth. If registration fails or your plan is not visible, call 800-547-7754 and a representative can verify your identity and send you the paper form. Have your plan ID handy; it appears on any old statement or on the Principal dashboard once you are in.

One thing to check before you fill anything out: your vested balance. Your own contributions are always fully yours, but employer matching contributions may still be subject to a vesting schedule, and only the vested portion is available to withdraw. Your Principal dashboard shows the vested figure. The Summary Plan Description under “Plan information & forms” spells out how your plan’s vesting works.

What the Form Asks You to Decide

Whether you complete the request on screen or on paper, the same core choices show up.

Distribution Type and Amount

You will identify the reason for the withdrawal: separation from service, hardship, an age 59½ in-service withdrawal, or a required minimum distribution. This is not a formality. The reason drives your tax treatment and whether the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty applies. You will also indicate whether you want a full liquidation of your vested balance or a partial withdrawal of a specific dollar amount.

If you are still employed and requesting a hardship withdrawal, be ready to point to an IRS-recognized immediate and heavy financial need, such as unreimbursed medical expenses, costs to prevent eviction or foreclosure, funeral expenses, or certain home repairs.4Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Hardship Distributions Some plans accept a written self-certification; others require supporting documents.

Cash Distribution or Direct Rollover

The most consequential box on the form is the one that asks whether you want the money paid to you or rolled directly into another qualified plan or IRA. A direct rollover avoids the mandatory 20 percent federal tax withholding that applies to cash distributions. If you take cash and change your mind, you have 60 days to deposit the full distribution, including the withheld 20 percent, into another eligible plan or IRA. Miss that window and the whole amount becomes taxable income.5Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 413, Rollovers From Retirement Plans

If you are choosing a direct rollover, get the receiving institution’s name, address, and account number before you start the form. Filling it in with your new provider’s information the first time is faster than getting the request kicked back.

Delivery Method

For a cash distribution, you typically pick between direct deposit and a paper check. Direct deposit needs your bank’s routing number and your account number, both of which are worth verifying twice. For a check, confirm your mailing address on file in Principal’s system is current before you submit.

Spousal Consent

Some 401(k) plans require a married participant to obtain written, notarized or witnessed spousal consent before a distribution, particularly plans that use a qualified joint and survivor annuity as the default payment form.6Internal Revenue Service. Fixing Common Plan Mistakes – Failure to Obtain Spousal Consent Many profit-sharing and 401(k) plans are exempt so long as the spouse is the default beneficiary, but confirm this against your plan documents. A missing spousal signature is one of the most common reasons a form gets rejected.

Tax Withholding and the Early Withdrawal Penalty

If you take a cash distribution rather than a direct rollover, the plan administrator must withhold 20 percent for federal income tax. You cannot opt out. You can elect to withhold more, which is worth considering if you want to cover state tax or expect to owe the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty. State withholding rules vary; the form has a section where you indicate your state of residence and any additional state withholding.

The 20 percent is a prepayment against your tax bill for the year, not a separate tax. You reconcile it on your return.

Withdrawals before age 59½ generally trigger an additional 10 percent tax on top of ordinary income tax.7Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions Several exceptions exist, including the rule of 55 (separating from service in or after the year you turn 55, or 50 for certain public safety employees), total and permanent disability, distributions to a beneficiary after death, up to $5,000 within a year of a birth or finalized adoption, disaster-related withdrawals up to $22,000, domestic-abuse withdrawals up to the lesser of $10,000 or 50 percent of the vested balance, a $1,000 emergency personal expense withdrawal in plans that offer it, and distributions to individuals certified as terminally ill. The penalty exception does not eliminate income tax on the distribution.

Submitting the Completed Form

If your plan allows full digital processing, submit through the portal and record the confirmation number the system generates. If your plan produced a PDF for signature, you have three options:

  • Upload the signed form through Principal’s secure document center.
  • Mail it to the processing center address printed on the instruction page of the form.
  • Fax it to the number printed on the form, if your plan accepts faxed submissions.

Before you send, check the routing and account numbers, confirm the distribution type matches your intent, and make sure every required signature is present, spousal consent included where the plan calls for it. These are the fields that most often send a request back.

How Long Until the Money Arrives

Standard processing runs up to seven business days from submission,8Wells Fargo. Understanding Your Withdrawal Options and Principal’s own guidance puts the full timeline from request to funds in hand at roughly one to two weeks.9Principal. Thinking About a 401(k) Withdrawal or Loan? What You Should Know Before You Take Money Out Once the request is approved:

What You Will Receive at Tax Time

Principal will issue a Form 1099-R for any distribution of $10 or more, showing the gross amount, the taxable portion, and the federal tax withheld.10Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 It arrives early the following year and you need it to file. Check the distribution code: it tells the IRS whether the payment was a normal distribution, an early distribution, a rollover, or a hardship withdrawal. If the code does not match what you actually did, contact Principal for a corrected 1099-R before you file your return.