To complete the BPAS rollover form, log into your participant account at the BPAS portal, open the distribution election form from the Withdrawals menu, select “Direct Rollover” as your payment type, fill in the receiving custodian’s trustee name, EIN, account number, and rollover mailing address exactly as that institution provided them, sign (with spousal consent or a Medallion Signature Guarantee if your plan requires it), and return the form to BPAS by portal upload, fax, or mail. A direct rollover sends the money straight from your BPAS plan to the new IRA or employer plan, so there is no 20% federal withholding and no 60-day deposit clock.1Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding
Where to Get the Form
BPAS keeps distribution and rollover forms inside its online participant portal. Sign in, open My Account, and go to Withdrawals to view and print the forms tied to your plan.2BPAS. Workplace Retirement Plan FAQ If you have never logged in, you will need the welcome letter BPAS mailed when the account was opened; it contains the registration details.
No login and no welcome letter? Call the BPAS Participant Services Center at 1-866-401-5272, weekdays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, and ask them to send the form. Your HR department may also keep current copies, because BPAS often issues plan-specific versions of the paperwork to each employer.
What to Gather Before You Start
Have everything in front of you before you open the form. One missing field, especially on the receiving side, bounces the paperwork back and can add weeks.
Your Own Details
You will enter your full legal name, Social Security number, date of birth, and current mailing address, along with your employer’s plan name as it appears on your statements and your BPAS account number. Pull these from a recent quarterly statement rather than relying on memory, so the request matches the plan ledger exactly.
Receiving Institution Details
This is where most rollover forms go wrong. Call the IRA provider or new employer’s plan administrator before you start writing, and ask for:
- The legal name of the receiving trustee or custodian — the entity that will actually hold the funds, not the consumer brand name. Fidelity’s trustee name, for example, is Fidelity Management Trust Company.
- The receiving institution’s Federal Tax Identification Number (EIN), not yours.
- Your account number at the new institution. If the receiving account does not exist yet, open it first.
- The mailing address the receiving institution uses for incoming rollover checks. Many custodians have a dedicated lockbox that is different from the main corporate address.
- The account type: traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or governmental 457(b). Not every plan type can accept every kind of rollover.3Internal Revenue Service. Rollover Chart
Wrong trustee name or wrong mailing address is the single most common reason a rollover check gets returned. A short call to the receiving custodian’s rollover department beforehand prevents it.
Completing the Distribution Election
The main part of the form is the distribution election. For a rollover, choose “Direct Rollover” rather than lump-sum cash or installment payments. Direct rollover means BPAS sends the funds to the new custodian in a trustee-to-trustee transfer; you never touch the check.
The Payee Line and “FBO”
In the payment instructions, write that the check should be made payable to the receiving institution’s trustee name, followed by “FBO” (for the benefit of) and your name. Example: “Fidelity Management Trust Company FBO Jane Smith.” That payee line is what tells the IRS the money went to a new retirement account instead of to you.4Fidelity Investments. Rollover IRA How to Roll Over an Old 401(k) to an IRA If the check is cut to you personally, the distribution is treated as an indirect rollover and 20% federal withholding kicks in.1Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding
Enter the receiving institution’s mailing address and your new account number in the designated fields. Some BPAS forms ask whether the check should go directly to the new custodian or to your home address. Direct delivery to the custodian removes any chance of accidental deposit into a personal bank account.
Signatures, Spousal Consent, and Medallion Guarantees
Sign and date the form. If your plan requires spousal consent for distributions, which is common in pension-style defined benefit plans and some money purchase plans, your spouse will also need to sign, sometimes before a notary or plan representative.
For larger balances, BPAS or your plan document may require a Medallion Signature Guarantee. That is a specialized stamp from a bank or brokerage certifying your identity, and it carries more weight than a notary seal because the guarantor institution assumes financial liability for a fraudulent signature.5Investor.gov. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities Not every bank branch offers one, so call ahead. The dollar threshold that triggers the requirement varies by plan; check the form instructions or ask BPAS.
Pre-Tax, Roth, and After-Tax Money
If your BPAS account holds more than one contribution type, the form may ask how each source should be handled. Pre-tax dollars from traditional deferrals and employer match roll into a traditional IRA or another pre-tax plan. Roth 401(k) contributions roll into a Roth IRA or, if the new plan accepts them, another designated Roth account.3Internal Revenue Service. Rollover Chart The two streams cannot be mixed; each must land in an account of matching tax character.
After-tax (non-Roth) contributions are more delicate. Under IRS Notice 2014-54, when a distribution contains both pre-tax and after-tax amounts, you can direct the after-tax contribution portion to a Roth IRA and the pre-tax portion, including earnings on the after-tax contributions, to a traditional IRA.6Internal Revenue Service. Guidance on Allocation of After-Tax Amounts to Rollovers This split works only if your plan permits source-specific withdrawals. Confirm with your summary plan description or BPAS before filling in the allocation fields.
Outstanding Loans
If you still owe a 401(k) loan when you leave the company, the unpaid balance is typically handled as a plan loan offset: the plan reduces your account by what you owe, and the IRS treats that reduction as a distribution.7Internal Revenue Service. Plan Loan Offsets Most offsets are eligible for rollover, so you can replace that dollar amount by contributing it to the IRA or new plan yourself. If the offset occurred because you left your job or the plan terminated, it is a qualified plan loan offset (QPLO), and you have until the tax-filing deadline (including extensions) for the year of the offset to roll it over. Other offsets fall under the standard 60-day window. Miss the deadline and the offset becomes taxable income, plus a 10% early-withdrawal penalty if you are under 59½.8Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
Call BPAS for the current loan payoff before you submit the rollover form. If you can repay the loan in full before distribution, there is no offset and the full balance rolls over cleanly.
Amounts That Cannot Be Rolled Over
Not every dollar in the account qualifies. BPAS will not process a direct rollover for amounts the IRS excludes from eligible rollover distributions:9Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
- Required minimum distributions for the current year, if you have reached RMD age.
- Hardship withdrawals.
- Substantially equal periodic payments over your life expectancy or a period of ten years or more.
- Excess contributions and the earnings on them.
- Plan loans already reported as deemed distributions (different from an offset).
Emergency personal expense distributions and domestic abuse victim distributions created by the SECURE 2.0 Act are also ineligible.10Internal Revenue Service. Safe Harbor Explanations – Eligible Rollover Distributions If your account contains any of these pieces, BPAS will split them out, roll the eligible portion, and send the rest as a taxable distribution.
Submitting the Form
BPAS accepts the completed form through several channels. The participant FAQ directs you to send it “at the address or fax number shown on the cover page of your application form,” so use the mailing address and fax number printed on the front page of your specific form.2BPAS. Workplace Retirement Plan FAQ
You can also upload the completed form through your online participant account. Log in, go to Withdrawals, and use the upload feature to send the scanned pages.2BPAS. Workplace Retirement Plan FAQ Portal upload is the fastest route and gives you an immediate record of receipt. If you mail the form, use a trackable service; the pages carry your Social Security number and authorize the movement of real money.
Before sending anything, photocopy or scan every page you submitted, including Medallion stamps and spousal consent. If BPAS calls weeks later with a question, you want to know exactly what they received.
What Happens After You Submit
Once BPAS has a complete, properly signed form, the processing team verifies your identity against the plan records, liquidates the investments in your account, and issues the check payable to the new custodian FBO you, or wires funds directly if the receiving institution accepts electronic transfers. Processing typically takes one to two weeks from the date BPAS receives the form, though the exact timing depends on plan rules and the investments being sold. If anything on the form is wrong, such as a mismatched name, missing signature, or incorrect account number, BPAS will contact you to fix it and the clock restarts.
Your 1099-R
By January 31 of the year after the rollover, BPAS will mail you a Form 1099-R reporting the distribution. For a direct rollover, Box 7 shows distribution code G, and Box 2a (taxable amount) should read $0 or be blank, confirming no tax is due on the transfer.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 A direct rollover of designated Roth money to a Roth IRA uses code H instead. Even though the taxable amount is zero, report the rollover on your Form 1040. The full distribution amount goes on the return with the taxable portion listed as zero; omitting it entirely can trigger an IRS notice.
Why Not Just Take the Check Yourself
Asking BPAS to pay the check to you instead of the new custodian turns the move into an indirect rollover. BPAS must withhold 20% of the taxable portion for federal income tax before cutting the check.1Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding On a $100,000 balance, you receive $80,000 and have 60 days from the date you receive the check to deposit the full $100,000 into a qualifying retirement account to avoid tax on the distribution.12Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2020-46
To roll the whole amount, you have to find the missing $20,000 out of your own pocket. That money comes back as a tax refund, but only after you file. Deposit just the $80,000 you received and the IRS treats the $20,000 shortfall as a taxable distribution, with a 10% early-withdrawal penalty on top if you are under 59½.8Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions Miss the 60-day window entirely and the whole distribution becomes taxable. The IRS allows self-certified waivers under Revenue Procedure 2020-46 in a limited set of circumstances, but plan administrators are not required to accept them and the IRS can challenge the waiver later.13Internal Revenue Service. Accepting Late Rollover Contributions Choosing “Direct Rollover” on the form avoids every one of these problems.