How to Fill Out and Submit the Brighthouse Financial RMD Form

To get the Brighthouse Financial RMD form for your annuity or IRA, call Brighthouse’s Customer Service Center at (800) 882-1292 and ask a representative to send the required minimum distribution paperwork that matches your specific contract. Brighthouse maintains different forms for different product lines and does not post a single universal RMD form on its website, so the representative uses your contract number to identify the right one.¹ Once it arrives, you’ll fill in your identification details, choose a federal tax withholding percentage, pick a delivery method, sign it, and return it.

Getting the Right Form

Have your annuity contract number or life insurance policy number in hand before you call. The representative uses it to pull up your account and match you to the correct paperwork.¹

The main annuity number is (800) 882-1292, staffed Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET.² If your contract originated with a carrier Brighthouse later absorbed, use the line for that book of business instead:

Group annuity products: (833) 208-3018
Met/Tower and GenAm policies: (877) 638-0411
Former New England Financial (NEF) policies beginning with 55, 27, 28, 38, 2U, 0Y, or 0Z: (833) 208-3017
Former NEF policies beginning with 1Y: (800) 458-2654
Former NEF policies beginning with 3Y: (800) 388-4000

Your financial professional can also request the form on your behalf. Brighthouse typically mails or emails the form once the representative identifies it. The Forms Center at forms.brighthousefinancial.com is available as well, though you’ll need to know your product category to navigate to the correct document.³

What to Have Ready Before You Fill It Out

Gather these items so you can complete the form in one pass:

Contract or policy number, exactly as it appears on your annual statement.
Your full legal name as it reads on the contract. If your name has changed since the policy was issued, update it with Brighthouse before submitting the distribution request.
Social Security number. Brighthouse issues a 1099-R for each distribution year, and the SSN ties the payout to your tax return.
Account type: traditional IRA, SEP IRA, Roth IRA, or qualified annuity. The form asks you to specify because distribution rules and tax treatment differ.
Current beneficiary information. Some forms ask you to confirm or update designations at the same time.

Double-check every field against your records. A mismatched name or a transposed digit in the contract number is the fastest way to get the form kicked back.

Choosing Your Federal Tax Withholding

Federal law treats most RMDs as nonperiodic distributions, and the default federal withholding rate is 10% of the amount paid out. Brighthouse withholds that 10% automatically unless you tell them otherwise on the form.⁴ The withholding section gives you three choices:

Accept the default 10%. Reasonable if your overall effective tax rate is close to that.
Elect a higher percentage. Useful if you’re in the 22% or 24% bracket and want to avoid a bill at filing time.
Elect no withholding. You’re allowed to opt out entirely, but you’ll owe the full income tax when you file, and you may owe an estimated tax penalty if you haven’t made quarterly payments.

State withholding is a separate line on the form. Rules vary: some states require a minimum withholding percentage on retirement distributions, and others have no income tax. Brighthouse applies your state’s rules based on the address on file, and the form may let you add extra state withholding on top of the minimum. If you’ve recently moved, update your address with Brighthouse before submitting the RMD form so the correct state rules apply.

Choosing How the Money Is Paid

The form asks how you want to receive the distribution. Two standard options:

Electronic funds transfer. Provide your bank’s routing number, your account number, and whether the account is checking or savings. Funds typically arrive within a few business days after Brighthouse processes the request.
Paper check, mailed to the address on file. Slower, but no bank details required. If you need the check sent somewhere else, you’ll likely need to update your address on record first or include a separate written request.

Get the banking details right the first time. A transposed routing number can send your distribution into a suspense account, and untangling that takes additional time and paperwork.

Signing and Sending It Back

Most Brighthouse distribution requests require a wet or electronic signature before processing. Mail the completed form to the address printed on the form itself. Ask the Customer Service representative who sent it whether fax submission is available for your product type, and confirm the mailing address if anything on the form looks ambiguous.²

Keep a copy of everything you submit. If you’re sending the form close to the December 31 deadline, use certified mail or a trackable shipping service so you have proof of timely submission. Check your Brighthouse online account after sending it; you should see the withdrawal reflected in your balance and receive a confirmation notice once the distribution is processed.

Automating Future RMDs

If you’d rather not repeat this every year, Brighthouse offers a Systematic Withdrawal Program that automates RMD payments from IRA and qualified annuity contracts. You can elect it in any contract year, and Brighthouse does not charge a fee for it.⁵ You pick monthly, quarterly, or annual payments. Each payment must be at least $100, and at least $500 must be distributed per contract year. Brighthouse reserves the right to change those minimums. Call Customer Service and ask for the Systematic Withdrawal Program election form; it’s a separate setup from a one-time distribution request, but once it’s in place Brighthouse calculates and sends your RMD each year automatically.

Deadlines and the Cost of Missing One

Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach your applicable RMD age. Every RMD after that is due by December 31.⁶ Delaying the first distribution to the April 1 deadline means two RMDs land in the same calendar year, which can push you into a higher bracket.

Failing to withdraw enough by the deadline triggers an excise tax of 25% of the shortfall. That drops to 10% if you correct the shortfall within the correction window, which runs through the end of the second taxable year after the tax is imposed.⁷ To fix a missed RMD, withdraw the shortfall from your Brighthouse account as soon as possible and file IRS Form 5329 for the year you missed. If you’re asking for a full waiver based on reasonable cause, the IRS instructions for Form 5329 walk through the exact lines to complete and the explanation and documentation to attach.⁸

Inherited Brighthouse Accounts Use a Different Form

If you inherited a Brighthouse annuity or IRA, the standard RMD form is not the one you need. Distribution rules depend on your relationship to the original owner and when that person died. Spouses can generally roll the account into their own IRA and follow the standard age-based schedule. Non-spouse beneficiaries face the 10-year rule: the account must be fully distributed by December 31 of the tenth year after the original owner’s death. Whether you also owe annual withdrawals during those ten years depends on whether the original owner had already begun taking RMDs.

The 25% excise tax on missed annual RMDs applies to inherited accounts too, with the same reduction to 10% for timely corrections. Distributions from inherited accounts are not subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty, so beneficiaries under age 59½ don’t face that additional charge. Call Brighthouse Customer Service at (800) 882-1292 and ask for the beneficiary distribution form matching the inherited contract rather than the standard RMD form.²

1
Brighthouse Financial. Policy Service and Claim Forms
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Brighthouse Financial. Contact Us
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Brighthouse Financial. Forms Center
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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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Brighthouse Financial. Systematic Withdrawal Program Supplement
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5329 (2025)