How to Fill Out and Submit the Lincoln Financial Withdrawal Form

The Lincoln Financial withdrawal form is completed one of two ways: through the paperless online system at LincolnFinancial.com/Retirement for employer-sponsored 401(k) and 403(b) accounts, or through downloadable paper forms for individual annuity contracts. Either path finishes with federal tax withholding on the distribution and, if you are under age 59½, a possible 10% early distribution penalty on top of the regular income tax.

Employer Plan Withdrawals Through the Online Portal

Log in at LincolnFinancial.com/Retirement, then click “Withdrawal information” under Important Links on your plan dashboard. Click “Withdrawal Request” to begin. The system only shows the withdrawal types your specific plan allows, so the menu you see is already filtered to what you can actually do.

Check the personal information screen first, including your marital status. If anything is wrong, contact your employer or plan administrator before going further, because marital status controls whether spousal consent will be required. Confirm your details, pick your withdrawal type, review the disclosures, and click “Continue Request.” Work through each screen and click “Save & Continue.” You can pause partway through and come back later. After you review and submit, Lincoln Financial sends a DocuSign email. Open it, review, and sign electronically to finalize the request.

One hard deadline: if the review process is not completed within 45 days of your initial request, the request expires and you start over.

Annuity Contract Withdrawals

Individual annuity contracts that are not held through an employer plan use separate forms available on Lincoln Financial’s forms page. The Direct Deposit EFT Authorization form (form 27326) sets up electronic fund transfers for disbursements. Annuity withdrawal or surrender requests themselves are handled through Lincoln Financial’s annuity resources portal or by calling customer service.

What to Gather Before You Start

Account or policy number, from your most recent quarterly statement or the online dashboard.
Social Security number, used to verify your identity against plan records.
Current mailing address that matches what’s on file. A mismatch can flag the request for extra verification.
Bank account details for direct deposit: the bank’s nine-digit routing number and your account number. Form 27326 also requires a letter on bank letterhead verifying account ownership, the account number, routing number, account type, and a bank employee’s signature.
Beneficiary or spousal information. If you are married and your plan is subject to joint and survivor annuity rules, your spouse must consent before the withdrawal can proceed.

The bank letter requirement catches people off guard. A voided check is not always enough; the form instructions specifically call for a signed letter on bank letterhead.

Choosing the Distribution Type

The form or online system asks you to pick one type. Availability depends on your plan’s rules, your age, and your employment status.

Full withdrawal liquidates your entire balance, typical when you have left an employer and want to cash out or roll over everything.
Partial withdrawal takes a specific dollar amount and leaves the rest invested. You specify whether the amount is before or after tax withholding.
Direct rollover moves funds to another eligible retirement plan or IRA. Nothing is withheld because the money never passes through your hands.
Hardship withdrawal is available only if your plan allows it and you meet IRS criteria for an immediate and heavy financial need.
Required minimum distribution covers the mandatory annual withdrawals once you reach RMD age.

Federal Tax Withholding

How much Lincoln Financial withholds depends on the distribution type. For an eligible rollover distribution taken as cash instead of rolled directly to another retirement account, the plan must withhold 20% for federal income tax. That rate is mandatory. You cannot opt out or choose a lower rate.¹ The only way to avoid the 20% is to elect a direct rollover.

For nonperiodic distributions that are not eligible rollover distributions, such as certain annuity withdrawals or after-tax contributions, the default rate is 10%. You can elect out of that withholding or pick a different percentage on the form.¹ For periodic payments like monthly annuity installments, withholding is calculated as if the payments were wages.

Withholding is not your final tax bill. If your effective rate is higher, you owe more at filing; if it is lower, you get a refund. Lincoln Financial issues a Form 1099-R for any distribution of $10 or more.²

The 60-Day Rollover Trap

If you take the distribution as cash and later decide to move it into another retirement account, you have exactly 60 days from the date you receive the funds to complete the deposit. Miss that deadline and the whole distribution becomes taxable income for the year, plus the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you are under 59½. IRS extensions are rare and limited to extraordinary circumstances such as a natural disaster or serious illness.

The catch: because Lincoln Financial already withheld 20%, you receive only 80% of the distribution. To roll over the full original amount and avoid any tax hit, you have to make up that missing 20% from other funds and deposit the full amount within 60 days. Roll over only the 80% you actually received, and the withheld 20% is treated as a taxable distribution.

For IRA-to-IRA rollovers, you are limited to one indirect rollover per 12-month period. Direct rollovers do not count toward that limit and have no 60-day deadline.

Spousal Consent

If you are married and your account is in a plan subject to joint and survivor annuity rules, your spouse must consent in writing before Lincoln Financial can process most withdrawal types. Federal law gives your spouse an automatic right to a survivor annuity, and waiving that right requires affirmative agreement.³

The consent must be witnessed by a notary public or an authorized plan representative.⁴ The online system flags this requirement and prompts you to upload the signed, notarized document. Submitting without proper consent is one of the most common reasons a request is denied.

Not every plan is subject to these rules. Many 401(k) plans that pay the full account balance to a surviving spouse at death are exempt, unless the plan received a transfer from a defined benefit plan. The online system generally tells you whether consent applies to your plan.

Supporting Documents by Withdrawal Type

Death benefit claim: an original or certified copy of the death certificate. Order several certified copies from the county clerk or funeral director, since photocopies are rarely accepted.⁵
Age-based distribution: a copy of your government-issued photo ID may be requested.
Hardship withdrawal: documentation of the specific financial need, such as medical bills, a foreclosure notice, or tuition invoices.
Qualified domestic relations order: a court-ordered QDRO directing Lincoln Financial to pay a portion of your benefits to an alternate payee, typically a former spouse.

Attach everything before submitting. In the online system you upload scans. For paper submissions, include copies. Do not send originals unless the instructions specifically require them.

Submitting the Request

The paperless system moves fastest. Once you sign through DocuSign, the request enters the review queue immediately.⁶

For paper forms, you can fax or mail to the processing center listed on your specific form’s instructions. Lincoln Financial uses different addresses for different account types, so use the address on your form rather than a general one. If you cannot locate it, call the number on your account statement.

Annuity withdrawals processed through the annuity resources portal typically disburse about 48 hours after submission. Employer plan withdrawals may take longer depending on administrator review and any additional documentation. You can cancel a pending request in the online system by clicking “Withdraw” and confirming, but only before it has been approved.

The 10% Early Withdrawal Penalty

A distribution taken before age 59½ carries a 10% additional tax on the taxable portion, on top of the regular income tax you owe.⁷ In the 22% bracket, a $10,000 withdrawal costs roughly $3,200: $2,200 in income tax plus $1,000 in penalty.

Several exceptions eliminate the 10% penalty, though regular income tax still applies:⁷

Separation from service during or after the calendar year you turned 55, for distributions from that employer’s plan.
Total and permanent disability as defined by the tax code.
Distributions to a beneficiary or the participant’s estate after death.
Substantially equal periodic payments taken at least annually for five years or until you reach 59½, whichever is longer.
Unreimbursed medical expenses that would be deductible under IRS rules.
Payments to an alternate payee under a QDRO.
Distributions made because the IRS levied the account.

Some exceptions apply only to employer plans, not IRAs, and vice versa. The separation-from-service-after-55 rule, for example, does not apply to IRA distributions, while the higher education and first-time homebuyer exceptions apply only to IRAs.

Annuity Surrender Charges

If your account is a variable annuity contract, early withdrawal may also trigger surrender charges from Lincoln Financial itself, separate from and on top of the IRS penalty. Schedules vary by contract and can run from 0% to 8% depending on how many contract years have elapsed since purchase, typically decreasing each year until they reach zero. Check your contract’s fee schedule or call Lincoln Financial before withdrawing to confirm your current rate.

Hardship Withdrawals

If your 401(k) or 403(b) plan permits them, you can take a hardship distribution before 59½ without the 10% penalty when you meet the IRS criteria for an immediate and heavy financial need. Six expense categories automatically qualify under the safe harbor rules:⁸

Unreimbursed medical expenses for you, your spouse, dependents, or plan beneficiary.
Costs directly related to buying your principal residence, excluding mortgage payments.
Tuition, fees, and room and board for the next 12 months of postsecondary education for you, your spouse, children, dependents, or beneficiary.
Payments needed to prevent eviction from or foreclosure on your principal residence.
Funeral expenses for you, your spouse, children, dependents, or beneficiary.
Certain expenses to repair damage to your principal residence.

Your employer can rely on your written statement that the need cannot be met from other resources such as insurance, asset liquidation, or commercial loans, unless the employer has actual knowledge the statement is false.⁸ You no longer have to take a plan loan first, and the old rule suspending contributions for six months after a hardship withdrawal has been repealed. Selecting a hardship withdrawal in the online system prompts you through the documents needed for your category.

Required Minimum Distributions

Once you reach RMD age you have to take annual withdrawals whether you need the money or not. The age depends on birth year: those born between 1951 and 1959 start at 73, and those born in 1960 or later start at 75.⁹ Your first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you reach that age, but delaying the first one means taking two RMDs in the same calendar year, which can push you into a higher bracket.

Miss an RMD and the excise tax is 25% of the shortfall. Catch and correct it within two years and the penalty drops to 10%. To request a full waiver, file IRS Form 5329 with an explanation of the reasonable cause and the corrective steps you took.

Lincoln Financial’s system includes RMD as a distribution option, and many plans offer automatic RMD calculations and payments. Setting up automatic RMDs is the simplest way to avoid a missed distribution.

After the Distribution

Lincoln Financial reports every distribution of $10 or more on Form 1099-R and sends you a copy. The form shows the gross amount, the taxable portion, the federal and state tax withheld, and a distribution code in Box 7 identifying the type of withdrawal.² Common codes are 1 (early distribution, no known exception), 2 (early distribution, exception applies), 4 (death), and 7 (normal distribution). A completed direct rollover carries code G with a taxable amount of zero.

Report the distribution on the return for the year you received the funds, not the year you requested them. If you completed an indirect rollover inside the 60-day window, still report the distribution but note the amount rolled over so it is not taxed. Keep the 1099-R and any rollover documentation for at least three years after filing.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 3405 – Special Rules for Pensions, Annuities, and Certain Other Deferred Income
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498 (2025)
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 401 – Qualified Pension, Profit-Sharing, and Stock Bonus Plans
4
Internal Revenue Service. Fixing Common Plan Mistakes – Failure to Obtain Spousal Consent
5
Lincoln Financial Group. Group Benefits – A Resource Guide for Beneficiaries
6
Lincoln Financial Group. Convenient Paperless Loans and Withdrawals
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
8
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Hardship Distributions
9
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs