How to Fill Out and Submit the MetLife Rollover Form

The MetLife rollover form tells MetLife to move your retirement savings out of an employer-sponsored plan it administers and into another tax-advantaged account, such as an IRA or a new employer’s 401(k). There isn’t one universal version: MetLife generates a form specific to your plan, and you can request it through the MyBenefits portal at metlife.com or by calling participant services at 1-800-638-5656.¹

Getting Your Plan’s Form

Your plan sponsor decides which distribution and rollover options are available, and MetLife builds the form around those options. Two ways to get yours:

Log in to the MetLife MyBenefits portal, open your retirement account, and look for a distribution or rollover request. Some plans let you complete the whole rollover online without a paper form.
Call participant services at 1-800-638-5656. A representative can confirm what your plan allows and send you the correct form by mail or email.¹

Before you log in or call, have your MetLife plan or contract number and Social Security number ready. Those are the identifiers MetLife uses to pull up your account.² A recent statement is useful too, because it shows your balance, your investment funds, and whether the account holds any after-tax or Roth money.

Direct Rollover or Indirect Rollover

The most consequential choice on the form is between a direct and an indirect rollover. It controls whether MetLife withholds taxes from your money before sending it.

Direct Rollover

In a direct rollover, MetLife sends the money straight to the new custodian. No check comes to you, and the IRS does not require the 20% mandatory federal income tax withholding, because the funds never pass through your hands.³ The distribution also doesn’t count as taxable income for the year as long as the receiving account is an eligible retirement plan.⁴

MetLife typically makes the check payable to the new institution “for the benefit of” (FBO) you, for example “Fidelity Investments FBO Jane Smith.” That phrasing signals to the receiving firm that the funds are a rollover rather than a personal deposit. On the form, you’ll enter the new custodian’s name, mailing address, and your account number at the new firm.

Indirect Rollover

With an indirect rollover, MetLife pays the money to you, and you have 60 days to deposit it into another eligible retirement account.⁵ MetLife must withhold 20% of the taxable portion for federal income tax first.³ You can still roll over the full original amount, but you’d need to come up with that 20% from your own pocket and deposit it along with the check. If you don’t, the withheld amount becomes a taxable distribution, and if you’re under 59½, it may also trigger the 10% early withdrawal penalty.

Unless you specifically need temporary access to the cash, the direct rollover is the better choice.

Information to Collect From the Receiving Institution

Before you sit down with the form, contact the firm where the money is going and gather:

Your IRA or new plan account number. Open the account first if you haven’t; MetLife needs somewhere to send the funds.
The custodian’s exact legal name for the “Payable To” line.
The mailing address the receiving firm uses for incoming rollover checks. Many large custodians have a dedicated lockbox address that isn’t their main office address.
Confirmation that the receiving account can accept the type of money you’re rolling over. A traditional IRA won’t accept Roth 401(k) money, for example.

Many receiving institutions will provide a letter of acceptance or incoming rollover instructions on their letterhead. Attaching that to your MetLife form can speed processing and reduce the risk of a rejected check.

Filling Out the Form

Layouts vary by plan, but most MetLife rollover forms follow the same structure.

Personal Information and Distribution Election

The first section asks for your name, Social Security number, date of birth, and MetLife plan or contract number. You’ll then choose a full or partial distribution. A full distribution liquidates your entire MetLife balance; a partial distribution lets you specify a dollar amount or percentage and leave the rest in the plan. You’ll also indicate the reason for the distribution, such as separation from service, retirement, or an in-service withdrawal if your plan allows one. The reason matters because it determines which distribution options are available.

Rollover Destination

Enter the details you collected from the receiving institution. Double-check the custodian name and account number. A single transposed digit can delay the rollover by weeks. If you’re splitting the distribution between multiple destinations, such as pre-tax funds to a traditional IRA and after-tax funds to a Roth IRA, you’ll typically list each destination separately.

Tax Withholding

For a direct rollover, no mandatory withholding applies, and you may not need to complete Form W-4R for the rollover portion. If part of your distribution isn’t being rolled over, for instance you’re taking some cash alongside the rollover, the IRS requires Form W-4R for that portion.⁶

For an indirect rollover, the default withholding rate is 20% and you cannot elect a lower rate. You can only elect a higher rate on Form W-4R. For other nonperiodic payments like a hardship withdrawal, the default rate is 10% and you can adjust it anywhere from 0% to 100%.⁶

Spousal Consent

If you’re married and your plan is subject to the qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) rules, you may need your spouse’s notarized signature. For MetLife’s own 401(k) plan, spousal consent is not required for lump-sum distributions, partial distributions, or installment payments, but it is required if you elect an annuity option other than a joint and survivor annuity.⁷ Your plan’s rules may be different, so check your summary plan description or ask MetLife.

If Your Account Holds a Mix of Pre-Tax, After-Tax, and Roth Money

You cannot withdraw only the after-tax portion of a mixed account. The IRS requires any partial distribution to include a proportional share of both pre-tax and after-tax amounts.⁸

Under IRS Notice 2014-54, if you take a full distribution and direct it to multiple destinations at the same time, the IRS treats it as a single distribution for purposes of splitting pre-tax and after-tax amounts. In practice, you can send all pre-tax dollars to a traditional IRA or another employer plan and all after-tax dollars to a Roth IRA in one move. Earnings on after-tax contributions count as pre-tax money and travel with the traditional IRA portion.⁸

Designated Roth 401(k) or 403(b) money follows a separate path. Roth plan money can only roll into a Roth IRA, not a traditional IRA.⁹ If your MetLife account has both traditional and Roth balances, expect to list two receiving accounts.

Submitting the Form

Once the form is complete and signed, you have several options:

Upload it through the MetLife MyBenefits portal, if your plan supports it.
Fax it to 1-877-547-9666.¹⁰
Mail it to the processing address printed on your form. If no address is printed, call 1-800-638-5656 to confirm before mailing.¹

Keep proof of submission. Save the fax confirmation page, or use certified or trackable mail.

What Happens After You Submit

MetLife generally processes withdrawal requests submitted before 4:00 PM Eastern Time using that day’s closing unit values. A distribution is typically processed and paid by electronic funds transfer or mailed check within three to five business days after MetLife receives the completed paperwork.⁷

For direct rollovers, the check goes to the new custodian’s address you provided. Physical mail may take another week, and the receiving firm often needs a few business days to post the funds. Watch your new account online and follow up if the money hasn’t appeared within two to three weeks of MetLife’s processing date. A wire transfer, if MetLife sends one, usually clears in one to two business days.

You’ll also get a confirmation from MetLife through your online account or by mail. Later in the year, MetLife will issue a Form 1099-R reporting the distribution. For a direct rollover, the distribution code (typically code G) tells the IRS the money was rolled over and is not taxable. Keep the 1099-R for your tax records.

Tax Traps That Can Wreck a Clean Rollover

Required Minimum Distributions Cannot Be Rolled Over

If RMDs apply to you, that portion of your distribution is not eligible for rollover. You have to take the RMD as taxable income first, then roll over whatever is above that amount.¹¹ If you accidentally roll over an RMD, you’ll need to withdraw it from the receiving account and may owe a penalty for excess contributions.

The Rule of 55 Exception Disappears With an IRA Rollover

If you separated from your employer during or after the calendar year you turned 55, you can take penalty-free distributions from that employer’s 401(k) even though you’re under 59½.¹² Rolling those funds into an IRA kills that exception. Any withdrawal from the IRA before 59½ would be hit with the 10% early distribution penalty. If you expect to need the money before 59½, leaving it in the employer plan may be smarter.

One Indirect IRA Rollover Per 12 Months

The IRS limits you to one indirect IRA-to-IRA rollover in any 12-month period.⁹ This applies only to indirect rollovers where the money is paid to you first. Direct trustee-to-trustee transfers don’t count toward the limit, and rollovers from an employer plan like a 401(k) to an IRA are not subject to the one-per-year restriction either.

Employer Stock and Net Unrealized Appreciation

If your MetLife plan holds shares of your employer’s stock, pause before rolling them into an IRA. On a lump-sum distribution of employer stock, you can elect Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) treatment, which taxes only the stock’s original cost basis as ordinary income and taxes the growth at long-term capital gains rates when you sell. Rolling the shares into an IRA eliminates NUA entirely, and all future withdrawals come out as ordinary income. This is one of the few situations where paying for an hour of a financial advisor’s time is likely worth it.

Missing the 60-Day Indirect Rollover Deadline

If you chose an indirect rollover and didn’t deposit the funds within 60 days, the distribution becomes taxable income. The IRS does offer a self-certification procedure under Revenue Procedure 2020-46 that may rescue the rollover.¹³ You can self-certify that you qualify for a waiver if the delay was caused by something beyond your control, such as serious illness, a postal error, a death in the family, a natural disaster, or an error by the financial institution handling the transfer.

You submit a letter (the IRS publishes a model in the revenue procedure) to the receiving IRA trustee or plan administrator certifying that you qualify. The contribution must be made as soon as the obstacle is removed, which the IRS considers satisfied if you deposit the funds within 30 days of the reason no longer blocking you. The receiving institution can accept the late rollover based on the self-certification as long as it has no reason to believe the certification is false. It’s not a guaranteed fix, but it’s a real option when circumstances genuinely got in the way.

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MetLife. Contact Us – MetLife Retirement and Income Solutions
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MetLife. Frequently Asked Questions
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 413, Rollovers From Retirement Plans
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 402 – Taxability of Beneficiary of Employees Trust
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. Form W-4R – Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollover Distributions
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MetLife. MetLife 401(k) Plan Summary Plan Description
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of After-Tax Contributions in Retirement Plans
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollover Chart
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MetLife. Frequently Asked Questions
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Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B, Distributions From Individual Retirement Arrangements
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. Accepting Late Rollover Contributions