How to Fill Out and Submit the Mutual of America Withdrawal Form

To take money out of a Mutual of America retirement account, you either submit a request through the My Account portal at mutualofamerica.com or complete a paper Distribution Request Form and return it by email or mail. The same process applies whether the account is a 401(k), a 403(b) tax-deferred annuity, or an IRA held with Mutual of America Life Insurance Company.¹ What follows walks through where to get the Mutual of America withdrawal form, what to have ready, the choices you’ll make on it, and how to send it in.

Where to Get the Form

You have three ways to start.

Online. Log in at mutualofamerica.com, go to “Loans, Withdrawals and Rollovers,” and follow the prompts. The portal walks you through tax elections and payment options without a paper form.²
Paper. Download the Distribution Request Form as a PDF from the Mutual of America website. Hardship withdrawals use a separate Hardship Withdrawal Form.³
Phone or regional office. Call 1-800-468-3785 to have a form mailed or to speak with a representative. Regional offices around the country also offer in-person help.⁴

Information to Have Ready

Mismatched or missing details are the most common reason a withdrawal request gets kicked back. Before you start:

Your full legal name exactly as it appears on your statements. A nickname or former name will slow processing.
Your Social Security number, which Mutual of America uses to issue your Form 1099-R.
Your contract or plan number, printed on any Mutual of America statement and visible in your online account.
Your current mailing address. Confirmations and the 1099-R go there even if you elect direct deposit.
Bank routing and account numbers if you want the money deposited electronically. Check the digits twice.

Choosing a Distribution Type

This choice drives your tax withholding, any penalty, and the paperwork you’ll need.

Full or Partial Withdrawal

A full withdrawal liquidates the account. A partial withdrawal takes a specific dollar amount and leaves the rest invested and tax-deferred. Retirees who want income but aren’t ready to empty the account commonly use partial withdrawals.

Direct Rollover

If you’re moving the money to another employer’s qualified plan or to an IRA, a direct rollover sends the funds straight to the receiving institution. Nothing is withheld because the money never passes through your hands.⁵ You’ll need the receiving institution’s name, address, and the account number to complete this section.

Indirect (60-Day) Rollover

An indirect rollover sends the check to you, and you have 60 days to deposit it into another qualified plan or IRA. Twenty percent is withheld for federal tax at the time of distribution even if you intend to complete the rollover, so to roll over the full original amount you have to make up that 20% from your own funds and reclaim it when you file.⁵ Miss the 60-day window and the whole distribution becomes taxable, possibly with a 10% early withdrawal penalty on top.

Hardship Withdrawal

If your plan permits hardship distributions, you can withdraw funds for an immediate and heavy financial need. The IRS recognizes qualifying events including medical expenses, buying a primary home, tuition and education fees, preventing eviction or foreclosure, funeral expenses, and certain federally declared disaster costs.⁶ Your employer has to approve the hardship before Mutual of America will process it.³

The amount cannot exceed the financial need, though you can include enough to cover the resulting taxes and penalties. Hardship withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, cannot be rolled over, and permanently reduce your balance. There is no repayment mechanism the way there is with a plan loan.⁶ Hardship on its own does not waive the 10% early withdrawal penalty; the withdrawal must fit a separate statutory exception for that.

Tax Withholding

Any taxable distribution paid directly to you from a qualified plan is subject to mandatory 20% federal withholding.⁷ You cannot opt out on an eligible rollover distribution; the only way to avoid the 20% is to elect a direct rollover so the money goes straight to the receiving plan or IRA.⁸ For IRA distributions the default withholding rate is 10%, but you can elect a different amount or opt out entirely.⁵

The form also asks about state tax withholding. Rules vary. Some states require withholding on retirement distributions; others let you opt out. Enter your state of residence and follow that state’s election on the form.

The 10% Early Withdrawal Penalty

If you’re younger than 59½, the IRS adds a 10% tax on top of regular income tax for most early distributions from qualified plans.⁹ On a $50,000 withdrawal, that’s another $5,000. Several exceptions apply, including separation from service at age 55 or older, total and permanent disability, substantially equal periodic payments, unreimbursed medical expenses above a percentage of AGI, qualified birth or adoption expenses up to $5,000, terminal illness, and the domestic abuse and emergency personal expense distributions added by SECURE 2.0 for distributions after December 31, 2023. The full list sits in 26 U.S.C. § 72(t).¹⁰

Spousal Consent

If you’re married and your plan is subject to the qualified joint and survivor annuity rules, which covers most ERISA defined-contribution plans, your spouse must consent to the distribution in writing. That consent has to be witnessed by either a plan representative or a notary public.¹¹ Handle the notarization before you submit; adding it afterward can delay processing by weeks.

Not every plan requires it. Some 401(k) and 403(b) plans have elected out of the joint and survivor annuity rules. Check your Summary Plan Description or call Mutual of America to confirm before you finalize the form.

Submitting the Form

Online submissions finish inside the portal at the end of the request. For paper forms you have two options:

Email. Scan the completed form and any supporting documents into a single PDF and email it to Mutual of America. The email has to come from the address on file with your account; unrecognized addresses are rejected. If you’re not sure which email is on file, log in and check under “View Profile Info.”³
Mail. Send the form and documentation to Mutual of America’s corporate headquarters at 320 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022-6839. Some employer plans use a specific mailing address, so check your plan’s instructions or call 1-800-468-3785 to confirm.⁴

Keep a copy of everything you send. If the form is lost or a question comes up in review, you’ll want the backup.

After You Submit

Mutual of America’s administrators verify your identity, confirm vesting, and check the request against your plan’s rules and federal regulations. If anything is missing, whether that’s a spousal consent signature, an unsigned form, or a bad account number, expect a call or letter asking for a correction before processing continues.

For a required minimum distribution, Mutual of America recommends submitting the form at least 30 days before your RMD deadline.¹² Plan on a similar window for other distributions. Once approved, the money goes out by your chosen method: direct deposit, a check to the address on file, or a direct rollover to the receiving institution. You’ll get a confirmation statement with your new balance, and at year end Mutual of America will send you a Form 1099-R reporting the distribution and any taxes withheld. Keep that form for your return; the IRS gets its own copy.

A Note on Required Minimum Distributions

If you turned 72 after December 31, 2022, RMDs begin by April 1 of the year after you reach age 73.¹³ Missing an RMD triggers one of the steepest penalties in the tax code: a 25% excise tax on the shortfall, reduced to 10% if you correct it within two years. On the form, select the RMD option and confirm the amount; Mutual of America can calculate it for you from your balance and the applicable life expectancy table. Submit well ahead of the deadline.

1
Mutual of America. All Retirement Plans
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Mutual of America. How to Request a Withdrawal Online
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Mutual of America. Mutual of America Forms
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Mutual of America. Frequently Asked Questions
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Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding Hardship Distributions
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Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Resource Guide – Plan Participants – General Distribution Rules
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Internal Revenue Service. Pensions and Annuity Withholding
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Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
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Internal Revenue Service. Internal Revenue Bulletin 2023-4
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Mutual of America. Withdrawals, Rollovers and Loans
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Internal Revenue Service. Publication 590-B – Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements