The Scholar’s Choice 529 transfer form, officially the Incoming Rollover Form, moves assets from another 529 plan or a Coverdell Education Savings Account into a Scholar’s Choice account while keeping their tax-deferred status intact. You can download it from the CollegeInvest website or request a copy by calling Scholar’s Choice investor services. The form is short. The federal rules around it are strict, and missing a deadline or filing a second rollover too soon can turn the whole transfer into a taxable withdrawal.
What to Have in Front of You
Before you start writing, pull together:
- Your Scholar’s Choice account number. If you haven’t opened one yet, do that first. The rollover form directs funds into an existing account.
- The last four digits of your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number. The form asks for the last four only, not the full number.1Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan. Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan – Incoming Rollover Form
- Your current plan’s details: the name of the plan manager or custodian (the financial institution, not the state program name) and your account number with them.1Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan. Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan – Incoming Rollover Form
- A recent statement from your current plan. The outgoing custodian has to send a breakdown of principal (your contributions) and earnings along with the money. If that breakdown never reaches Scholar’s Choice, federal regulations treat the whole rollover as earnings, which can create a tax bill on any future non-qualified withdrawal.2NY 529 College Savings Program. Frequently Asked Questions
Filling Out the Form
Start with your personal information: full legal name, mailing address, date of birth, phone number, and the last four digits of your SSN or TIN. Enter your Scholar’s Choice account number so the incoming funds land in the right place.
Next, fill in the details of the plan you’re leaving. Write the name of the current 529 plan manager or custodian and your account number with them. Check the box indicating whether you’re transferring from a 529 plan or a Coverdell ESA. The tax treatment differs slightly between the two.1Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan. Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan – Incoming Rollover Form
Then choose between a full rollover (all assets move) or a partial rollover (you specify a dollar amount). A full rollover is cleaner for record-keeping because the outgoing account closes or zeroes out, and the basis-and-earnings split transfers automatically. With a partial rollover, pay closer attention to how the outgoing plan divides the distribution between contributions and earnings, since that split carries forward.1Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan. Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan – Incoming Rollover Form
Choosing Your Investment Options
The form includes a section where you direct how the incoming money should be invested. Scholar’s Choice offers 28 investment options, including age-based portfolios that shift toward more conservative holdings as the beneficiary approaches college age, and static portfolios that stay at a fixed allocation.3CollegeInvest. Scholars Choice Specify the percentage of the rollover going into each portfolio you pick. The percentages must total 100%.
If you leave this section blank, the plan may default to a money market or principal-protected option, and your funds can sit there in a low-return holding until you call and redirect them. Take the two minutes and fill it out.
Medallion Signature Guarantee
A Medallion Signature Guarantee is not a notary stamp. The financial institution providing the Medallion assumes liability for fraud, which is why a notary seal won’t satisfy the requirement. The rollover form notes that your current 529 plan, the one releasing the funds, may require a Medallion Signature Guarantee before it will process the transfer.1Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan. Scholars Choice Education Savings Plan – Incoming Rollover Form Check with your outgoing plan before you sign. If they require the stamp and you mail the form without it, the whole package comes back.
You can get a Medallion Signature Guarantee from a commercial bank, savings institution, credit union, or broker-dealer that participates in a Medallion program, and typically only if you’re already a customer of that institution.4U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities Don’t sign the form until you’re standing in front of the officer who will stamp it. They need to witness the signature.
Where to Send the Completed Form
Mail the signed form to:
Scholars Choice College Savings Program
P.O. Box 219372
Kansas City, MO 641215CollegeInvest. Scholars Choice Forms
For overnight or express delivery:
Scholars Choice College Savings Program
1001 E 101st Terrace, Suite 200
Kansas City, MO 641315CollegeInvest. Scholars Choice Forms
Confirm the address on the CollegeInvest forms page before you mail, since administrative offices occasionally relocate.
Federal Rollover Rules That Can Void the Transfer
Two IRS rules apply to every 529-to-529 rollover. Break either one and your transfer becomes a taxable distribution with a 10% penalty on earnings.
The 60-day deadline. If you receive the rollover check yourself, which the IRS calls an indirect rollover, you have exactly 60 days from the date of the distribution to deposit the funds into the new 529 account. Miss that window and the entire amount is treated as a non-qualified withdrawal.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 529 – Qualified Tuition Programs A direct rollover, where the outgoing plan sends the check straight to Scholar’s Choice, avoids the risk. If your outgoing plan supports direct transfers, use that route.
The 12-month rule. You can only roll over funds for the same beneficiary once in any 12-month period. If you already transferred money for this beneficiary from any 529 plan to any other 529 plan within the past year, a second rollover will be treated as a taxable distribution.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 529 – Qualified Tuition Programs This limit does not apply when you change the beneficiary to a different family member as part of the transfer.
Changing the Beneficiary During the Transfer
You can roll 529 funds into a Scholar’s Choice account for a different beneficiary without triggering taxes, as long as the new beneficiary is a member of the family of the original beneficiary. The IRS defines that term broadly. It includes siblings, parents, children, stepchildren, first cousins, and the spouses of all those relatives.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 529 – Qualified Tuition Programs Rolling a 529 from one child to a sibling’s Scholar’s Choice account is tax-free.8Internal Revenue Service. 529 Plans: Questions and Answers
UGMA and UTMA custodial assets held in a 529 plan are different. Those funds are legally the property of the named minor, so you cannot change the beneficiary to a sibling or anyone else. The money stays linked to that child. Keep this in mind if you’re consolidating accounts for multiple children.
If you do change the beneficiary during a rollover, the IRS may treat the transfer as a gift from the old beneficiary to the new one. For 2026, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.9Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax If the rollover amount exceeds that threshold and you’re changing beneficiaries, you may need to file a gift tax return. Talk to a tax advisor if a beneficiary change and a large balance are both in play.
Colorado Tax Recapture on Outbound Rollovers
This one catches people moving money out of Scholar’s Choice rather than in. If you previously claimed a Colorado state income tax deduction for contributions to a CollegeInvest account (Scholar’s Choice included), rolling those funds to an out-of-state 529 plan triggers a recapture of the deduction. Colorado treats outbound rollovers to another state’s plan as a non-qualifying distribution, and you must add the amount shown in Box 3 of your Form 1099-Q back to your Colorado taxable income for that year.10Colorado Department of Revenue. Income Tax Topics: CollegeInvest Contribution Subtraction
If you’re rolling funds into Scholar’s Choice from an out-of-state plan, check whether the state where you originally contributed has a similar clawback. Many do.
What Happens After You Submit
Once Scholar’s Choice receives your completed form, they contact the outgoing plan directly to coordinate the transfer. You don’t need to call your old plan separately, though giving them a heads-up that a rollover request is coming can speed things along. The outgoing plan liquidates your holdings and sends a check or electronic transfer to Scholar’s Choice along with the basis-and-earnings breakdown.
From the day Scholar’s Choice receives your form to the day units appear in your account, the full cycle typically takes two to four weeks. Delays on the outgoing plan’s end can stretch it longer. You’ll get a confirmation statement showing the number of units purchased, the portfolios they were allocated to, and the effective transaction date. If nothing arrives within a month, call Scholar’s Choice to find out whether the outgoing plan is holding things up or whether the paperwork was returned for a missing signature or guarantee stamp.
During the transfer window, your money is out of the market. For large balances, a few weeks of missed returns (or avoided losses) is the unavoidable trade-off of moving between plans.