How to Fill Out and Submit the Transamerica Hardship Withdrawal Request

To take a hardship withdrawal from a Transamerica-administered 401(k) or 403(b), request the Transamerica hardship withdrawal request form from your employer’s plan administrator, complete it with your account details, withdrawal amount, qualifying reason, tax withholding choice, and payment method, and return it with supporting documents to the administrator, who reviews the package and forwards it to Transamerica. Approved requests are processed in roughly five to seven business days.¹

Where To Get the Form

Transamerica does not publish the form on its public website. You get it from your employer’s benefits department or plan administrator, because the exact form and the rules attached to it vary by plan.¹ Ask for the summary plan description at the same time. It will tell you which hardship categories your plan allows, whether spousal consent applies, and how the plan wants the paperwork returned.

Confirm You Qualify

Federal regulations recognize seven categories of expense that count as an “immediate and heavy financial need.” Your plan may not allow all of them, so check yours before you start filling in the form.² The categories are:

Unreimbursed medical expenses for you, your spouse, dependents, or a primary beneficiary on the plan.
Costs directly tied to buying your primary residence, meaning down payment and closing costs, not ongoing mortgage payments.
Tuition, fees, and room and board for the next 12 months of post-secondary education for you, your spouse, a child, a dependent, or a plan beneficiary.
Payments needed to prevent eviction from, or foreclosure on, your primary residence.
Burial or funeral costs for a deceased parent, spouse, child, or dependent.
Repair of damage to your primary residence that would qualify as a casualty loss, regardless of whether the loss exceeds 10 percent of your income.
Expenses and lost income from a federally declared disaster, if your home or workplace was in the designated area.

The amount you request has to be limited to what you actually need. The IRS lets you include the federal, state, and local taxes and penalties you’ll owe on the distribution itself when you calculate that figure.³ If you need $10,000 in hand for a medical bill and expect roughly $3,000 in taxes and penalty, you can request $13,000.

Filling Out the Form

The exact layout differs by plan, but expect to complete these fields:

Personal identification. Your full name, Social Security number, date of birth, and the Plan ID or plan number tied to your account. The Plan ID appears on your quarterly statements and on the Transamerica participant portal.
Withdrawal amount. The exact dollar figure, grossed up if you want the net to cover your need.
Hardship reason. Select the qualifying category from the options on the form.
Tax withholding election. Federal law requires Transamerica to withhold 10 percent of the distribution for federal income tax by default. You can elect no federal withholding or a higher percentage. State withholding depends on where you live: some states set a mandatory rate, others follow whatever you elect.⁴
Payment method. A mailed check to the address on file or direct deposit to a linked bank account. Direct deposit is faster.

Sign and date the form. If you’re married and your plan is subject to qualified joint and survivor annuity rules, your spouse may need to consent in writing, with the signature witnessed by a notary or plan representative. Most standalone 401(k) and profit-sharing plans are exempt as long as your spouse is the default beneficiary and the plan doesn’t offer annuity payouts. Ask your plan administrator whether spousal consent applies to yours. Submitting without it when required will get the request rejected.

Documents To Attach

Every request needs evidence of the expense. What plans commonly ask for, by category:

Home purchase: a signed purchase agreement or a loan estimate from your lender showing the down payment and closing costs.
Eviction or foreclosure: a notice from your landlord or mortgage servicer stating the past-due amount and any deadline for legal action.
Medical expenses: unpaid bills or a provider’s written estimate of upcoming treatment costs, showing the portion not covered by insurance.
Education: an itemized billing statement from the institution listing the student’s name, enrollment period, and specific charges for tuition, fees, and room and board.
Funeral: invoices from the funeral home or related service providers.
Home repair: repair estimates or contractor invoices, along with any insurance adjuster reports showing the damage.

Self-Certification of Other Resources

Federal rules let your employer accept your written statement that you’ve exhausted other resources, such as insurance reimbursement, personal assets you could liquidate, plan loans, and reasonable commercial borrowing, without independently verifying those alternatives. The employer can rely on that self-certification unless it has actual knowledge the statement is false.⁵ Some plans build the self-certification language into the form; others use a separate attestation. Either way, you still need documentation of the underlying expense. Self-certification only covers the “no other resources available” piece.

Submitting the Form

Return the completed form and supporting documents to your plan administrator, not directly to Transamerica. The administrator reviews the package against the plan’s terms and then submits it to Transamerica for processing.¹ Some employers use an internal benefits portal for uploads; others take physical copies by hand or mail. Your benefits department can tell you which.

Once Transamerica receives a complete package, processing takes about five to seven business days. Missing or inaccurate information adds time. Confirm your Plan ID is right, the amount doesn’t exceed your vested balance, and every required signature is in place before you hand it off. After approval, the money arrives as either a mailed check or direct deposit, depending on what you elected. You can track the status through the Transamerica participant portal.

What the Withdrawal Will Cost You

The whole distribution counts as ordinary income in the year you receive it, taxed at your regular federal and state rates. If you’re under 59½, the IRS also adds a 10 percent early distribution penalty on top.⁶ Meeting the hardship criteria does not exempt you from the penalty; hardship and the early-withdrawal penalty are separate questions in the tax code.

The default 10 percent federal withholding does not cover the full bill. If you’re in the 22 percent federal bracket and your state charges 5 percent, you could owe 37 percent all in when you add the penalty, and only 10 percent came out up front. The remaining 27 percent is due when you file. Either elect a higher withholding percentage on the form or set the difference aside now.

You Cannot Put the Money Back

A hardship withdrawal is permanent. The IRS prohibits rolling it back into the plan or into an IRA, so every dollar you take out, plus the growth it would have earned over the years ahead, leaves your retirement picture for good.⁵

You can, however, keep contributing. The old six-month suspension of employee contributions after a hardship distribution was repealed for distributions made in 2019 and later, so you can resume deferrals immediately and, if your budget allows, increase them for a stretch to help offset the loss.⁵

Look at a Plan Loan First

If your Transamerica plan allows loans, borrowing from your own account is usually the better first move. A loan pays you back with interest and keeps the money inside the retirement account, and no income tax or penalty applies as long as you stay on schedule. A hardship withdrawal triggers immediate income tax, likely the 10 percent penalty, and a permanent reduction in your balance. The IRS expects you to consider plan loans and other resources before a hardship distribution, and your self-certification on the form confirms you did. Save the hardship route for situations where borrowing genuinely isn’t available: your plan doesn’t offer loans, you’ve hit your loan limit, or repayment isn’t feasible.

Federally Declared Disasters: A Separate Path

If your hardship stems from a federally declared disaster, the SECURE 2.0 Act created a distinct option called a qualified disaster recovery distribution. If FEMA authorized individual assistance in your area and you had an economic loss, a QDRD lets you withdraw up to $22,000 per disaster across all your retirement accounts, with no 10 percent penalty, the income tax spread over three years, and the ability to repay some or all of it within three years as a tax-free rollover. You have 179 days from the later of the first day of the disaster’s incident period or the date of the FEMA declaration to take the distribution. Ask your plan administrator whether QDRDs are offered before defaulting to the standard hardship form.

1
Transamerica. Service – Frequently Asked Questions
2
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.401(k)-1 – Certain Cash or Deferred Arrangements
3
Internal Revenue Service. Issue Snapshot – Hardship Distributions From 401(k) Plans
4
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Ruling 18-17 – Section 3405 Special Rules for Pensions, Annuities, and Certain Other Deferred Income
5
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Hardship Distributions
6
Internal Revenue Service. Hardships, Early Withdrawals and Loans