How to Fill Out the T. Rowe Price 401(k) Rollover Distribution Form

To complete the T. Rowe Price 401(k) rollover distribution form, request the Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Distribution form through the Withdrawal Center at troweprice.com or by calling 1-866-262-5565, elect a direct rollover in Section 5, identify the receiving IRA or plan in Section 6, choose a delivery method in Section 7, obtain spousal consent if your plan requires it, and sign in Section 10.¹ The form authorizes T. Rowe Price to liquidate your account and send the proceeds to a new retirement plan or IRA, and getting the rollover method and receiving-account information right is the difference between a tax-free transfer and an unexpected withholding hit.

What to Have Ready Before You Start

Pull these together before you log in or call:

Your T. Rowe Price Plan ID and account number, both of which appear on your most recent quarterly statement and on the online dashboard after you log in.
The receiving institution’s full legal name and mailing address. For an IRA rollover, this is the brokerage or bank that will serve as custodian; for a new-employer 401(k), it is the plan name exactly as the new administrator provides it.
Your account number at the receiving institution. Open that account first. The distribution form requires either a copy of a recent account statement from the receiving institution or, for in-kind transfers, a letter of acceptance identifying the receiving account.²
Your spouse’s availability if you are married and your plan requires spousal consent. Your spouse may need to sign in front of a notary or plan representative.

Direct Rollover or Indirect Rollover

This is the single most important decision on the form. A direct rollover sends the money straight from T. Rowe Price to your new retirement plan or IRA custodian. The check is made payable to the new institution “for the benefit of” (FBO) you, so the funds never touch your hands. No federal income tax is withheld, and the transfer is not taxable.³

An indirect rollover means T. Rowe Price pays the distribution directly to you. When that happens, the plan must withhold 20 percent of the taxable amount for federal income taxes before cutting the check.⁴ You then have 60 days from the date you receive the money to deposit it into another eligible retirement account.⁵ To roll over the full original balance, you have to replace that withheld 20 percent out of pocket. Anything you fail to redeposit within 60 days is treated as a taxable distribution, and if you are under age 59½, you also owe a 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty on that amount.⁶

For almost everyone, the direct rollover is the right election. The only common reason to pick an indirect rollover is short-term access to the cash, and the withholding and 60-day clock make that risky.

Section 5: Pretax and Roth Elections

Section 5A covers pretax money. You can elect a total rollover of the entire pretax balance, or split it by rolling over a percentage or dollar amount and taking the rest as a cash distribution. Section 5B does the same for any Roth (after-tax) contributions in the account. If your plan has both pretax and Roth balances, fill out both sections.²

Section 6: Where the Money Goes

Section 6 tells T. Rowe Price the destination.

Section 6A — rolling into a T. Rowe Price IRA. Select the IRA type: Traditional, Rollover, Roth, or Inherited.
Section 6B — rolling to another financial institution with T. Rowe Price liquidating your holdings first. Attach a copy of a statement from the receiving institution.
Section 6C — transferring in kind, meaning the actual fund shares move without being sold. Include a letter of acceptance from the new custodian.²

Section 7: How the Funds Travel

Even for a rollover, you choose the delivery method:

Check, mailed to the address on file or to a different address you specify. A signature guarantee is required if the check goes to a non-file address.
ACH transfer, electronically deposited into a bank account, with a maximum of $250,000 per transfer.
Wire transfer, available only for single-sum distributions of $5,000 or more.

For a direct rollover to another institution, the check is typically made payable to the new custodian FBO your name and mailed either to you or to the receiving institution, depending on what the new provider requires.²

Section 9: Spousal Consent

If your plan is subject to qualified joint and survivor annuity (QJSA) rules, your spouse must consent in writing before T. Rowe Price can release a lump-sum distribution or rollover. The consent must be witnessed by either a plan representative or a notary public.⁷ Section 9 of the distribution form contains the consent block; your spouse signs there, and the witness or notary stamps and signs directly below.²

If the total vested balance in the plan is $5,000 or less, the plan can process the distribution without spousal consent.⁷ Not every 401(k) is subject to QJSA rules — profit-sharing plans that don’t offer annuity options are often exempt. If you are unsure, ask your plan administrator before signing.

Section 10: Signatures and When You Need a Medallion Guarantee

You sign in Section 10A. A Medallion Signature Guarantee is not required for direct rollovers. It is required if you are sending a check to a bank account not currently on file, mailing to an address other than your address of record, or making the check payable to someone other than yourself.² Banks, credit unions, and brokerage firms provide the guarantee; most do it free for account holders.

If your plan is a profit-sharing plan, money purchase plan, individual 401(k), or ERISA 403(b)(7) plan, the plan administrator must also sign in Section 10B.

If You Have an Outstanding 401(k) Loan

An unpaid loan balance at the time you leave your employer becomes a plan loan offset. The plan reduces your account balance by the loan amount and treats it as a distribution, and the IRS considers this an actual distribution rather than a paper transaction. That can trigger taxes and penalties unless you roll over the offset amount.⁸

If the offset happens because you left your job or the plan terminated, it qualifies as a qualified plan loan offset (QPLO), which carries an extended rollover deadline: your tax filing due date, including extensions, for the year the offset occurs.⁹ You roll it over by contributing cash equal to the offset amount into your new IRA or 401(k); you don’t need the original funds because they were never paid to you.

If You Are Subject to Required Minimum Distributions

Once you have reached RMD age, you cannot roll over your RMD for the current year. It must be taken as a distribution first, and only the remaining balance is eligible to roll.³ Under SECURE Act 2.0, RMDs begin at age 73 if you were born between 1951 and 1959, and at age 75 if you were born in 1960 or later.¹⁰ If you are still working for the employer sponsoring the 401(k) and you are not a 5-percent owner of the business, you can generally delay RMDs from that plan until the year you actually retire.¹¹

Roth 401(k) Rollovers: A Section 5B Trap to Avoid

Roth (after-tax) balances in your T. Rowe Price plan can roll to a Roth IRA. The contribution portion moves tax-free because you already paid tax on it. The earnings portion also transfers tax-free if the rollover is direct.¹²

One catch that surprises people: the five-year holding period from your Roth 401(k) does not carry over to a Roth IRA. The clock for tax-free qualified distributions from the Roth IRA runs from your first-ever Roth IRA contribution, not from when you first contributed to the Roth 401(k). If you have never owned a Roth IRA, the clock starts fresh the year you open one to receive the rollover.¹²

On the form, be sure any Roth election in Section 5B routes to a Roth IRA, not a traditional IRA. Sending Roth money into a traditional IRA creates a taxable conversion you did not intend.²

Submitting the Form

Once the form is complete and signed, with spousal consent and any required Medallion guarantee, submit it one of three ways:

Online upload: scan the completed form and submit through the secure message center at troweprice.com.
Regular mail: T. Rowe Price, P.O. Box 17350, Baltimore, MD 21297-1350.
Express or overnight mail: T. Rowe Price, Mail Code 17350, 4515 Painters Mill Road, Owings Mills, MD 21117-4903.²

FedEx and UPS cannot deliver to P.O. boxes, so use the Owings Mills street address for any non-USPS shipment. To check status on a submitted request, call the 24-hour automated Plan Account Line at 800-922-9945.¹³

What Happens After You Submit

T. Rowe Price reviews the form for completeness, which they call being “in good order.” If something is missing, such as a signature, spousal consent, or an attached statement from the receiving institution, they will contact you to correct it, and that can add days or weeks. When everything checks out, the distribution typically processes within a few business days.

For a direct rollover, the check is mailed or wired to the receiving institution according to the delivery method you picked in Section 7. Once the new custodian receives and deposits the funds, your rollover is complete. Confirm the deposit posted at the new institution rather than assuming it arrived because T. Rowe Price processed it.

Tax Forms You Will Receive

Even a fully tax-free direct rollover generates tax paperwork.

T. Rowe Price must furnish Form 1099-R to you by January 31 of the year after the distribution.¹⁴ It reports the gross distribution, the taxable amount if any, and a distribution code. A direct rollover carries code G, which tells the IRS no tax is due. An indirect rollover you completed within 60 days uses a different code, and you report the rollover on your tax return so the IRS knows the distribution was not a withdrawal.¹⁵

The receiving institution files Form 5498 with the IRS to report the incoming rollover contribution and sends you a copy.¹⁶ The 1099-R and 5498 together create a matching paper trail showing money left one retirement account and entered another.

If you took an indirect rollover, the 20 percent T. Rowe Price withheld is credited toward your federal income tax for the year, like payroll withholding. When you file and report a completed rollover within 60 days, the withheld amount becomes an overpayment refunded to you, provided you replaced that portion from your own funds when depositing into the new account. If you did not replace it, that portion is treated as a taxable distribution and may trigger the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty if you are under 59½.¹⁷

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