Updated: August 28, 2026
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A federal separation triggers several overlapping paperwork tracks. Some run at the Office of Personnel Management for the FERS annuity. Some run at the Federal Employees Health Benefits program for continued coverage. Some run at the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program. This page covers only the Thrift Savings Plan track.
The TSP has a small number of actual deadlines and a larger number of soft decisions. The separated participant can leave the account in place if the balance is $200 or more. Nothing at the TSP requires an immediate distribution choice. But two items do carry hard deadlines: any outstanding TSP loan, and the required minimum distribution rules for participants past RMD age.
The framework below groups the TSP tasks by day-window. Day 0 is the effective separation date on the SF-50, the Notification of Personnel Action. The clocks that follow depend on when the SF-50 reaches the TSP recordkeeper, not always on the calendar date of separation.
Day 0: The separation date and what actually changes
On the effective separation date, the participant stops earning federal wages. Employee TSP contributions stop with the last paycheck. FERS agency contributions, including the automatic 1 percent and any matching, stop in the same pay period. The account balance and fund allocation remain in place, unchanged.
The TSP recordkeeper does not yet know the participant has separated. The status flip from active to separated depends on the agency payroll office transmitting the SF-50 with a separation code. That transmission typically lands within one to three pay periods after the effective date. Nothing in the separated-participant menu at tsp.gov is available until the flip lands.
Days 1 to 30: Verify the record and update your details
The first month focuses on account hygiene rather than distribution decisions. Four tasks fit this window.
Confirm the SF-50 separation code reached the TSP
Log in to My Account at tsp.gov and check the account status. If the status still shows active after two full pay periods, the SF-50 may not have transmitted. In that case, the agency human resources office is the correct point of contact, not the TSP directly. The TSP cannot change the status until the recordkeeper receives the separation record from the agency.
Once the status shows separated, the full post-separation menu becomes available. Distribution methods, rollover forms, and loan cutoff timing all key off that flip.
Update mailing address and bank information
The TSP mails paper documents, including tax forms, to the address on file. Separated participants often lose access to a work email or an agency-forwarded mailing address. Updating the address inside My Account keeps the annual Form 1099-R and any correspondence deliverable.
Bank information matters if the participant plans any electronic distribution. Direct deposit of any partial or full withdrawal requires a routing number and account number on file. Updating those details early avoids a paper check delay later.
Verify the beneficiary designation on Form TSP-3
The TSP-3 beneficiary form governs the distribution of the account balance at the participant’s death. It overrides a will for TSP purposes. Separated participants often review the designation at this point because life events near retirement, including spousal changes, may have shifted intent.
The TSP-3 is filed with the TSP directly. A designation filed at another retirement plan does not apply to the TSP account.
Confirm any TSP loan is on the recordkeeper’s watch
If the participant carried an outstanding TSP loan into separation, the 90-day full-payoff window is now the most time-sensitive item on the entire TSP checklist. That clock starts when the recordkeeper receives the SF-50, not on the effective separation date. Verifying the current loan balance and the payoff instructions during days 1 to 30 leaves time to act before the deadline lands.
The consequences of missing the window, and the difference between a plan loan offset and a deemed distribution, are covered in our page on the TSP loan rollover and deemed-distribution trap.
Days 30 to 60: Review distribution options and check OPM
By day 30, the SF-50 is usually on file at the TSP and the separated-participant menu is unlocked. This window is for reading options, not for acting on them.
Read the four TSP post-separation distribution methods
The TSP offers four documented distribution methods after separation. They are described in TSP booklet tspbk26, Withdrawing from your TSP account. The four methods are lump-sum withdrawal, partial withdrawal, installment payments, and TSP life annuity purchase through Metropolitan Tower Life. A fifth option, direct rollover to another eligible retirement plan or an IRA, is available at any time.
Under IRC 408(m)(3), a self-directed IRA holding IRS-approved precious metals is one of the documented rollover destinations for retirement plan participants. This page documents the mechanics only and does not recommend any option among the five.
Our page on TSP post-separation distribution methods explained walks each method through its paperwork, timing, and tax treatment.
Leave-in-plan is a valid choice
A separated participant with a TSP balance of $200 or more can leave the account in the TSP indefinitely. Section 3 of tspbk25, Distributions, documents this rule. The interfund transfer feature, the L Fund glide paths, and the G Fund all remain accessible to a separated participant who leaves the balance in place.
If the account balance is below $200 at separation, the TSP automatically distributes the balance under Section 3 of tspbk25. A participant with a very small balance receives a check without any election to file.
Confirm FERS annuity paperwork status at OPM
The FERS annuity runs on a separate track at OPM. A participant retiring under FERS files retirement paperwork through the agency, which forwards the package to OPM. Interim annuity payments and the finalized annuity calculation happen at OPM.
The FERS annuity file is not the TSP file. Nothing the participant does at tsp.gov moves the FERS package forward. The OPM Retirement Services Online portal shows the current status of a submitted FERS retirement package.
The 30 to 90 day window at a glance
The figure below sequences the TSP-specific tasks across the first three months after a federal separation.
Days 60 to 90: Loan cutoff and any first distribution
The last window carries the two decisions that need action rather than review.
The TSP loan 90-day payoff deadline
A separated participant with an outstanding TSP loan has 90 days from the date the TSP receives the SF-50 to repay the loan in full. If the loan is not repaid by that deadline, the unpaid balance is treated as either a plan loan offset under IRC 402(c)(3)(C) or a deemed distribution. The tax and rollover implications differ by code.
The full mechanics of the coding, the 1099-R timing, and the extended rollover window under a plan loan offset are covered in our TSP loan rollover deemed distribution trap page.
Decide on a first distribution or continued leave-in-plan
By day 90, the participant has reviewed the four distribution methods, the direct rollover option, and the leave-in-plan choice. The TSP does not require a decision at this point. The account can remain in place with no action required.
A participant who chooses an indirect distribution, meaning cash paid to the participant with the intent to roll over within 60 days, faces mandatory 20 percent federal income tax withholding on the taxable portion. IRC 3405 requires the plan to withhold 20 percent from any eligible rollover distribution not paid as a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer.
Our page on TSP direct versus indirect rollover mechanics and the 20 percent withholding trap walks through the paperwork sequence that avoids the withholding, and the risk of missing the 60-day rollover window when 20 percent has already been withheld.
The RMD interaction if you are 73 or older at separation
The required minimum distribution rules apply only if the participant has reached RMD age. The SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022 set the RMD starting age at 73 for participants born 1951 through 1959, and at 75 for participants born 1960 or later.
A separated TSP participant who has reached RMD age must begin taking required distributions. The first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after the participant reaches RMD age. Subsequent RMDs are due by December 31 each year. An active participant working past RMD age has different rules, which end at separation.
Our page on TSP SECURE 2.0 RMD age 73 or 75 mechanics walks the birth-year table and the RMD calculation.
What has an actual TSP deadline versus what can be deferred
The TSP-specific list of hard deadlines is short. Everything else is a soft decision.
Hard TSP deadlines: the 90-day loan payoff window from the recordkeeper’s receipt of the SF-50; the RMD deadlines for participants at or above RMD age; the automatic distribution rule for balances below $200. A participant should track these on a calendar with the specific SF-50 receipt date at the TSP.
Soft TSP decisions: the distribution method, the rollover destination, the timing of a first withdrawal after separation. None of these are required by any TSP-specific rule. A separated participant with a balance of $200 or more can leave the account in place indefinitely. The choice among the five destinations belongs to the participant.
A note on the FEHB, FEGLI, and OPM tracks
The Federal Employees Health Benefits program, the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program, and the FERS annuity all run on their own timelines at OPM, not at the TSP. The TSP does not administer any of them. The TSP checklist above covers only the TSP.
The separating participant should treat the FEHB, FEGLI, and OPM tracks as parallel workstreams with their own paperwork and deadlines. Nothing on the TSP side affects the FERS annuity paperwork, and nothing at OPM changes the TSP-specific clocks.
Updated August 28, 2026.
Sources cited
- TSP: Changes in your career, Leaving the federal government
- TSP booklet: Distributions (tspbk25)
- TSP booklet: Withdrawing from your TSP account for separated and beneficiary participants (tspbk26)
- Cornell LII: 26 U.S.C. section 408, individual retirement accounts (including 408(m)(3) IRS-approved metals)
- Cornell LII: 26 U.S.C. section 3405, withholding on retirement plan distributions
- IRS: Retirement topics, required minimum distributions (RMDs)