A TSP-76 allows civilian and uniformed services participants to request a TSP withdrawal for financial hardship while they are still in service.
Eligibility
To qualify for a financial hardship withdrawal, your financial need must be from one of the following four conditions:
- Recurring negative monthly cash flow
- Medical expenses
- Personal casualty loss
- Legal expenses for separation or divorce
How to Qualify
To qualify for a hardship withdrawal, your TSP account must contain at least $1,000 of your own contributions and earnings on those contributions. You must not have received financial hardship in-service withdrawal from the same account in the past 6 months. You cannot also have an application pending for an age-based in-service withdrawal at the same time.
Determining Financial Hardship
To determine financial hardship, you need to fill out the Worksheet to Determine Financial Hardship that is attached to the TSP-76. The worksheet will have you calculate:
- Calculation for Negative Cash Flow
- Extraordinary Expenses
- Maximum Request Amount
Components of a TSP 76
A TSP-76 contains the following sections:
- Worksheet to Determine Financial Hardship
- Information About You
- Married FERS and Uniformed Services Participants
- Married CSRS Participants
- Withdrawal Request
- Tax Withholding
- Direct Deposit Information
- Certification and Notarization
Consequences
Your financial hardship withdrawal is subject to income tax. If you are younger than 59½, you may also have to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty.
Once you make a financial hardship withdrawal, you cannot contribute to your TSP account for 6 months. If you are a FERS or BRS participant, you will not receive any Agency/Service Matching Contributions during this period.
At the end of the 6-month period, your employee contributions do not automatically resume. You must make a new contribution election using Form TSP-1.
Tax Considerations
The IRS considers financial hardship withdrawals to be non-periodic payments for income tax purposes.
Tax withholding on your payment
The TSP must withhold 10% of your withdrawal unless you submit IRS Form W-4P, Withholding Certificate for pensions and annuities with your application.
Changes to the Form
This form was designed to be read by an optical scanner. If you are printing or reproducing the form, you should ensure that the copies are not resized or distorted. All information should be printed legibly inside the boxes using black or dark blue ink in simple block letters.
