Refunds Online Eligibility

You are eligible to receive a refund of your contributions to the North Carolina Retirement Systems if:

You have made contributions to the Retirement Systems.
Each month, you contribute 6% of your paycheck to the pension fund for your potential future benefit. As a reminder, if you choose to receive a refund of your contributions, you forfeit this potential benefit once your age qualifies you, as well as any survivor and/or beneficiary benefits.
And you leave your current participating employer.
- If you left employment within the past 60 days, there is a requirement to wait 60 days to process your refund to make sure that the Retirement Systems has received all payroll contributions from your employer.
- If you are leaving at a future date, you will be able to complete the Refunds Online application after your termination date.

You are not eligible to receive a refund of your contributions to the North Carolina Retirement Systems if:

You are still employed with a participating employer.
You are a contributing member to the North Carolina Retirement Systems.
You change jobs to another participating employer.
You have an active application for retirement.
You have an active overpayment invoice to repay money that is owed back to RSD.
- It is still possible to apply for a refund of contributions with the Form 5 (Withdrawing Your Retirement Service Credit and Contributions). If approved, your refund would be applied to any overpayment and the balance payable to you or rolled over. It is possible that the refund will not satisfy the entire overpayment amount.
You have no contributions in your account.
You are currently receiving Workers’ Compensation benefits and have not terminated
You are receiving disability benefits through the Disability Income Plan of North Carolina (DIPNC). Some exceptions may apply.