How to Fill Out and Submit the Voya Rollover Form

To complete a Voya rollover form, log in to my.voya.com and pull the distribution or transfer paperwork from the Withdrawals or Forms menu (or request it from your employer’s HR office), gather your account numbers and a letter of acceptance from the receiving institution, choose a direct rollover to avoid mandatory withholding, and submit the signed form through the portal, by fax, or by mail. The exact form varies because Voya recordkeeps thousands of 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), and IRA products, each with its own document set and rules. Getting it right the first time is the difference between a two-week transfer and months of back-and-forth.

Where to Get the Form

Log in to your Voya participant account at my.voya.com and open the Withdrawals or Forms section under your plan menu. Many plans let you initiate the rollover entirely online without downloading anything; if a paper form is required, the portal offers a downloadable PDF.

Some employers restrict access to distribution paperwork and require you to request it through HR or the benefits office. That’s especially common with government 403(b) and 457(b) plans, where the employer has to verify your separation status before any money moves.

If you’re moving assets from a Voya IRA rather than an employer plan, Voya uses a specific Transfer or Rollover Request form. It covers IRA-to-IRA transfers, IRA-to-plan rollovers, and incoming rollovers from other custodians, and it has six sections covering account owner information, transfer amounts, account types, and authorization signatures.

What to Gather Before You Start

Missing any one of these items can bounce the paperwork back to you:

Your Voya account number and Plan ID. Both appear on the top right of your most recent statement or under profile settings in the portal. The Plan ID is specific to your employer; if you’ve had multiple jobs with Voya-administered plans, each has its own ID.
The receiving institution’s full legal name, mailing address, and the account number where the funds should land. Open the receiving account first if you haven’t already.
A letter of acceptance from the receiving institution. Most IRA custodians and plans provide a letter or instruction sheet specifying exactly how the check should be made payable, typically to “[Custodian Name] FBO [Your Name]” (FBO means “for the benefit of”). If the payee line on the Voya form doesn’t match, the receiving institution can refuse the check.
The dollar amount or percentage you want to move. Decide full or partial before you start; if partial, know the exact figure.
Your Social Security number and current mailing address, matching what Voya has on file. If you’ve moved since leaving the employer, update your address in the portal first.

For a Voya IRA transfer, you also need the street address and phone number of the current trustee or custodian; P.O. boxes aren’t accepted. If the transfer involves a conversion or recharacterization between traditional and Roth IRAs, Voya’s separate IRA Conversion or Recharacterization Request form has to go with it.

Direct Rollover vs. Indirect Rollover

The form asks you to pick one, and the choice has real financial consequences.

A direct rollover sends the money straight from Voya to the receiving institution. The check is made payable to the new custodian, not to you. No taxes are withheld, and there’s no deadline pressure. This is the option most people should pick.

An indirect rollover sends a check to you personally. The moment that happens, federal law requires Voya to withhold 20% of the taxable portion for federal income taxes; that’s a statutory mandate under the Internal Revenue Code, not a Voya policy.¹ You then have 60 days from the date you receive the check to deposit the full original amount, including replacing that 20% out of pocket, into a new qualified account.² If you only deposit what you received (the 80%), the missing 20% becomes taxable income. If you’re under 59½, that missing amount also triggers a 10% early withdrawal penalty.³

Voya’s own distribution guidance is blunt: you must roll over the full amount to avoid the withholding eating into your savings.⁴ Choose direct unless you have a specific, well-considered reason not to.

Filling Out Each Section

Field layout depends on your plan, but Voya’s rollover forms follow a consistent pattern.

Account and Personal Information

Enter your full legal name, Social Security number, mailing address, and Voya account or contract number. Double-check the SSN. A transposed digit is one of the most common reasons for processing delays. If someone else is signing on your behalf under a power of attorney, include the signer’s title and attach the supporting legal documents.

Rollover Type and Amount

Select direct rollover or indirect distribution. Indicate full balance or partial; for partial, enter a specific dollar amount or a percentage. Some plans let you specify which investment funds to liquidate, and others liquidate pro rata across all holdings. If your plan allows a choice, the form may include an investment-specific section. You generally cannot add new investment allocation instructions on the rollover form itself; that’s a separate call to the plan’s service center.

You may see a timing field asking whether to process as soon as possible or on a specific future date. The receiving custodian may not honor a specific date and might process whenever they receive the paperwork.

Receiving Institution Details

Enter the new custodian’s full legal name, address, and your account number there. Copy the payee line exactly as the letter of acceptance specifies. If you’re rolling into another employer plan, you’ll need that plan’s name and plan number as well. Getting the payee name wrong, even slightly, is the most common reason a receiving institution sends a check back.

Tax Withholding Elections

If any portion of your distribution doesn’t qualify for rollover, such as a required minimum distribution, a hardship withdrawal, or a loan offset, the form asks for federal and state tax withholding preferences on that portion. Skip this section and Voya applies the default 20% federal withholding to any taxable amount paid directly to you.⁵ For the portion directly rolled over, no withholding applies.

Signature and Medallion Guarantee

Sign and date the authorization section. If your rollover exceeds a certain dollar threshold, the plan may require a Medallion Signature Guarantee, a specialized stamp from a participating bank or credit union that provides financial indemnity against fraudulent transfers. Voya’s threshold varies by plan and product, though $100,000 is a common trigger.⁶ A Medallion Guarantee is not a notary stamp, and a notary won’t satisfy the requirement. You’ll need to visit a bank branch in person with government-issued photo ID. If you’re scanning the completed form for online upload, make sure the stamp impression is clean; Voya’s own form instructions note that an illegible stamp on a scanned document can delay your transaction.

How to Submit and What Happens Next

Check your form’s final page for plan-specific submission instructions. Most Voya plans accept the following:

Online upload through the secure document feature in your Voya account. Fastest route into the queue, with an immediate confirmation receipt.
Fax to the dedicated distribution department number listed on the form. Keep the transmission confirmation as proof of delivery.
Mail to the address on the form, standard or overnight. Overnight with tracking is worth the cost on a six-figure rollover.

Some plans let you initiate the entire rollover online without any paper form. If yours does, use it. The system won’t let you skip required fields, which is the most error-proof route.

Track the request under the transaction history tab in your Voya portal. Processing generally takes about five to ten business days from the date Voya receives a complete, error-free form. Voya IRA-to-Voya IRA transfers may take up to two weeks. Missing information, a mismatched SSN, an illegible signature guarantee, or payee instructions that don’t match the receiving institution all restart the clock when you resubmit.

Once approved, Voya liquidates the investments you selected (or the entire account for a full rollover) and either wires the funds or mails a check to the receiving institution. If it goes by check, allow additional business days for delivery and processing on the other end. Call the receiving institution to confirm the deposit landed in the correct account.

Situations That Change the Form

Outstanding Plan Loan

An unpaid loan against a 401(k) or 403(b) complicates the rollover. Voya’s forms note that all existing loans must be reconciled before a transfer processes. Three options:

Repay the loan in full before the rollover. Cleanest path, and the full balance is then available.
Accept a plan loan offset. The outstanding loan balance reduces your account balance and is treated as a distribution, creating a taxable event.
Roll the offset amount into an IRA. If the offset qualifies as a “qualified plan loan offset” (meaning it happened because of plan termination or because you left the employer), you have until your tax return due date (including extensions) to contribute that amount to an IRA and avoid the tax hit. Other loan offsets fall under the standard 60-day window.⁷

This is where most people get tripped up. The loan offset shows up on your 1099-R as a distribution. Miss the deadline and you owe income tax on it, plus the 10% penalty if you’re under 59½.

Splitting Pre-Tax and After-Tax Money

If your account holds both pre-tax and after-tax (non-Roth) contributions, you can split them during the rollover. IRS Notice 2014-54 allows all pre-tax money to go to a traditional IRA (or another employer plan) and all after-tax money to a Roth IRA, as long as both transfers happen at the same time as part of a single distribution.⁸ Earnings on after-tax contributions count as pre-tax and follow the pre-tax portion.

To use this, tell Voya’s plan administrator how to allocate across the two destinations before the distribution is processed. The rollover form may have fields for multiple receiving accounts, or you may need to submit a separate instruction letter. Confirm the procedure with your plan administrator; not all plans support simultaneous split distributions.⁹

Employer Stock in the Account

If your Voya account holds stock in your employer, rolling it all into an IRA may cost you more in taxes than the alternative. The Net Unrealized Appreciation strategy moves the stock into a regular taxable brokerage account, where the growth in value while it sat in the plan gets taxed at long-term capital gains rates when you sell rather than ordinary income rates, which for 2026 can reach as high as 39.6% at the top bracket.¹⁰

To qualify, you need a triggering event (leaving the employer, turning 59½, disability, or death), and the entire account balance has to be distributed in the same calendar year. Once company stock rolls into an IRA, the NUA advantage disappears permanently. The Voya form won’t walk you through NUA; the in-kind stock distribution has to be coordinated separately from the IRA rollover of remaining assets. If your employer stock has appreciated significantly, talk to a tax professional before filling out the form.

QDRO Distributions to Former Spouses

If you’re receiving a share of a Voya account under a Qualified Domestic Relations Order from a divorce or legal separation, you have full rollover rights as an alternate payee. You can roll into your own traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, or an eligible employer plan that accepts rollovers. You cannot send it to a SIMPLE IRA or a Coverdell Education Savings Account.

QDRO distributions to alternate payees are exempt from the 10% early withdrawal penalty regardless of your age, a statutory carve-out under the tax code.³ Any amount you receive directly and don’t roll over is still subject to ordinary income tax and the mandatory 20% withholding. Contact Voya’s plan administrator to get the QDRO distribution form, which is typically separate from the standard rollover form and requires a certified copy of the court order.

One Reason to Pause Before You Roll

If you separated from the employer during or after the year you turned 55, you can take withdrawals from that employer’s plan without the 10% early withdrawal penalty.³ Public safety employees qualify at 50.¹¹

The moment those assets roll into an IRA, that exception is gone. IRA early withdrawals are penalized until 59½, with narrow exceptions like disability or substantially equal periodic payments. Voya’s own distribution guide flags the split: age 55 with an employer plan, age 59½ with an IRA.⁴ If you’re 56 and might need this money before 59½, keeping some or all of it in the Voya employer plan could save you thousands. You can always roll over later.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3405 – Special Rules for Pensions, Annuities, and Certain Other Deferred Income
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 402 – Taxability of Beneficiary of Employees’ Trust
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 72 – Annuities; Certain Proceeds of Endowment and Life Insurance Contracts
4
Voya Financial. Understanding Your Distribution Options
5
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 413, Rollovers From Retirement Plans
6
Investor.gov. Medallion Signature Guarantees: Preventing the Unauthorized Transfer of Securities
7
Internal Revenue Service. Plan Loan Offsets
8
Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2014-54 – Guidance on Allocation of After-Tax Amounts to Rollovers
9
Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of After-Tax Contributions in Retirement Plans
10
United States Congress. Expiring Provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA, P.L. 115-97)
11
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions