Updated October 8, 2026. Quick answer: The Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana (MPERS) lets a member who qualifies (for a member hired before January 1, 2013, for example with 25 years of service at any age, 20 years at age 50 or 12 years at age 55; MPERS lists different ages for later hires, set out below) choose a Maximum plan or a reduced option such as Option 3, which pays a named beneficiary 50% for life. The choice cannot be changed after the retirement date. A one-time 2.5% Auto COLA can also be elected, DROP can run up to 60 months, and the Initial Benefit Option pays up to 36 payments up front. A refund of contributions forfeits all rights, with 20% withheld unless rolled over.
Other Louisiana systems run on their own rules: Louisiana LASERS retirement decisions, Louisiana Sheriffs’ Pension retirement decisions and Louisiana Parochial Employees’ Retirement decisions.
What this page covers and what it does not
This page works from documents published by the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System of Louisiana (MPERS): its retirement, Initial Benefit Option (IBO) and DROP applications, its refund of contributions form with the Special Tax Notice, its FAQs, and R.S. 11:2220, 11:2221 and 11:2224, all read on October 8, 2026. Any figure here is MPERS’s or the statute’s, or is labeled as a computed example from assumed inputs.
The group covered is members under R.S. 11:2220 as read, where a member who has “completed at least twenty-five years of creditable service regardless of age”, or twenty years and age fifty, or twelve years and age fifty-five, may retire. MPERS’s FAQ puts those ages under “Member prior to January 1, 2013” and gives a different list for “Member on or after January 1, 2013”: for hazardous duty members, 12 years of service at age 55 or 25 years at any age; for non-hazardous members, 10 years at age 60, 25 years at age 55 or 30 years at any age. The statute sections for that group were not read, so a later hire should confirm the ages with MPERS. Tax questions are on Louisiana retirement taxes and does Louisiana tax pensions; a different Louisiana system is on Louisiana TRSL retirement decisions.
| Years of creditable service | Age needed |
|---|---|
| 25 years | Any age |
| 20 years | 50 |
| 12 years | 55 |
When a pension can start and the application deadline
The statute sets the allowance at “three and one-third percent of his average final compensation multiplied by his years of creditable service not to exceed one hundred percent of his average final compensation”. A member with twenty years who is not yet eligible for an unreduced benefit may “elect early retirement and receive an actuarially reduced retirement benefit”.
On timing, the application says: “This original application must be received on or before your termination date and must be completed in its entirety”. It adds: “The effective date of your retirement will be the day the application is received or the day after termination, whichever is later”.
A computed example from assumed figures, not MPERS figures: with an assumed average final compensation of $6,000, one year of service at three and one-third percent is a computed $200 a month for each year of service, so 25 years is a computed $5,000 a month before any option reduction.
The election: Maximum plan and four options
A retiring member picks one plan and signs for it.
| Plan | What the retiree receives | What a survivor receives |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum plan | The largest monthly benefit the member is eligible for | No monthly benefit; if the retiree dies before receiving benefits equal to the contributions, the difference is paid in one lump sum |
| Option 1 | An allowance slightly reduced from the Maximum | A lump sum refund of remaining contributions to the designated beneficiary; no monthly benefit |
| Option 2 | A reduced benefit, based on the ages of the retiree and beneficiary | The same monthly benefit for life to the named beneficiary |
| Option 2a | A reduced benefit, based on the ages | Same as Option 2, but if the beneficiary dies first the retiree’s benefit converts to the Maximum |
| Option 3 | A reduced benefit, based on the ages | 50% of the monthly benefit for life to the named beneficiary |
| Option 3a | A reduced benefit, based on the ages | 50% for life, but if the beneficiary dies first the retiree’s benefit converts to the Maximum |
| Option 4 | A reduced benefit calculated by the MPERS actuary | A set monthly benefit for the designated beneficiary |
For the general tradeoff see single life vs joint and survivor pension.
What each plan does for a survivor
For the Maximum plan the application says: “in the event the retiree dies before he/she receives in benefits an amount equal to his/her contributions, the beneficiary or estate will be paid the difference in one lump sum payment”. For Option 1 it warns: “After 10-15 years, the contributions are usually exhausted which causes the member to take a reduction for his/her lifetime and the beneficiary does not receive a refund”.
The statute describes Option 2 this way: “his reduced retirement allowance shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to any person he shall designate”. For Option 3: “one-half of his reduced retirement allowance shall be continued throughout the life of and paid to any person he shall designate”. On the application, Option 4 reads: “Member receives reduced benefit in order for a designated beneficiary to receive a set monthly benefit”. Only some plans allow more than one beneficiary; the application says a member may have “multiple beneficiaries ONLY if you choose the Maximum or Option 1 Plan”.
A computed example from an assumed figure, not an MPERS figure: if an assumed Option 3 reduced benefit were $4,400 a month, 50% of $4,400 is a computed $2,200 a month for the beneficiary for life. The $4,400 is invented.
A spouse’s consent, divorce, and what cannot change
On spousal consent the statute says: “A member who is married under a community property regime shall provide consent of his spouse or an affidavit of unknown location”. That applies to the Maximum plan and to any option naming someone other than the spouse, and the consent must be “executed before a notary public”. Without it, the statute provides: “The system shall establish the benefit as if the member had selected a fifty percent joint and survivor annuity”. MPERS’s FAQ says: “if you are married you must leave at least a 50% option, unless the spouse relinquishes their rights to your retirement”.
Once retired, the statute says: “No change in the option elected by the member, other than as provided by Subsection C of this Section, shall be permitted after the effective date of retirement”. The exception is divorce. Where an option other than Option 1 was chosen with the spouse as beneficiary and a court order relinquishes the spouse’s survivorship rights, “the originally selected option shall be considered revoked and the retiree shall be considered as retired under the maximum benefit”. On changing a beneficiary the statute adds: “A retiree cannot change the designation of beneficiary after the effective date of retirement unless the retirement was approved under Option 1”.
The Auto COLA election
The application has a section marked: “Note: This Section must be completed”. The member either elects an “actuarially reduced retirement allowance plus an annual 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (Auto COLA)” or rejects it. The attachment says: “Such an election shall be irrevocable after the effective date of retirement or after the beginning date of DROP participation”.
A member who rejects it signs an acknowledgement that “if I would not be able to afford to live off of my estimated Auto COLA retirement allowance, then I should consider delaying retirement”.
A computed example from an assumed $4,000 monthly allowance, not an MPERS figure: one 2.5% increase adds a computed $100, for $4,100 a month; a second increase on the larger amount brings it to a computed $4,202.50. The reduction taken to pay for the increases is not published in the pages read.
The FAQ says “The last three COLAs were granted in 2022, 2014 (which couldn’t have been granted but for special legislation), and 2008”. Granting one is the Board’s call: “the MPERS board of trustees needs to approve it”.
The Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP)
The statute allows DROP for a member who has “at least twelve years of creditable service and has attained at least age fifty-five or at least twenty years of creditable service” and is eligible for a service retirement allowance. On length: “The duration of participation in the plan shall be specified and shall not exceed five years”. The application’s duration line reads “Duration in Months (Not to Exceed 60)”. The FAQ states: “MPERS does not offer back DROP”.
On entry, the FAQ says: “Upon entry into DROP your service credit stops and employee contributions are no longer paid to the system”. The statute says: “The monthly retirement benefits that would have been payable, had the member elected to cease employment and receive a service retirement allowance, shall be paid into the deferred retirement option plan account”. A DROP participant “shall not be eligible to receive a cost-of-living adjustment while participating”.
A computed example from an assumed $4,000 monthly benefit, not an MPERS figure: 60 monthly deposits of $4,000 would be a computed $240,000 in the account after 60 months, before interest. The application has the member sign: “I understand that my DROP account will not earn interest while I am an active participant in the DROP”.
For a member first eligible for regular retirement on or after 7/1/2019, the application says: “your DROP account will be established with the stable value fund”. The statute has such a participant agree to terms including that “The benefits payable to the participant are not the obligation of the state or the system”. After leaving employment, a participant may “keep his funds on deposit until he chooses to withdraw them”, and may withdraw as “a lump-sum payment of the account balance, a partial lump-sum payment from the account, or a true annuity based upon his account”.
A participant who keeps working after the period ends gets no payment from the account until employment ends, and signs that “my original DROP benefit will never be recalculated even if I continue working after the completion of my DROP”.
On Louisiana tax, MPERS’s FAQ says “all monies paid by MPERS are exempt from any Louisiana state tax”, and warns that after a rollover “your withdrawals will now be subject to Louisiana income tax”. That is MPERS’s reading; confirm it with a tax preparer. See Louisiana retirement taxes.
The Initial Benefit Option (IBO): a lump sum now, a smaller pension later
The FAQ summarizes it: “A member can elect to choose the IBO retirement and receive a lump sum benefit and receive a reduced monthly benefit for the rest of the member’s life”. The statute says it is “available to a member who has not participated in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan”, and a member who selects it is “ineligible to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan under this Chapter”. DROP and IBO are therefore alternatives.
The statute says the initial benefit “shall not exceed an amount equal to thirty-six payments of the member’s maximum retirement allowance”. The member may take it as a lump sum or place it in an account: “the initial benefit shall be paid as a lump-sum payment or shall be placed in an account called an “initial benefit account””. The monthly benefit is “actuarially reduced by a prorated amount calculated to offset the cost of the initial benefit payment”. The IBO application has the member sign that “my original benefit amount will not be recomputed at anytime and will remain fixed as originally computed”.
A computed example from an assumed $4,000 maximum monthly allowance, not an MPERS figure: the most an initial benefit can be is 36 payments of $4,000, a computed $144,000. The reduced monthly allowance that follows is not published in the pages read. Cost-of-living adjustments “shall not be computed on the initial benefit received either as a lump sum”.
Leaving before retirement: leave contributions or take a refund
The statute provides: “Any member who has completed twelve years of creditable service, and who leaves employment covered by the Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System before attaining age fifty-five, shall be entitled to a retirement benefit beginning at age fifty-five”. The refund form has the member acknowledge that “I can leave my funds on deposit with MPERS for up to five years”, and the statute says a member with twelve or more years who leaves contributions in the system “shall be covered by the survivor benefit provisions found in this Subsection”. The general decision is on pension refund vs leaving it.
A refund ends the pension rights. The form has the member acknowledge that “all rights and creditable service are forfeited by acceptance of said refund and that I will not be eligible for any benefit”. There is no growth on the money: “No interest will be credited to any individual accounts and no interest shall be paid on funds withdrawn from the retirement system”. To reestablish the forfeited service, the form says the member must “be a contributing member of MPERS for at least 18 months, and then repay the refund plus interest as established by law”. A member who returns is “considered a newly hired employee under the provisions in effect at that time”.
The statute requires that the member have “remained out of such employment for a period of thirty calendar days”. The form says “most refunds are issued approximately 90 days from the date all necessary documents are received by MPERS”.
The form offers cash or a rollover. With cash, the member agrees that “20% federal income taxes will be withheld on the taxable portion of my refund”. With a rollover, the member elects a “qualified direct rollover to the financial institution indicated in Section 4 below”. A computed example from an assumed $10,000 taxable refund paid to the member, not an MPERS figure: 20% of $10,000 is a computed $2,000 withheld, leaving a computed $8,000. See 20% withholding on a pension lump sum.
Service purchase, leave conversion and going back to work
The FAQ answers how many years of military service can be purchased: “Up to four years”; see the pension buyback calculator. On leave conversion, it answers who is eligible: “Only members of this system whose employing municipality irrevocably elects such coverage”. On returning to work, the FAQ says: “MPERS retirees generally are prohibited from working for any MPERS employer in any capacity while continuing to receive a monthly pension”. The statute adds: “In no event shall an employed retiree who becomes reenrolled in the system pursuant to the provisions of this Section be allowed to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan”.
What the IRS adds on tax
A refund or lump sum from a public pension is a distribution, so the IRS rules apply on top of MPERS’s own. On withholding, the IRS says that a taxable eligible rollover distribution paid to you “is subject to mandatory income tax withholding (generally at a rate of 20%), even if you intend to roll it over later”, and that if you roll it over yourself “you’ll have to add funds from other sources equal to the amount withheld”. MPERS’s refund form and Special Tax Notice describe the same 20% withholding and the same 60 day rollover window. The rollover clock, if the money is paid to you: “you have 60 days from the date you receive it to roll it over to another eligible retirement plan”.
On early distributions the IRS says “the law imposes a 10% additional tax on certain early distributions from certain retirement plans”. Its list of exceptions includes “Distributions made to you after you separated from service with your employer after attainment of age 55” and “Distributions made to a qualified public safety employee from a governmental plan”. Whether an exception fits a particular refund depends on your own plan and facts, so confirm it with a tax preparer before you take one.
Where the sources disagree
Two points differ. The minimum time out of service before a refund is thirty days in the statute and the form, but the FAQ says: “You must be out of municipal police service for a minimum of 60 calendar days to be eligible for your refund”. And the two retirement applications state different default withholding when no withholding form is filed. The regular application says that if the form is not submitted, “your federal tax withholding will be set as if you are single (or married filing separately) with no other entries”. The IBO application says that if it is not submitted, “your federal tax withholding will be set as Married with three exemptions”. MPERS should confirm the rule for a given member.
What this page could not settle
- The pages read do not state how much any reduced option, Auto COLA or the IBO lowers the monthly benefit.
- The statute section read lists Options 1 to 4, while the applications also list Options 2a and 3a; the pages read do not explain the relationship.
- The online MPERS Member Handbook was not read, because it loads through a dynamic page.
- The pages read do not state the interest rate on a repayment of a refund, only that it is interest as established by law.
- Eligibility ages for members hired on or after January 1, 2013 come from MPERS’s FAQ only; the statute sections for that group were not read.
- Disability, child survivor and reemployment exceptions were not examined.
Common mistakes
- Treating the option as changeable later; the statute allows no change after the retirement date except through the divorce rule.
- Naming a beneficiary under Option 2, 3 or 4 and expecting to swap it; only Option 1 allows a later change of beneficiary.
- Skipping the Auto COLA section; the application says it must be completed, and the election is irrevocable.
- Taking a refund without weighing what ends; all rights and creditable service are forfeited and the member returns as a new hire.
Related on this site: public pension retirement decisions by system, Louisiana retirement taxes, does Louisiana tax pensions, Louisiana TRSL retirement decisions, pension refund vs leaving it and single life vs joint and survivor pension.
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Answer againSources
- MPERS, Application for Regular Retirement, Retirement Form and Automatic Cost of Living Adjustments attachment (form R102020, lampers.org): https://lampers.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Reg-App-with-Retirement-Form.pdf
- MPERS, Application for Initial Benefit Option (IBO), Retirement Form and Automatic Cost of Living Adjustments attachment (form R102020, lampers.org): https://lampers.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IBO-App-with-Retirement-Form.pdf
- MPERS, Application for Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) (form R072024, lampers.org): https://lampers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/drop_application-new.pdf
- MPERS, Refund of Accumulated Contributions form with Special Tax Notice Regarding Plan Payments (lampers.org): https://lampers.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/refund_of_contributions.pdf
- MPERS, Frequently Asked Questions (lampers.org, read October 8, 2026): https://lampers.org/faqs/
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2220, Benefits; contribution limit (Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75099
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2221, Deferred Retirement Option Plan (Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75104
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2224, Optional allowances (Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75107
- IRS, Topic no. 413, Rollovers from retirement plans (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc413
- IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans other than IRAs (irs.gov): https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc558
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 8, 2026. General information from each system’s own published materials, not legal, tax or financial advice. Your own member statement and the system’s current rules decide your benefit, and a pension counsellor at the system or a fee-only adviser is the right place to confirm anything consequential.