Updated October 22, 2026. Quick answer: Under Massachusetts General Laws chapter 32, section 3, subdivision (6), a former member who returns to covered service may repay the accumulated regular deductions withdrawn, with buyback interest, and regain the credit. Returning within two years allows one make-up sum or installments; after more than two years the repayment must be made before the retirement allowance becomes effective. Those two rules are for a return to the same governmental unit, and a member who does not pay, or set up installments, within one year of returning pays actuarial assumed interest instead of buyback interest.
What this covers
This is the statute’s rule on “Leave of Absence and Reinstatement to or Re-entry into Active Service”, the part of section 3 that governs a person who left covered service and came back. It is about deductions you took out, not about buying service you never had. For the wider choices, see Massachusetts state retirement decisions and public pension retirement decisions.
What the statute says, by what you did when you left
Each row is the statute’s own wording.
| Your situation | What section 3, subdivision (6) says |
|---|---|
| Kept your deductions in the system | “Any member inactive whose service has been terminated otherwise than by retirement but whose membership has been retained by failure to withdraw his accumulated total deductions, shall become a member in service upon his reinstatement to or re-entry into the active service of his former employer in a position which is subject to the provisions of sections one to twenty-eight inclusive.” |
| Withdrew them, and returned within two years | “within two years from the date of his separation therefrom, may again become a member in service and may pay into the annuity savings fund of the system in one make-up sum, or in installments upon such terms and conditions as the board may prescribe, an amount equal to the accumulated regular deduction withdrawn by him, together with the buyback interest to the date of reemployment.” |
| Withdrew them, and returned after more than two years | “more than two years after the date of his last separation therefrom may, before the date any retirement allowance becomes effective for him, pay into the annuity savings fund of the system in one sum, or in instalments, upon such terms and conditions as the board may prescribe, make-up payments of an amount equal to the accumulated regular deductions withdrawn by him, together with buyback interest.” |
What repaying does, and what happens if you stop short
These sentences come from the same paragraphs.
| Case | What the statute says |
|---|---|
| Returned within two years, payment made | “Upon making such make-up payment such member shall be entitled to all creditable service resulting from such previous employment.” |
| Returned after more than two years, payments completed | “Upon the completion of such make-up payments such member shall be entitled to all creditable service resulting from his previous employment.” |
| Returned within two years, not yet repaid | “No such member shall be eligible for any disability benefit under the provisions of this chapter, until such member makes a repayment of accumulated regular deductions and buyback interest, to said respective retirement system.” |
| Allowance starts before payments are finished | “In the event any retirement allowance becomes effective for him before the completion of such make-up payments, such member shall, in addition to credit for his actual membership service rendered since the date of his last becoming a member, be entitled to credit for that proportion of his previous creditable service rendered prior to such date which the total amount of his make-up payments actually made, together with buyback interest thereon to the date his retirement allowance becomes effective, bears to the total amount of what his make-up payments, together with buyback interest thereon to such latter date, would have been had he made payment thereof in one sum on such latter date.” |
Two more rules sit in subdivision (8) of the same section. A former member who goes to work for a different governmental unit may, “before the date any retirement allowance becomes effective for him”, repay “the accumulated regular deductions withdrawn by him from the system from which he last became separated, together with buyback interest”. And a one year deadline applies “Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary”: a member “who is reinstated to, or re-enters the active service of, a governmental unit” and does not pay the make-up payments, or “make provision for the repayment in installments”, “within 1 year from the date of reinstatement or re-entry or within 1 year after April 2, 2012, whichever is later, shall pay actuarial assumed interest instead of buyback interest on all make-up payments to be entitled to creditable service resulting from the previous employment.”
The two consecutive years rule
A returning member does not get an allowance at once. The statute says that “no member who is reinstated to or who re-enters active service as provided for in paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of this subdivision” “shall be eligible to receive a superannuation retirement allowance, an ordinary disability retirement allowance or a termination retirement allowance unless and until he shall have been in active service for at least two consecutive years”. It also carves out one case: “or unless, in the case of any member who is reinstated to or who re-enters active service as provided for in paragraph (b) of this subdivision or who transfers his membership as provided for in paragraph (8) (a) of this section, he was eligible to receive a retirement allowance under the provisions of section ten at the time of his last separation from service”.
What the statute does not say
Subdivision (6) does not state a number for the buyback interest rate, and the board prescribes the installment terms; section 1 of the chapter defines “buyback interest” as “one-half of actuarial assumed interest”. Ask the board for a written payoff figure before you decide, and compare with pension refund versus leaving it in and the pension buyback calculator.
Edition
This page reads Massachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title IV, Chapter 32, Section 3 (Membership), as malegislature.gov served it on 2026-10-22. It is statute text, not the retirement board’s member guide: the board’s forms, its installment terms and its buyback interest rate are outside it, so confirm them with the board.
Common mistakes
- Treating a refund as final. If you return to covered service the statute lets you repay “the accumulated regular deductions withdrawn by him, together with buyback interest.”
- Missing the two year line. The statute draws a different payment rule for a return “within two years from the date of his separation” and one “more than two years after the date of his last separation”
- Assuming disability cover continues while you are unpaid. The statute says “No such member shall be eligible for any disability benefit under the provisions of this chapter” until the repayment is made, for a member who returned within two years.
Related: Massachusetts state retirement decisions, public pension retirement decisions, and pension refund versus leaving it in.
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Answer againSources
- Massachusetts General Laws, Part I, Title IV, Chapter 32, Section 3 (Membership): malegislature.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 410, Pensions and annuities: www.irs.gov
- Related official page (not quoted): IRS, Topic no. 558, Additional tax on early distributions: www.irs.gov
Read from the statute text linked above on October 22, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a pension system or a qualified professional is the right place to confirm anything consequential.