Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: A Montana Game Wardens’ and Peace Officers’ Retirement System (GWPORS) member who retires chooses one of four payment options: Option 1 (lifetime only), Option 2 (full survivor benefit), Option 3 (one-half survivor benefit) or Option 4 (a 10-year or 20-year period certain). The choice generally cannot be changed after the first payment. The formula is 2.5% times years of service credit times highest average compensation, at age 50 with 20 years of membership service. A member who leaves can leave the account or take a refund, which gives up every future benefit and, paid directly above $200, carries 20% federal withholding.
More on public pension COLAs for 2027: the Montana GWPORS COLA for 2027 and the 3% or 1.5% GABA.
What this page covers and which documents it reads
This page covers the Game Wardens’ and Peace Officers’ Retirement System (GWPORS), administered by the Montana Public Employee Retirement Administration (MPERA). It reads two documents: the MPERA GWPORS Member Handbook (Rev. 02/2026) and seven sections of the GWPORS chapter of the Montana Code Annotated, 2025 edition, as published by the Montana Legislature (a selection, not the whole chapter). The handbook says of itself: “This handbook is not an official source of the law and rules and should not be taken as final legal authority. If the context of this handbook conflicts with state law or administrative rules, the law or rules will apply.”
Rules vary by hire date (the handbook draws lines at July 1, 2007, July 1, 2011 and July 1, 2013), and its sample calculations are for members hired before July 1, 2011. Montana’s public employee and teacher systems have separate pages: Montana PERS retirement decisions and Montana TRS retirement decisions.
When retirement is available and how the benefit is figured
The handbook says: “You are eligible for service retirement benefits when you complete at least 20 years of membership service at age 50.” The statute states the benefit this way: “The service retirement benefit is equal to 2.5% of the member’s highest average compensation for each year of service credit.” For averaging, “If you were hired before July 1, 2011, your HAC is 36 months. If you were hired after July 1, 2011, your HAC is 60 months.” A member who leaves earlier has a second route: “If you terminate your GWPORS-covered employment after completing five years of membership service, but before reaching normal retirement age, you may file a written application with MPERA to be paid a retirement benefit when you reach age 55.”
A computed example from assumed figures, not GWPORS figures: with 20 years of service credit and a highest average compensation of $4,000 a month, 2.5% times 20 times $4,000 is a computed $2,000 a month, before any reduction for a survivor option. On timing, the handbook says to contact MPERA for an estimate at least three months ahead, and gives a second deadline: “At least 30 days before you plan to retire, you must complete the retirement application forms that accompanied your benefit estimate and return them to MPERA.”
The election at retirement: four options and what each pays a survivor
Every retiring member picks one payment option. “At retirement, GWPORS offers four benefit payment options.” “If you choose an option to provide income for someone after you die, your monthly retirement benefit will be reduced. The reduction depends upon the option you choose, your age, and the age of your named contingent annuitant.”
| Option | What the retiree receives (handbook sample) | What a survivor receives |
|---|---|---|
| Option 1 | $1,950 a month for life (the formula result) | The designated beneficiary receives any balance left in the account: the amount available at retirement ($69,796) minus benefits already paid |
| Option 2 | $1,856.56 a month for life (Option 1 amount x 0.9521) | The contingent annuitant receives the same amount for life |
| Option 3 | $1,831.83 a month for life (Option 1 amount x 0.9394) | The contingent annuitant receives one-half of that amount for life |
| Option 4, 10-year certain | $1,945.91 a month for life (Option 1 amount x 0.9979) | If the member dies within the 10 years, the contingent annuitant(s) receive the same benefit for the rest of that period |
| Option 4, 20-year certain | $1,932.45 a month for life (Option 1 amount x 0.9910) | If the member dies within the 20 years, the contingent annuitant(s) receive the same benefit for the rest of that period |
Every dollar figure in the table comes from the handbook’s own sample, not from an actual member: age 54, 26 years of service credit, a highest average compensation of $3,000 a month, a $69,796 balance at retirement and a contingent annuitant also aged 54, for a member hired before July 1, 2011. The handbook cautions: “These calculations are for educational purposes only and do not cover all contingencies.”
Measured against the sample’s $1,950, the reductions are a computed $93.44 a month for Option 2, $118.17 for Option 3, $4.09 for the 10-year certain and $17.55 for the 20-year certain. Those differences belong to the sample’s ages only. The handbook prints Option 2 as $1,856.56, while $1,950 times its printed factor of 0.9521 is a computed $1,856.60, so the handbook’s factor is evidently rounded; the gap is a few cents and the MPERA estimate decides the real figure. For the general trade, see single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension.
Option 1: the largest check, with a balance for a beneficiary
The handbook says: “Option 1 will provide a monthly benefit for your lifetime only and is the largest monthly amount you can choose. Option 1 is also the basis for calculating all other options.” On death: “Upon your death, your designated beneficiary will receive any balance left in your account. That balance will be the amount that was available at retirement, minus the total benefits already paid to you. All Option 1 monthly benefit payments end upon your death.”
A computed example, using the sample’s figures and an assumed number of months: if the $1,950 were received for an assumed 24 months, that is a computed $46,800 in payments (ignoring any annual increase), and the $69,796 balance minus that leaves a computed $22,996 for the designated beneficiary or estate.
Options 2, 3 and 4
Option 2: “When you die, your contingent annuitant will receive the same monthly benefit for the rest of their life, subject to annual benefit increases.” Option 3: “When you die, your contingent annuitant will receive one-half of that amount for the rest of their life, subject to annual benefit increases.”
For Option 2 and a non-spouse, the handbook says: “According to IRS regulations, if the age difference between you and your non-spouse contingent annuitant is greater than 10 years, you may not select Option 2. This limit does not apply to a spouse.” The statute states the limit differently (see the sources section below).
Option 4 is built around a period rather than a person. For the 10-year version: “You must be age 75 or younger when you retire to be eligible for this benefit.” For the 20-year version: “You must be age 65 or younger when you retire to be eligible for this benefit.”
What is locked in and the narrow ways to change it
The handbook’s rule: “Generally, once you receive and accept your first benefit payment, you cannot change your retirement option, except under specific circumstances”. For Options 2 and 3 it limits the exceptions: “There are only two circumstances under which you can change your Option 2 or Option 3 payment or contingent annuitant.” They are that “your original contingent annuitant dies”, or that “you and your contingent annuitant divorce and there is no Family Law Order in place, giving your contingent annuitant the right to receive part of your benefit”. The member must act “within 18 months of the death of or divorce from the contingent annuitant”.
A court order can also dictate the choice: “The FLO may also require you to choose a specific beneficiary or retirement option.”
What a survivor can receive if the member dies
Before retirement, for a death caused by service the handbook says a beneficiary is entitled to either “a monthly survivorship benefit equal to 50% of your Highest Average Compensation (HAC) if you had 25 years or less of service credit”, or “a monthly survivorship benefit equal to 2% of your HAC for each year of service credit, if you had more than 25 years of service credit”. For a death unrelated to duty, the entitlement is either “a lump-sum payment of your accumulated contributions (your contributions plus interest)”; or “an actuarial equivalent of a service retirement benefit”. The statute limits that choice to a vested member who dies before normal retirement age.
Leaving before retirement: refund or leave the account
The handbook’s overview states the cost of the cash route: “You may withdraw your contributions (plus interest) if you leave GWPORS-covered employment and don’t retire. Employer contributions are not refundable.” It adds: “If you withdraw your contributions, you will lose your right to any future retirement benefit.” For a vested member, the handbook frames the choice this way: “you can leave your money on account to continue to earn interest and later receive a retirement benefit; or you can receive a refund of your accumulated contributions (your contributions plus interest)”
A refund contains only the member’s side: “If an inactive vested member chooses to take a lump-sum payment rather than a retirement benefit, the lump-sum payment consists of only the member’s accumulated contributions and not the employer’s contributions.” The account earns interest each month.
Below five years the rules differ, and the statute says that “An inactive nonvested member is eligible only for a refund of the member’s accumulated contributions”. The handbook sets bands. First, “If you have less than $200 in accumulated contributions, you will be sent a lump-sum refund to the address we have on file. No taxes are withheld.” Next, “If you have between $200 and $1,000 in accumulated contributions, you can request a refund application from MPERA.” “The application allows you to request a lump-sum sent directly to you, or to rollover your contributions to another eligible plan.” “If you do not request a rollover within 90 days, your contributions will be refunded directly to you with the required federal income tax withheld.” Above that line: “If you have more than $1,000 in accumulated contributions, you may leave your contributions on account and continue to earn interest.”
The general trade between cash and a pension left in place is on pension refund versus leaving it.
Tax on a refund, and what the 20% does
For a refund paid directly: “If you receive a refund greater than $200 directly, the IRS requires us to withhold 20% for federal income tax purposes. You may also be subject to an additional 10% penalty if you withdraw your account before you reach age 59 ½. Montana state income tax can be withheld if requested.” The handbook says both may be avoided by rolling the taxable part of the refund over “into an IRA or other eligible retirement plan immediately, as a direct rollover, or within 60 days”.
A computed example from an assumed $10,000 taxable refund paid directly, not a GWPORS figure: 20% withholding is a computed $2,000, leaving a computed $8,000 in cash. The withholding is an advance on federal tax, not the final tax; confirm with a tax preparer how it and the 10% additional tax apply. See also the 20 percent withholding on a pension lump sum.
Coming back after a refund, and what the annual increase does to the decision
“If you return to a mandatory GWPORS-covered position after receiving a refund, you will again become a member. We will consider you a new member without credit for the refunded service. You may reinstate the refunded service through a service purchase.” On repayment: “To purchase the refund, you must repay the accumulated contributions you received and pay the interest that would have been credited to your account had the refund not taken place.”
The annual increase (GABA) depends on hire date: “If you were hired before July 1, 2007, (including members who transferred to a GWPORS-covered position from another MPERA-administered system), you will be eligible for a 3% GABA. If you were hired on or after July 1, 2007, you will be eligible for a 1.5% GABA.” The 3% rate is kept on a return to work when no refund was taken: “If you were hired before July 1, 2007, and terminated GWPORS-covered employment, but did not withdraw your accumulated contributions (i.e. take a refund), your GABA will remain 3% if you return to GWPORS-covered employment.”
Buying service credit
“As a GWPORS member, you can purchase service at any time before retirement.” The One-for-Five purchase is limited: “For each five-year period of membership service, you can buy one year of service credit for up to five years.” It also “is not membership service and cannot be used to make you eligible to retire or to purchase other types of service”. “Current law limits the purchase of active military, reserve military, additional, and other public service to a combined total of five years.”
Payment is time-boxed: “You can pay for a service purchase in one lump sum within 30 days of the date of your cost statement or make monthly payments.” The cost-versus-benefit math is in the pension buyback calculator.
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 GWPORS’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”. The handbook describes the same two paths, a direct rollover or a rollover within 60 days, and says GWPORS must withhold on a refund paid directly. 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
First, the survivor benefit after a service-related death. For a member with more than 25 years the handbook gives “a monthly survivorship benefit equal to 2% of your HAC for each year of service credit, if you had more than 25 years of service credit”. The statute says that “If the deceased member has completed more than 25 years of service credit, the survivorship benefit must equal 2.5% of the member’s highest average compensation for each year of service credit” That is 2% in the handbook and 2.5% in the statute for the same case. The handbook’s preface says the law applies if the two conflict, but MPERA is the place to confirm which percentage it applies.
Second, the age gap for Option 2. The handbook attributes a plain 10-year limit to IRS regulations. The statute writes an adjusted age difference: “This option may be the chosen benefit only if the adjusted age difference between the member or designated beneficiary and the contingent annuitant, other than the member’s or designated beneficiary’s spouse, is 10 years or less” and reduces the difference for a member under 70. MPERA decides how the rule applies to a given couple.
Third, the remainder under Option 2 or 3. After the contingent annuitant’s death, the handbook says “Upon his/her death after receipt of any benefits, your remaining account balance, if any, will revert to the GWPORS trust fund”. The statute adds a case the handbook sentence does not mention: if a retired member who elected Option 2 or 3 “dies with no surviving contingent annuitant, the member’s designated beneficiary or, if there is no surviving beneficiary, the member’s estate must be paid the amount, if any, of the member’s accumulated contributions calculated as of the day of the member’s retirement minus the total of any retirement benefits already paid from the member’s account”. The two cover different sequences of deaths, so they may not conflict.
What this page could not settle
- The pages read do not print option factors for ages other than the sample member’s.
- The pages read do not state the interest rate credited on contributions, only that the account earns interest each month.
- The pages read do not state whether a spouse must consent to a refund or to an option without a survivor benefit.
- The pages read do not describe a lump sum retirement option, a partial lump sum or a deferred retirement option program. The only lump sums described are refunds and payments to a beneficiary. What the system pays is described as “The monthly payment to a member, for life, following early, service, or disability retirement”.
- The pages read give no sample calculation for members hired after the handbook’s July 1, 2011 line.
- The pages read do not state contribution rates or an active member count, and disability retirement is outside this page.
Common mistakes
- Treating the option choice as reversible; the handbook says that generally, once the first benefit payment is received and accepted, the option cannot be changed, apart from two stated circumstances.
- Choosing Option 1 and assuming a beneficiary will receive a monthly pension; a beneficiary receives only the balance left in the account, if any.
- Taking a refund and assuming the service can simply be reinstated; it must be bought back by repaying the contributions received plus the interest that would have been credited.
- Asking for a refund to be paid directly and expecting the full amount; 20% federal withholding applies to a direct refund above $200.
- Relying on the handbook’s percentage for a service-related death without checking the statute, which states a different percentage for more than 25 years of service.
Related on this site: Montana PERS retirement decisions, Montana TRS retirement decisions, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, pension refund versus leaving it, pension buyback calculator and public pension retirement decisions by system.
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Answer againSources
- Montana Public Employee Retirement Administration (MPERA), Game Wardens’ and Peace Officers’ Retirement System (GWPORS) Member Handbook (Rev. 02/2026): https://mpera.mt.gov/_docs/Handbooks/GWPORS.pdf
- Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025, Title 19, Chapter 8, Game Wardens’ and Peace Officers’ Retirement (sections 301, 601, 603, 801, 1001, 1002 and 1003, compiled from the section pages): https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0190/chapter_0080/parts_index.html
- 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 30, 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.