DC Police and Firefighters Retirement: Options, Refund, COLA

Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: The District of Columbia Police Officers and Firefighters’ Retirement Plan sets benefits by hire date: Tier 3 (hired on or after November 10, 1996) can retire with 25 years of service at any age, at 2.5% of average base pay per year, capped at 80%. A member with five years of service who leaves must choose a deferred benefit starting the month of age 55 or a refund of contributions without interest. Survivor benefits are automatic, and at retirement a member may elect a 10% reduction for an additional survivor benefit. The documents read describe no lump sum at retirement and no DROP.

Federal civil service pensions in District of Columbia: does District of Columbia tax federal pensions.

What this page covers and what it does not

This page covers the District of Columbia Police Officers and Firefighters’ Retirement Plan, for Metropolitan Police Department officers and Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department firefighters. It works from the Plan’s Summary Plan Description (SPD) of December 2023 and the DC Retirement Board (DCRB) 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). The SPD calls the Plan “a governmental defined benefit plan qualified under section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code”, with provisions in “Title 5, Chapter 7 (sections 5-701 et seq.) of the Code of the District of Columbia”.

Membership groups are set by hire date. The SPD says: “All new hires on or after November 10, 1996 are Tier 3 members; Tier 2 members were hired from February 15, 1980 through November 9, 1996; and Tier 1 members were hired before February 15, 1980”. The tier changes the retirement test, the formula, the contribution rate and the cost-of-living cap, so each section below names it. Member contributions are “7% of your base pay, if you were hired before November 10, 1996”, or “8% of your base pay, if you were hired on or after November 10, 1996”. The Code states the dividing line in pay-period terms. Section 5-706(a) reads: “On and after the first day of the first pay period that begins on or after October 26, 1970, there shall be deducted and withheld from each member’s basic salary an amount equal to 7% of such basic salary for all members hired before the first day of the first pay period that begins after October 29, 1996, and 8% of such basic salary for all members hired on or after the first day of the first pay period that begins after October 29, 1996.” Sections 5-712(a) and 5-719 use the same pay-period wording for the 25-year test and the 3% limit on increases. The SPD’s calendar date of November 10, 1996 appears in none of those sections (it appears in section 5-704(h)(2)(D), on military deposits), so a member hired near that date should ask DCRB which pay period applies.

The Teachers’ Retirement Plan is a different plan, with its own booklet (“District of Columbia Teachers’ Retirement Plan Summary Plan Description”) and statute. Nothing here describes it. On size, the ACFR’s participant table for the police and fire fund reads: “Police Officers and Firefighters’ Retirement Fund 2025 2024 Service Retired, Disabled and Beneficiaries (Post June 30, 1997) 4,853 4,712 Active Plan Members 5,041 5,074 Vested Terminations 437 399 Nonvested Terminations 304 292 Total Participants 10,635 10,477”. So the active count is 5,041 at the September 30, 2025 valuation; the same table prints a different figure for the Teachers’ fund, which is not used here.

The decisions in the order a member meets them

The documents read describe no payment-option menu, no lump sum at retirement and no deferred retirement option plan. They provide an annuity, a refund of contributions for members who leave early, and survivor annuities. The decisions are whether to pay for a tier switch, when to retire, deferred benefit or refund on leaving, a 10% reduction for an additional survivor benefit, and service deposits. The general refund question is at pension refund versus leaving it.

The one irrevocable election: changing tiers

The SPD’s one irrevocable election concerns tiers, not payment form. It says the Retirement Options Act allows active members to make “a one-time irrevocable election to participate in a different retirement tier by paying the full actuarial cost of the Tier change (which includes employer contributions attributable to the switch)”. The election “only applies to optional retirement and not to disability or deferred retirements”. The SPD gives no dollar cost and sends members to the DCRB Member Services Center, so the cost should be obtained in writing before deciding. Section 5-712(a-2) of the Code says: “Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation, sworn members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department hired before or on September 11, 2008, may make a one-time election, at their option, in writing, to participate in one of the retirement programs created by subsection (a) of this section; provided, that any and all additional costs above the costs which would otherwise be incurred by the District for that sworn member pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be paid by the member, as determined by actuaries appointed by the District of Columbia.” The archived sections 5-701 to 5-762 do not contain the word irrevocable; the SPD supplies it.

When a pension can start, and how it is figured

The Tier 3 formula is “2.5% x average base pay x years of total creditable service”, and the SPD’s note on the ceiling reads: “the maximum annual retirement benefit = 80% of your average base pay (plus unused sick leave)”. It adds that “You generally need more than 30 years of total creditable service to be affected by the 80% maximum benefit cap”. The Code agrees with the ceiling. Section 5-712(c) reads: “No annuity granted under subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall exceed 80% of the average pay of such member.” On sick leave, section 5-712(d) adds: “Days of unused sick leave shall not be counted in determining a member’s eligibility for an annuity under this section.” The same section lets the department head waive the 60 days’ written notice, and lets the Mayor suspend the optional-retirement provisions in a department while an emergency endangers public safety. Police officers and firefighters “can be required to retire under optional retirement at age 60, whether or not they meet the 25 or 20 years of service requirement”. Section 5-712(b) sets age 60 for members of the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division, the United States Park Police force and the United States Secret Service Division, at the department head’s discretion. A search of sections 5-701 to 5-762 for an age of 60 finds no such rule for Metropolitan Police or Fire and Emergency Medical Services members, so the SPD sentence rests on a provision not read here and a member should ask DCRB for its citation.

For the 25-year test, section 5-712(a-1) defines the service counted: “For the purposes of the first sentence of subsection (a) of this section, the term ‘creditable service’ means the period of employment with the Metropolitan Police Department for police officers and the Fire Department of the District of Columbia for fire fighters first employed on or after the first day of the first pay period which begins after October 29, 1996, and includes any United States military service including the following: (1) Credit for periods of military service prior to the member’s date of separation, that interrupts the member’s service with the Department, unless the member applies for and receives a refund of the member’s salary deductions; and (2) Credit for any period of time during which a member is on approved leave without pay to serve as a full-time officer or employee of a labor organization.”

A computed example from an assumed $100,000 average base pay, not a DCRB figure, using the Tier 3 formula: 2.5% x $100,000 x 25 years is $62,500 a year, 62.5% of average base pay. At 30 years it is $75,000 (75%). The 80% cap on this pay is $80,000, reached at 32 years (80 divided by 2.5). For Tier 2 at 28 years with no sick leave: 2.5% x 25 years is $62,500, plus 3.0% x 3 years is $9,000, or $71,500 a year (71.5%). The SPD’s own examples use other pay figures; confirm any estimate with DCRB.

Leaving before retirement: deferred benefit or refund

A member who separates before optional retirement with five years of service is, in the SPD’s words, “vested (terminated vested) and must choose to receive a deferred retirement benefit (beginning the month you reach age 55) or a lump-sum refund of your retirement contributions”. A member who is not vested “must receive a lump-sum refund of your retirement contributions”.

A refund “will include your mandatory retirement contributions and any service deposits you may have made”. “Partial refunds are not permitted”, and the refund “does not include employer contributions, earnings or interest”. The cost of taking it: “you forfeit your service credit and your deferred retirement benefit unless you redeposit your refund amount (plus interest) prior to the month you turn age 55”. Section 5-717(b)(2)(A) of the Code reads: “Any member who, by electing to receive a refund under paragraph (1) of this subsection, loses annuity rights under this subchapter, may reestablish all such rights at any time prior to attaining the age of 55 by redepositing the amount of such refund plus interest computed in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.” The Code therefore fixes the deadline at age 55 itself, where the SPD says the month, so ask DCRB which applies.

For a member who elects the deferred benefit, leaving the money in is reversible until the 55th birthday month: “your Plan contributions remain in the Plan but if you change your mind prior to the month you turn age 55, you may request a refund”, with “No earnings or interest is included in the refund”. For Tier 2 and Tier 3 members the deferred benefit is 2.5% of average base pay per year of total creditable service through 25 years plus 3.0% after 25 years, capped at 80% of average base pay, with no credit for unused sick leave, and it “begins on the first day of the month you turn age 55”. Section 5-717(a) states the start as the first day of the month in which the member attains 55 or the first day of the first month after separation, whichever month is later, for a member who completes 5 years of service and is then separated other than by retirement under section 5-709, 5-710 or 5-712. The SPD warns that “it is your responsibility to make sure your contact information with DCRB is current”.

A computed example from assumed inputs, not a DCRB figure: a Tier 3 member who contributed 8% of an assumed constant $70,000 base pay for an assumed 10 years has paid in about $56,000 (computed). The deferred benefit on the same assumed average base pay is 2.5% x $70,000 x 10 years = $17,500 (computed) a year, about $1,458 (computed) a month from the month of age 55. On those inputs the annual benefit equals the contributions after about 3.2 years of payments, before taxes, increases and the time value of money. Real pay rises over a career, so real figures will differ. A member who may return should also see the pension buyback calculator. On the redeposit interest, section 5-717(c) sets the rate as the Retirement Fund’s average rate of return on investment, as the Retirement Board determines it, adjusted to the nearest one eighth of 1%, for the period from the first day of the first month after the service ended to the last day of the month before the redeposit (or before the first monthly payment); the Board, not the Code, supplies the number for a given year. Section 5-717(b)(2)(B) adds: “Such redeposit (and the required interest thereon) may, at the election of the member, be made in a lump sum or in not to exceed 60 monthly installments, except that if the member dies before depositing the full amount due under the preceding sentence, the requirements of such sentence shall be deemed to have been met.”

Rollover and the tax side of a refund

The SPD says a refund “may be eligible for rollover into another eligible retirement plan or an individual retirement account or annuity (IRA)”, and that if the taxable portion is not rolled over, “it may be subject to an additional 10% federal income tax”. It adds that “an exception may apply if you separate after having attained age 50 or 25 years of service”. Whether it fits is a question for a tax preparer.

Survivor benefits: automatic, plus one optional election

A retiring member does not choose between single-life and joint-and-survivor forms. The SPD says “A regular survivor annuity is automatic and provided at no additional cost to you”. The one election is the additional survivor benefit: at retirement a member “may elect to reduce the amount of your retirement benefit by 10% to provide an additional survivor benefit to your designated eligible surviving spouse or child”. If there is more than one eligible child, “you may only designate one”. The SPD also says “You must make your designation when you retire (or when you apply for deferred retirement)”.

After the member’s death, the designated survivor “will receive an increased regular survivor annuity equal to your 10% reduction, minus any applicable age differential”. That annuity “will be reduced by 5% for each full five years your designated survivor is younger than you”, but “an additional survivor annuity will not be reduced by more than 40%”. If the designated survivor dies first, the member’s “reduced retirement annuity will be increased prospectively to its unreduced amount”.

A computed example from an assumed $60,000 annual retirement annuity, not a DCRB figure, with a spouse 12 years younger (two full five-year periods): the 10% reduction is 0.10 x $60,000 = $6,000 (computed), so the retiree’s annuity falls to $54,000 (computed) a year while both are living. After the member’s death the additional annuity is $6,000 less 10% of it (5% x 2), or $5,400 (computed) a year, about $450 (computed) a month, on top of the regular survivor benefit. The reduction costs money every year and pays off only if the survivor outlives the member long enough. See single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension and survivor benefit with a government pension.

Section 5-716(b) sets the spouse’s annuity at the greater of 40% of average pay (adjusted average pay for a retired member) and 40% of the step 6, salary class 1 pay on the police and fire salary schedule then in effect, and then adds: “provided, that such annuity shall not exceed the current rate of compensation of the position occupied by such member at the time of death, or by such former member immediately prior to retirement.” The same subsection pays the spouse of a former member entitled to a deferred annuity under section 5-717 whether or not that annuity had begun. Section 5-701(18) defines adjusted average pay as average pay raised by the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers between the month of retirement and the month before death, and ends: “except that in the case of members hired on or after the first day of the first pay period that begins after October 29, 1996, the increase shall not exceed 3% per annum.”

After retirement a spouse qualifies if “you and your spouse were married or in a recognized registered domestic partnership at the time of your death” and one of three things is true: “you married or entered a recognized domestic partnership prior to your retirement”; “you married or entered a recognized domestic partnership for at least one year immediately prior to your death”; or “your spouse is the parent of your child(ren) by such marriage or domestic partnership”. The annuity stops on “your survivor’s remarriage or new domestic partnership prior to age 55” or the survivor’s death. Under section 5-716(e)(1) the spouse annuity ends on the survivor’s death or remarriage before age 55, and an annuity ended by remarriage may be restored if that remarriage later ends by death, annulment or divorce. Under section 5-716(e)(2) and (3) a child’s annuity ends at 18 (or, for a child over 18 who is incapable of self-support, when the child becomes capable of it), on marriage or domestic partnership, or on death, and a student child’s annuity ends when the student child stops being a student or reaches 22. Section 5-701(3) and (4) names a domestic partner as a surviving spouse only for a member covered under Chapter 9 of Title 1 of the Code; this page has not read that chapter, so a surviving domestic partner should ask DCRB.

The SPD says Social Security taxes were not withheld from active members’ pay, so “you will not be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits based on your employment with the Police or Fire Department”. On divorce, the Plan “may be required to pay benefits to your former spouse”. The pages read do not describe a spousal consent requirement for any election; see spousal consent to waive a joint-and-survivor annuity and ask DCRB. Where a member dies before retirement leaving no survivor entitled to an annuity, section 5-706(c) pays the member’s deductions to the beneficiary designated in writing and filed with the Retirement Board, then to the children, then to the parents, then to the estate; after retirement, section 5-706(d) pays the difference between the deductions and the annuity already paid, in the same order, if no survivor is entitled to an annuity.

What is fixed, and the deadlines that matter

Only the tier switch is called irrevocable in the SPD. Section 5-716(f)(1) of the Code puts the 10% election at retirement, or when a deferred annuity starts: “Any member retiring under § 5-709, § 5-710, or § 5-712, may at the time of such retirement, and any member entitled to receive an annuity under § 5-717 may at the time such annuity commences, elect to receive a reduced annuity in lieu of full annuity, and designate in writing the person to receive an increased annuity after such member’s death; provided, that the person so designated meet the criteria set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection.” Section 5-716(f) is the only archived section that mentions a designee, and it has no sentence letting the election or the designee be changed after retirement; its only provision for a later event is that, if the designee dies and survives the member, the member’s annuity returns to the unreduced amount. The retirement date is therefore the practical deadline. For optional retirement, “at least 60 days before your proposed retirement date, you must provide a written request to the Chief of the Police or Fire Department stating your intention to retire on a specific date”. Once the paperwork is complete, “it usually takes between 30 and 90 calendar days from your approved retirement date for you to receive your first monthly benefit payment”. A retiree rehired by the District “cannot participate in the Plan as an active Plan member”.

Cost-of-living increases

Increases depend on retirement date: “if you retired before February 15, 1980, you receive equalization pay”; “if you retired on or after February 15, 1980, you may receive yearly COLAs”; and “You cannot receive both equalization pay and COLAs”. For COLAs, “your retirement benefit may be adjusted” when “there is an increase in the yearly cost of living”. “The COLA for Tier 3 members is capped at 3%”. The pages read state no cap for Tier 2. The Code puts the limit in section 5-719: “except that in the case of members hired on or after the 1st day of the 1st pay period that begins after October 29, 1996, such increase shall not exceed 3% per annum, nor exceed one increase per annum.” Sections 5-718(c) and (c-2) set an increase, when the index has risen, as the December-over-December change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, effective March 1 and rounded to the nearest one tenth of 1%, prorated for an annuity that began after March 1 of the preceding year. Section 5-718 applies that method to Metropolitan Police and Fire members hired before January 1, 1980 in subsections (b) and (c), and to those hired after December 31, 1979 in subsections (c-1) and (c-2): the Code splits by hire date on January 1, 1980, where the SPD splits by retirement date on February 15, 1980.

A computed example from an assumed $60,000 Tier 3 annuity and the SPD’s own 7% example rate, not a DCRB projection: a capped 3% increase is $1,800, bringing the annuity to $61,800 (computed), where an uncapped 7% would have added $4,200 (computed).

Buying or restoring service

“Your service deposit must be completed before you retire”. The deposit for military service “will be 7% or 8% of the base pay you received while you were in the military, plus any applicable interest”. Section 5-704(h)(2)(A)(i) sets the base at 7% of the basic pay under 37 U.S.C. 204 for each period of military service after December 1956, and subparagraph (D) makes the percentage the one section 5-706 applies for the same period for service after November 10, 1996. Under subparagraph (B), a deposit made more than 2 years after the later of October 1, 2004 or the date the member first became a member after the military service carries interest, compounded annually, from the end of that 2-year period. For post-1956 military service, a member who is or will be entitled to a Social Security retirement benefit at Social Security Full Retirement Age must complete a service deposit before retiring. The SPD warns: “Failure to purchase your post-56 military service will result in your retirement benefit being recalculated to exclude the credited service”, with the recalculated benefit beginning at Full Retirement Age. A member who is not entitled to Social Security does not need the deposit but must verify that ineligibility with DCRB. For a member rehired after a refund, “you may restore your prior service credit by redepositing your refunded amount, plus any required interest, into the Retirement Fund immediately upon your rehire”; without a timely redeposit, “you will be treated as a new hire under the Plan”. To price a purchase, see the pension buyback calculator and ask DCRB for the exact figure.

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 the DC Police and Firefighters’ Plan’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 SPD says a refund may be rolled over, which is the route that avoids the mandatory withholding on the rolled-over part. 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”, provided the employee separated from service during or after the year of reaching age 50 or 25 years of service under the plan, whichever is earlier. 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.

What a refund looks like after withholding

A computed example from an assumed $10,000 taxable refund paid to the member, not a DCRB figure: 20% of $10,000 is $2,000 withheld for federal tax, leaving $8,000 in cash before any further tax or penalty. See 20% withholding on a pension lump sum for how a direct rollover avoids it. District tax treatment is covered at Washington DC retirement taxes and does Washington DC tax pensions.

Where the sources disagree

For Tier 1 cost-of-living, the ACFR says: “Retirement benefits are increased by the same percentage in base pay granted to active participants”. The SPD is narrower: “if you retired before February 15, 1980, you receive equalization pay” and “if you retired on or after February 15, 1980, you may receive yearly COLAs”. A Tier 1 retiree should confirm with DCRB which increase applies. Section 5-718 does not use the term equalization pay. Section 5-745(c) separately ties the pension relief allowance or retirement compensation of a person retired under subchapter I to the percentage increase in the scheduled pay of active service, and section 5-745(e) says that section does not apply to Metropolitan Police and Fire members who retire after the effective date of subsection (e), a date the archived text does not state. On the Tier 3 cap the ACFR agrees with the SPD: “Members receive annual benefit increases proportional to changes in the Consumer Price Index, however, the increase is capped at 3%”.

The SPD also words the tier switch two ways: Tier 2 and 3 members may switch to Tier 1 in one section, and to Tier 1, 2 or 3 in another. The pages read do not say which controls. The Code does not use the SPD’s two-way wording. Section 5-712(a-3) says: “Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation, sworn members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department hired after September 11, 2008, shall make a one-time election, at their option, in writing, to participate in one of the retirement programs created by subsection (a) of this section; provided, that any and all additional costs above the costs which would otherwise be incurred by the District for that sworn member pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be paid by the member, as determined by actuaries appointed by the District of Columbia.” So for a member hired after September 11, 2008 the election is required, and section 5-712(a-2) leaves it optional for earlier hires. The programs are the two optional-retirement formulas created by subsection (a), not numbered tiers.

What this page could not settle

• The SPD and the ACFR do not state whether the 10% additional-survivor election, or the designated survivor, can be changed after retirement; section 5-716(f) of the Code provides for the election only at retirement or when a deferred annuity starts and has no change provision.
• The pages read do not describe a spousal consent requirement or waiver for the refund, the deferred benefit or the survivor election, and sections 5-701 to 5-762 as archived contain no spousal consent provision either.
• The pages read do not state the dollar cost of a tier switch, the Board-set redeposit rate for a given year (section 5-717(c) gives the method), or the Grade 1 Step 6 pay used in the survivor formulas.
• The pages read describe no lump sum at retirement and no deferred retirement option plan; the lump sums they describe are the refund of contributions, the line-of-duty survivor payment and remaining contributions at death.
• Disability retirement, equalization pay for pre-1980 retirees and qualifying court order mechanics were not examined in depth.
• The 2017 version of the SPD and the Teachers’ Retirement Plan SPD were not used for any rule on this page.

Common mistakes

• Taking a refund of contributions without weighing that it excludes employer contributions, earnings and interest and ends the pension claim unless it is paid back with interest before the month of age 55.
• Letting the Tier 3 or Tier 2 service test slip by a few months because a service deposit was not finished before retirement.
• Electing the 10% additional survivor benefit without pricing the lifetime reduction against the survivor’s age gap and the automatic survivor benefit already provided.
• Assuming the Teachers’ Retirement Plan SPD, which covers a different plan, describes the police and firefighter rules.
• Taking a taxable refund payout instead of a direct rollover and receiving 20% less in cash up front.

Related on this site: Washington DC retirement taxes, does Washington DC tax pensions, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, pension refund versus leaving it, 20% withholding on a pension lump sum, survivor benefit with a government pension and public pension retirement decisions by system.

Sources

• District of Columbia Retirement Board, District of Columbia Police Officers and Firefighters’ Retirement Plan Summary Plan Description 2023 (December 2023): https://dcrb.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcrb/service_content/attachments/DCRBSPD.POFFFinalWeb.pdf
• District of Columbia Retirement Board, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2025 and 2024 (Teachers’ Retirement Fund and Police Officers and Fire Fighters’ Retirement Fund): https://dcrb.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcrb/DCRB%20ACFR%20FINAL%203.31.2026.pdf
• District of Columbia Retirement Board, District of Columbia Teachers’ Retirement Plan Summary Plan Description 2023 (December 2023): https://dcrb.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcrb/service_content/attachments/DCRBSPD.TeacherFinalWEB121523.pdf
• 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 16, 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.