Updated October 8, 2026. Quick answer: The Firefighters’ Retirement System of Louisiana pays a member who qualifies, for example with 25 years of service at any age, 20 years at age 50 or 12 years at age 55, an allowance of three and one-third percent of average final compensation per year of service, capped at 100%. A retiring member can take the full allowance or a reduced one that continues to a named person, and the nomination is irrevocable once the first payment is due. DROP runs up to three years (up to five for a member with at least 28 years of service credit, under R.S. 11:2257(L) from April 1, 2026), the initial benefit option pays up to 36 payments up front, and a refund of contributions carries no interest.
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 the Louisiana statutes that govern the Firefighters’ Retirement System of Louisiana (FRSLA), as published by the Louisiana Legislature and read on October 8, 2026: R.S. 11:2252 to 11:2259, covering definitions, membership, creditable service, benefits and refunds, the Deferred Retirement Option Plan and optional allowances. The system’s own handbook, forms and website could not be opened from the machine used to prepare this page, so no form wording or system estimate appears here. Any figure is the statute’s, or is labeled as a computed example from assumed inputs.
The group covered is every member under these sections as currently printed. The statute makes membership mandatory for “any person who becomes an employee as defined in R.S. 11:2252 on and after January 1, 1980”, and an employee is “any full-time firefighter” or civil service fire position with a Louisiana municipality, parish or fire protection district, “excepting Orleans and Lafayette Parishes”. The sections read give one benefit formula and one set of options, with no hire-date tiers for those rules. Tax questions are on Louisiana retirement taxes and does Louisiana tax pensions; a different Louisiana system is on Louisiana TRSL retirement decisions.
When a pension can start and how it is computed
R.S. 11:2256(A)(1) allows retirement on any of three tests, each with a one-year membership floor.
| Years of creditable service | Age needed | Also required |
|---|---|---|
| 25 years | Any age | One year as a member |
| 20 years | 50 | One year as a member |
| 12 years | 55 | One year as a member |
The allowance is “three and one-third percent of his average final compensation multiplied by his total years of creditable service”, and “the annual retirement allowance shall not exceed one hundred percent of his average final compensation”. Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code also caps the amount paid. Average final compensation is “the average annual earned compensation of an employee for any period of thirty-six successive or joined months of service as an employee during which the said earned compensation was the highest”, with later pay limited to one hundred fifteen percent of the earlier year’s pay in each step, and overtime is excluded from earnable compensation.
A computed example from an assumed $60,000 average final compensation, not a system figure: three and one-third percent of $60,000 is a computed $2,000 a year for each year of service, so 25 years is a computed $50,000 a year, or a computed $4,167 a month, before any option reduction. At that rate the 100% ceiling is reached at a computed 30 years of service.
Leaving before you are old enough: a deferred pension
A member who leaves covered employment early is not forced to take a refund. With twenty or more years of creditable service (one as a member), a member who leaves before fifty is “entitled to a retirement benefit beginning at age fifty”; with twelve years, a member who leaves before fifty-five is entitled to a benefit beginning at fifty-five.
That member can still choose a payment option: the member “may select, at any time prior to thirty days before the date that benefits are scheduled to commence to the member, any optional retirement allowance as provided for in R.S. 11:2259”. Within that period “the member may change the option selected or the beneficiary of the option selected or both”. If no choice is made, “the surviving eligible spouse shall be paid benefits as though the member had elected Option 2 of R.S. 11:2259, naming the member’s surviving eligible spouse as the option beneficiary”. With no eligible spouse the designated beneficiary is the option beneficiary, and with neither, “the accumulated contributions of the member shall be refunded to his estate immediately upon receipt of proof of death”. For the general decision, see pension refund vs leaving it.
The election: the full allowance and four options
A member may take a lifetime allowance, or “he may elect to receive the actuarial equivalent at the time of his retirement allowance in a reduced allowance payable throughout life”. The four options in R.S. 11:2259 are below.
| Plan | What the retiree receives | What a survivor receives |
|---|---|---|
| Full (maximum) allowance | The allowance payable throughout life, without an option reduction | Not an option payment; see the sections below for the statute’s survivor rules |
| Option 1 | A reduced allowance, actuarially equivalent | If the member dies before receiving the present value of the member’s annuity, the balance goes to the person nominated |
| Option 2 | A reduced allowance, actuarially equivalent | The same reduced allowance continues for life to the person nominated |
| Option 3 | A reduced allowance, actuarially equivalent | One-half of the reduced allowance continues for life to the person nominated |
| Option 4 | A reduced allowance, actuarially equivalent | Another benefit to the member, spouse, a child with a permanent disability, or a dependent minor child, if the actuary certifies equal value and the board approves |
The statute publishes no reduction factor; the actuary sets it, so a retiring member needs a system estimate for the real number. The general tradeoff is on single life vs joint and survivor pension.
What each option does for a survivor
Option 1 pays out only a shortfall: “If he dies before he has received in member’s annuity payments the present value of his member’s annuity as it was at the time of his retirement, the balance shall be paid to such person as he shall nominate”. The member’s annuity is “that monthly payment provided by the member’s accumulated contributions at the time of regular retirement, or death”. The pages read do not say how much of the allowance that annuity is.
Option 2 continues the whole reduced allowance for the survivor’s life, and Option 3 continues one-half of it. Option 4 is custom: benefits go to named family members and must be “certified by the actuary to be of equivalent value”.
A computed example from an assumed figure, not a system figure: if an assumed Option 3 reduced allowance were $4,000 a month, one-half is a computed $2,000 a month for the nominated person. The $4,000 is invented, since the reduction is not published in the pages read.
What cannot be changed
The nomination under Option 2, 3 or 4 “is irrevocable on and after the date that the first of any benefit payments becomes due”. The change window quoted above is stated for a member who leaves early; the sections read do not state the same window for a member retiring directly, so confirm the timing with the system.
One trap: “no optional selection shall be effective in case a beneficiary dies within thirty days after retirement”. Going back to work does not reopen the choice. If a retiree returns full time to a covered fire department, benefits cease and contributions resume, and “The member may not change the option which was selected under the first retirement computation”. On a part-time return the retiree “shall not accrue creditable service”.
The Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP)
DROP lets a member keep working while the pension accumulates in an account. A member with “not less than twenty years of creditable service” who is eligible for a service retirement allowance may elect it. The period “shall not exceed three years” except that a member with at least twenty-eight years of service credit who begins on or after April 1, 2026 may elect up to five. “A member may participate in the plan only once”.
On entry, “membership in the system shall terminate”, employee contributions stop, and compensation and service freeze. The monthly benefit goes into the DROP account. During DROP the member “shall not be eligible to receive a cost-of-living increase”, and not until employment has been ended for at least one full year.
A computed example from an assumed $4,000 monthly benefit, not a system figure: 36 monthly deposits of $4,000 would be a computed $144,000 in the account at the end of a three year period, and 60 deposits (the five year case) a computed $240,000, before any interest.
After employment ends, the participant may take a lump sum, “a true annuity based upon the balance of his account or accounts”, or another method the board approves. “Payment from any account shall not be made until employment is terminated”, and “The plan participant may not change the optional allowance selected for his original benefit”. The option chosen at retirement therefore carries into DROP.
DROP interest, risk and the end of the period
For a member who became eligible on or after January 1, 2004, the board puts the credited amounts in money market investments of its choosing, credited with the actual return “less one-fourth of one percent per annum”. A participant may instead irrevocably waive rights under Article X, Section 29 of the Louisiana Constitution as they relate to the account interest, and take the system’s investment return, but must “expressly acknowledge that his account shall be debited and the value of his account balance may be permanently reduced” if that return is negative.
A member eligible on or after January 1, 2019 also has an allocation choice among subaccounts at the end of the period, which is “a one-time, irrevocable event”.
If the member dies during DROP, “a lump sum payment equal to his account balance shall be paid to his named beneficiary or, if none, to his estate”. A participant who keeps working after the period “shall resume active contributing membership in the system” and earns an additional benefit on the added service.
The Initial Benefit Option (IBO): cash now, a smaller pension later
The IBO is a different route from DROP, and the two cannot be combined. It is open to a member who has not been in DROP and takes the maximum benefit or Option 2, 3 or 4. A member who chooses it is “ineligible to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Plan”.
The trade is explicit: “the initial benefit together with the reduced monthly retirement allowance shall equal the actuarially equivalent amount of his maximum retirement allowance”. The initial benefit “shall not exceed an amount equal to thirty-six payments of the member’s maximum retirement allowance”. It is paid as a lump sum or placed in an “initial benefit account” run like DROP. The monthly benefit is reduced “by a prorated amount calculated to offset the cost of the initial benefit payment”, and the survivor’s benefit is based on the reduced amount.
A computed example from an assumed $4,000 maximum monthly allowance, not a system figure: the most the 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. Disability retirees “may not select the initial benefit option”, and cost-of-living adjustments are not computed on the initial benefit.
Leaving before retirement: take a refund or leave the money
A member who ceases to be an employee “may apply for and obtain a refund of the amount of the accumulated contributions on deposit in his individual account in the Annuity Savings Fund”. The refundable amount is the member’s own deposits: “the sum of all the amounts deducted from the earnable compensation of a member and credited to his individual account in the annuity savings fund”.
A refund ends the membership: a member who withdraws contributions “shall thereupon cease to be a member”. The statute says “No interest shall be credited to any individual account and no interest shall be paid on funds withdrawn from the retirement system”, and the system keeps the employer contributions. See pension refund vs leaving it for the general tradeoff.
The refund is slow by design. The statute says “no refund shall be issued sooner than thirty days after the member’s termination or resignation”. Another condition: “not until all employee contributions for the member have been received by the retirement system”. And an applicant who is re-employed before processing gets nothing: “No refund shall be payable to any applicant if the applicant becomes employed again as an employee as defined in R.S. 11:2252 prior to the processing of his refund request by the retirement system”.
How to get a refund, and how a rollover works
The member must “complete and submit the refund of accumulated contributions application form furnished by the system”, and the board approves refunds at a meeting held at least thirty days after termination.
Rollovers are addressed in R.S. 11:2254: a distributee may elect “to have any portion of an eligible rollover distribution paid directly to an eligible retirement plan”. Eligible destinations include “A traditional individual retirement account” and other plans. For a mandatory distribution over one thousand dollars with no election, the statute has the administrator pay a direct rollover to an individual retirement plan it designates.
A computed example from an assumed $10,000 taxable refund paid to the member, not a system figure: 20% of $10,000 is a computed $2,000 withheld, leaving a computed $8,000 in cash. See 20% withholding on a pension lump sum.
If a member dies before retiring
For a member killed in the line of duty before being eligible to retire, the spouse is paid “an annual benefit equal to two-thirds of the deceased member’s average final compensation”. For another death before eligibility the annual benefit is three percent of average final compensation times years of service, but “in no event shall the annual benefit be less than forty percent nor more than sixty percent” of that compensation. A spouse’s benefit continues on remarriage.
For a member already eligible to retire, the surviving spouse is paid as though the member had retired and elected Option 2, and may decline that and take the death-before-retirement benefit instead. If no survivor benefit is due, the statute provides: “Should a member die before retirement and no one be entitled to survivors’ benefits, the amount of his accumulated contributions standing to the credit of his individual account shall be paid to his estate”.
A computed example from an assumed $60,000 average final compensation, not a system figure: two-thirds is a computed $40,000 a year. For a death not in the line of duty with an assumed 15 years of service, three percent times 15 years is a computed 45%, or a computed $27,000 a year, between the forty percent floor and the sixty percent ceiling.
Children under eighteen are paid separately. A member may also “prefile with the system prior to retirement” a notarized statement in which a spouse consents to waive survivor benefits; the general issue is on spousal consent to waive a joint and survivor annuity.
Repaying a refund, buying service and converting leave
A member who took a refund and returns may restore the service “after eighteen months of additional service and membership” by repaying the refund plus interest at the system’s then currently assumed actuarial valuation rate, compounded annually. Purchased service is not credited “unless and until this amount is paid in full”. See the pension buyback calculator.
Employers may allow leave conversion, but “No member, survivor, or beneficiary may use unused earned leave to attain eligibility for any benefit provided by this Chapter”.
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 FRSLA’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 statute sets a direct rollover right on the plan side; the IRS rules below apply to a refund or a DROP or IBO lump sum paid to the member. 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.
What this page could not settle
- The system’s own member handbook, retirement application, refund form and website could not be opened, so the pages read are the statutes only and no form or estimate wording is quoted.
- The pages read do not state how much Option 1, 2, 3 or 4, DROP or the IBO lowers the monthly benefit; the statute leaves it to the actuary.
- The pages read do not state a cost-of-living adjustment rule beyond the DROP and IBO sentences quoted; the retiree COLA statute was not read.
- The pages read do not state the interest rate on repaying a refund, only that it is the system’s then currently assumed actuarial valuation rate, compounded annually.
- Whether a member retiring directly (not leaving early) can change an option before the first payment is not stated in the sections read.
- The sections read do not state a deadline for filing a retirement application.
- Tax treatment of a DROP or IBO lump sum for a particular member was not examined; confirm it with a tax preparer.
- Disability retirement and the statute on self-directed DROP investment accounts (R.S. 11:2257.1) were not read.
Common mistakes
- Treating a nomination under Option 2, 3 or 4 as changeable; the statute makes it irrevocable once the first benefit payment is due.
- Choosing the IBO and expecting DROP later; the statute makes a member who selects the IBO ineligible for DROP.
- Expecting a refund to include interest or the employer’s share; the statute says the refund is without interest and the system retains employer contributions.
- Missing the thirty day window: a member leaving early must select an option no later than thirty days before benefits start.
- Assuming DROP is available at any service level; the statute requires at least twenty years of creditable service.
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, single life vs joint and survivor pension and spousal consent to waive a joint and survivor annuity.
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Answer againSources
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2256, Benefits; refund of contributions, application, and payment (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75130
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2257, Deferred Retirement Option Plan (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75131
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2259, Optional allowances, including the initial benefit option (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75133
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2254, Creditable service (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75127
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2252, Definitions (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75125
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2254.1, Conversion of unused leave to creditable service (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75128
- Louisiana Legislature, Louisiana Revised Statutes 11:2253, Membership (Firefighters’ Retirement System): https://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=75126
- 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.