Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: A New Jersey State Police Retirement System member does not pick a payment option that trades pension for a survivor benefit: the valuation lists no optional forms of payment. A surviving spouse is instead eligible for a pension of 50 percent of Final Compensation set by the plan. Service retirement after 20 years pays 50 percent of Final Compensation, special retirement after 25 years pays 65 percent plus 1 percent per extra year up to 70 percent, and withdrawing contributions ends membership, with 20 percent withheld unless rolled over.
More on public pension COLAs for 2027: the New Jersey SPRS COLA for 2027 and the suspension since 2011.
What this page covers and what it does not
This page covers the New Jersey State Police Retirement System (SPRS) for members of both tiers. It works from the Division of Pensions & Benefits SPRS Member Guidebook dated February 2026, the system’s actuarial valuation as of July 1, 2025 (produced by Cheiron, dated February 2026) and the Division’s annual financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, read on October 30, 2026. The valuation is an actuary’s summary of plan provisions, not the statute. The guidebook sets tiers by enrollment date: Tier 1 is “Members enrolled on or before May 21, 2010” and Tier 2 is “Members enrolled after May 21, 2010”. The guidebook also says “if there is a conflict with statutes governing the plan or regulations implementing the statutes, the statutes and regulations will take precedence”.
Is there a payment option to elect?
Many public pensions ask the retiring member to choose an option that lowers the monthly amount in exchange for a survivor benefit. The documents read describe no such election for SPRS. The valuation’s summary of plan provisions, under forms of payment, says only: “No optional forms of payment available”.
The guidebook describes survivors as a benefit the plan provides. It says that “Upon the death of an active or retired SPRS member, two benefits are payable”, and lists “A monthly survivor’s pension paid to a specific family member (or return of contributions to a beneficiary)” along with group life insurance. On who is paid, it says “the spouse, civil union partner, domestic partner, child(ren), or dependent parents of the member may be entitled to a monthly pension”. It adds: “The benefits vary according to the status of the member at the time of the death”.
In plain terms, the survivor pension is set by the plan’s rules and the member’s status at death, so the documents read give the member no option to lock in at retirement. For how an election works in systems that have one, see single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension. In the weeks before retirement the guidebook says a member receives a “Quotation of Retirement Benefits letter which shows your monthly retirement allowance” together with “Any benefits payable to an eligible survivor”, which is where a specific member sees the survivor figure.
What a survivor receives
The guidebook defines a spouse for this purpose as “A person to whom you were married on the date of your death and who has not remarried or entered into a civil union”. The valuation describes the spousal benefit after retirement as “Spousal life annuity of 50% of final compensation payable until spouse’s death or remarriage”. Amounts are stated as a share of Final Compensation, the salary measure described below, not as a share of the member’s own retirement allowance.
| Member’s status | Who is paid | Annual pension | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active member | Surviving spouse or partner | 50 percent of Final Compensation | None |
| Active member | Two dependent parents, or one | 40 percent, or 25 percent, of Final Compensation | Only if there is no spouse, partner or child |
| Retired member | Surviving spouse or partner | 50 percent of Final Compensation | None |
| Retired member | Three or more, two, or one eligible children | 50, 35 or 20 percent of Final Compensation | Only if there is no surviving spouse or partner |
| Death from a duty accident | Eligible surviving spouse or partner | 70 percent of Final Compensation | Accidental death benefit, separate application |
For an active member the guidebook says “Upon your death as an active member, your surviving spouse/partner is eligible to receive a pension benefit equal to 50 percent of your Final Compensation”, and for a retiree “Upon your death as a retiree your surviving spouse/partner is eligible to receive a pension benefit equal to 50 percent of your Final Compensation”. For an accidental death benefit the guidebook sets a deadline: “An Application for Accidental Death Benefits must be filed within five years of the date of death”. See also survivor benefit with a government pension.
How the allowance is figured
The retirement type depends on service, not on a choice of formula. The guidebook describes three that pay a monthly allowance without a disability finding.
| Type | Requirement | Annual allowance |
|---|---|---|
| Service retirement | 20 years of creditable SPRS service, at any age | 50 percent of Final Compensation |
| Special retirement | 25 years or more of SPRS service credit, at any age | 65 percent of Final Compensation plus 1 percent for each year over 25, up to 70 percent |
| Deferred retirement | At least 10 years of service credit, and leaving before age 55 | 2 percent of Final Compensation for each year of service up to 25 years, starting after age 55 |
Final Compensation depends on the tier. For Tier 1 the guidebook says “Final Compensation means the salary upon which pension contributions were based in the last 12 months of creditable service preceding retirement”. For Tier 2 it says “Final Compensation means the average salary upon which pension contributions were based for the last three years of service or any three fiscal years of membership preceding retirement that provides the largest possible benefit”.
A computed example from an assumed $120,000 Final Compensation, not an SPRS figure: service retirement at 50 percent is a computed $60,000 a year, or $5,000 a month before tax, and, if the same Final Compensation applies, the surviving spouse pension of 50 percent is also a computed $60,000 a year. Special retirement for an assumed 27 years is 65 percent plus 1 percent for each of the 2 years over 25, which is 67 percent, a computed $80,400 a year, and the 70 percent ceiling gives a computed $84,000. A deferred retirement with an assumed 10 years is 2 percent for each of 10 years, a computed $24,000 a year from age 55.
What is fixed and the deadlines
The guidebook says “All retirements are effective on the first of a month” and “You can submit your retirement application no more than one year before your retirement date”. “Under no circumstances can a retirement become effective prior to the date the application is received by the NJDPB”. Forms other than the employer certification have a deadline too: the member must ensure they “are submitted to the NJDPB within 90 days of the NJDPB’s receipt of your retirement application”; otherwise “the retirement application will be canceled and you will need to submit another application for a future retirement date”.
After board approval the window to change is short. The guidebook says “You have 30 days from the Board approval date or your effective retirement date (whichever is later) to request a change to your retirement date”. It also says “You may choose to cancel your retirement within 30 days of your retirement date or Board approval date”, with the later date controlling (“whichever is later”). A retirement “becomes due and payable after there has been a break in employment without pay of at least 30 days following your retirement date, or 30 days following approval of your retirement by the SPRS Board of Trustees, whichever is later”, after which, in the guidebook’s words, “you cannot change your retirement date”. A disability retiree has no such window: “Members who are approved for Disability Retirement cannot cancel their retirement or change their date of retirement”. At the other end, the guidebook says “Retirement from the State Police is mandatory upon reaching age 55”.
Naming a beneficiary
The beneficiary form is the survivor-related choice a member does make, and the guidebook limits what it controls: “When you submit the Designation of Beneficiary, you name beneficiaries for your group life insurance benefits and the return of your pension contributions”. The monthly survivor pension is described separately, as paid to specific family members. For a retiree’s death the guidebook says “If you die after retirement, your named beneficiary (or estate where there is no named beneficiary) receives a group life insurance benefit equal to 50 percent of your Final Compensation”.
Leaving before 55: deferred retirement or withdrawal
A member with 10 years is vested: “You are vested in the SPRS after you have attained 10 years of service credit”. The guidebook qualifies this: “Vesting provisions may not apply to SPRS members who are terminated for cause on charges of misconduct or delinquency”. The valuation summarizes a deferred member’s choice as “Benefit is either a refund of aggregate contributions, or a deferred life annuity beginning at age 55 equal to 2% of final compensation for each year of service credit up to 25 years”.
A deferred retiree can change course: “At any time before your Deferred Retirement becomes effective, you may change your mind and apply for a lump-sum withdrawal of all your pension contributions”, but “once you cancel your Deferred Retirement and withdraw your contributions, all the rights and privileges of membership in the retirement system end”.
Deferring has costs the allowance figure does not show. On death before the allowance starts, “If you die before your Deferred Retirement becomes effective, the beneficiary on your retirement application will receive a return of your contributions, unless a subsequent Designation of Beneficiary form is filed”. “There is no other death benefit under these circumstances”. On insurance, “Your group life insurance coverage is not in effect between the time you terminate employment and when your Deferred Retirement becomes effective”, and “You will not be able to continue coverage under the SHBP retired group if you apply for Deferred Retirement”.
A member who is not vested can leave the contributions in the account, which the guidebook describes as “Leave your contributions in your SPRS account and retain all the service credit you have earned, in the event you return to covered employment and resume membership”. As a general rule, the guidebook says, “if you do not resume active membership within two years, your account will automatically expire and you will be requested to withdraw your contributions”. Withdrawal costs service: “all service credit represented by the withdrawal is canceled”.
Taking the money: withdrawal, rollover and tax
The documents read describe no lump sum or partial lump sum at retirement and no deferred retirement option plan (DROP); SPRS retirement pays a monthly allowance. The lump sums described are the withdrawal of contributions and death benefits. On withdrawal, the guidebook says “If you terminate covered employment before retirement, you may withdraw all your contributions to the fund less any outstanding loan balance or other obligations”. “You may withdraw only the money you have contributed and partial withdrawals are not permitted”, and “Upon your withdrawal, all rights and privileges of membership end”.
A further rule applies to long-serving members: “If you are age 55 or older or have 10 years or more of service credit when you file for withdrawal, you must waive any rights you have to any retirement or death benefits”. For the general question see pension refund versus leaving it.
On tax, the guidebook says income tax must be withheld on certain distributions “unless the taxable amount is directly rolled over into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a new employer’s retirement plan if applicable”. It says “If payment is made directly to you, the taxable portion is subject to 20 percent income tax withholding”, and that “this direct rollover must occur within 60 days of the withdrawal check date”. On the early-distribution tax it says “if you receive payment before you reach age 59 1/2 and you do not roll over the taxable amount, you may have to pay an extra tax equal to 10 percent of the taxable portion of any payment”.
A computed example from an assumed $20,000 taxable withdrawal paid to the member, not an SPRS figure: 20 percent withholding is a computed $4,000, leaving a computed $16,000 in cash before any further tax or penalty. See 20% withholding on a pension lump sum.
Buying service credit
Service credit raises the allowance. The guidebook says “Only active members of the retirement systems are permitted to purchase service credit” and “If a type of service is not listed below, it is not eligible for purchase”. On cost, “multiply the higher of your current annual salary or highest fiscal year salary times the purchase factor corresponding to your nearest age”. The result is “the cost of one year of service”, and for military service before enrollment, U.S. government service and uncredited service “the same procedure is used, except the resulting cost is doubled”.
A check of the guidebook’s own example: “0.078913 x $60,000 x 1.5 years = $7,102.17”. Multiplying 0.078913 by $60,000 and 1.5 years gives a computed $7,102.17, the same figure. A computed example from an assumed $75,000 salary, not an SPRS figure: two years of leave of absence service at the same age 36 factor costs 0.078913 times $75,000 times 2 years, a computed $11,836.95, and a computed $23,673.90 for a type whose cost is doubled. Real quotes use the member’s own nearest age and salary. To weigh a purchase against the extra pension, use the pension buyback calculator.
The guidebook warns: “No refunds will be made of any lump-sum payments, partial payments”, and the same sentence goes on to name installment payments. If a purchase is unpaid at retirement, the guidebook says “If you do not pay off the balance, the service credit which has not been paid for will be subtracted from your total years and months of service”.
Cost-of-living adjustments
The guidebook says that N.J.S.A. 43:3B-2 “suspended Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA) for retirees of all retirement systems”, but “there is no reduction to any COLA increases that were already added to retiree benefits prior to June 28, 2011, the effective date of the law”.
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 SPRS’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 guidebook describes the same 20 percent withholding on a payment made to the member, and offers a direct rollover to an IRA or a new employer’s plan as the way to avoid it. 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, active member counts depend on the document and its basis. The annual financial report says “As of June 30, 2025, the active membership of the system totaled 3,461”, a count at fiscal year end. The July 1, 2025 actuarial valuation, a different date and basis, reports “Contributing Actives 3,223”, and “Non-Contributing Actives 81”, out of “Total Members 7,044” including retirees and beneficiaries. The documents read do not reconcile 3,461 with 3,223 plus 81, so this page cites neither as a single membership figure.
Second, the tiers use different words. The guidebook says Tier 1 is “Members enrolled on or before May 21, 2010”, while the valuation says “Tier 1 Member: Any member hired on or before May 21, 2010”. A member near May 21, 2010 should ask the Division which tier applies.
What this page could not settle
- The pages read do not describe a payment option election, a lump-sum retirement option, a partial lump sum or a DROP; the valuation lists no optional forms of payment.
- The pages read do not state any way for a member to change the statutory survivor pension, and state no parent benefit after retirement, although the active-member list includes parents.
- The pages read do not state whether interest is paid on contributions withdrawn.
- The guidebook’s early-distribution tax statement refers to age 59 1/2, while the IRS list above includes separation from service at 55 or later and public safety employees; whether an exception fits a given withdrawal was not determined.
- Disability retirement, health benefits, the Defined Contribution Retirement Program and the statute text were not examined in depth.
Common mistakes
- Looking for an option election that the documents do not describe; the survivor pension is set by the plan and shown on the Quotation of Retirement Benefits letter.
- Treating the beneficiary form as controlling the survivor pension; it names beneficiaries for group life insurance and the return of contributions.
- Deferring or withdrawing without weighing that a death before the deferred allowance starts pays only a return of contributions, and that withdrawal ends membership.
- Expecting the full withdrawal check; 20 percent of the taxable portion is withheld unless it is directly rolled over.
Related on this site: New Jersey PFRS retirement decisions, New Jersey PERS retirement decisions, New Jersey TPAF retirement decisions, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, survivor benefit with a government pension, pension refund versus leaving it, pension buyback calculator, 20% withholding on a pension lump sum and public pension retirement decisions by system.
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Answer againSources
- New Jersey Division of Pensions & Benefits, State Police Retirement System (SPRS) Member Guidebook (February 2026): https://www.nj.gov/treasury/pensions/documents/guidebooks/sprsbook.pdf
- State Police Retirement System of New Jersey, Actuarial Valuation Report as of July 1, 2025, produced by Cheiron (February 2026): https://www.nj.gov/treasury/pensions/documents/financial/actuarial2025/2025sprs.pdf
- New Jersey Division of Pensions & Benefits, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2025: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/pensions/documents/financial/annrpt2025/2025-ACFR-NJDPB.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 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.