Updated October 2, 2026. Quick answer: North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System retirees under the Main and Public Safety plans choose among Single Life, 50% Joint and Survivor, 100% Joint and Survivor, and Ten or Twenty Year Term Certain, with a partial lump sum of 12 monthly payments or a graduated increase as add-ons for those who qualify. The handbook calls the selection irrevocable, but the administrative code lets a member revoke in writing before the first check is cashed and no later than 15 days after it is issued; with direct deposit, only while NDPERS can still reverse the deposit. A refund of the member account balance forfeits all service credit to the date of the distribution, along with retirement benefits and the retiree health insurance credit. Service credit can be purchased in several ways, and the Main plan closed to employees hired January 1, 2025 or later.
North Dakota’s teachers’ fund runs on separate rules: North Dakota TFFR retirement decisions.
What this page covers and what it does not
This page works from four documents published by the North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System (NDPERS): the Defined Benefit Hybrid Retirement Plan (Main) page for active members, the refund and rollover application page, the Purchase Service Credit page, and the retiree handbook (revision date 07-2025). The handbook is written to people who have already retired, so its option descriptions are in the past tense, and this page reads them as the menu a retiring member faces. It covers the payment option, the partial lump sum and graduated increase, refund versus leaving contributions, and buying service credit. The statute sets the ages that decide when a benefit is payable. For most members NDCC 54-52-17(3)(a) defines normal retirement as: “The first day of the month next following the month in which the member attains the age of sixty-five years”. It adds the second route: “When the member has a combined total of years of service credit and years of age equal to eighty-five and has not received a retirement benefit under this chapter.” For a member first enrolled after December 31, 2015, subdivision (3)(b)(2) raises the test to a total of ninety: “When the member has a combined total of years of service credit and years of age equal to ninety and the member attains a minimum age of sixty and has not received a retirement benefit under this chapter.”
The option descriptions are given separately for the Main and Public Safety plans and for the Judges and Highway Patrol plans, and each rule below says which one it is. For firefighters, dispatchers, emergency medical services personnel, peace officers, correctional officers and national guard security officers, subdivisions (3)(c) to (3)(e) of NDCC 54-52-17 set a lower age, when the person “attains the age of fifty-five years and has completed at least three eligible years of employment”, and a Bureau of Criminal Investigation peace officer employed after July 31, 2023 needs ten eligible years instead of three. On the Main plan itself, “Effective January 1, 2025, the Main Defined Benefit Retirement Plan closed to newly enrolled new employees hired January 1, 2025 or later.” The statute is narrower than the word hired. NDCC 54-52-02.15(2) says that “an employee who becomes a participating or deferred member under this chapter before January 1, 2025, remains in the defined benefit retirement plan under this chapter, regardless of being rehired after December 31, 2024.” The closure does not reach the Public Safety, judges, Highway Patrol or teachers fund plans. The NDPERS pages read do not give the benefit formula, and the plan page says only that “The formula differs for participants based on their enrollment and retirement dates.” Confirm any figure that matters with NDPERS. The statute does state the formula. For a retiree other than a judge or a Bureau of Criminal Investigation peace officer, NDCC 54-52-17(4)(a)(1) says that for a member first enrolled before January 1, 2020, “service benefit equals two percent of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of service employment.” For a member first enrolled after December 31, 2019, it says “service benefit equals one and seventy-five hundredths percent of final average salary multiplied by the number of years of service employment.” Subsection (2) defines the final average salary that these percentages multiply. For the state income tax side, see North Dakota retirement taxes and does North Dakota tax pensions.
The election at retirement: what each option pays a survivor
Every option pays the retiree for life. As the handbook puts it, “The benefit options differ in how they pay your beneficiary upon your death.” Under the Main and Public Safety plans the choices are these, and the table carries only what the handbook states.
| Option (Main and Public Safety) | What the retiree receives | What a beneficiary receives |
|---|---|---|
| Single Life | A monthly benefit for as long as the retiree lives | No monthly income; a lump sum of the remaining member account balance, if any |
| 50% Joint and Survivor | A monthly benefit for life | 50% of the monthly benefit to a surviving spouse for life |
| 100% Joint and Survivor | A monthly benefit for life | 100% of the monthly benefit to a surviving spouse for life |
| Ten Year Term Certain | A monthly benefit for life | The remainder of ten years of monthly benefits if the retiree dies before ten years of payments; nothing after ten years |
| Twenty Year Term Certain | A monthly benefit for life | The remainder of twenty years of monthly benefits if the retiree dies before twenty years of payments; nothing after twenty years |
The table carries no dollar amounts because the handbook publishes none. The size of the reduction behind each option is personal, and the handbook does not give the factors. For the general trade between a larger single-life check and a survivor benefit, see single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension and survivor benefit with a government pension.
Single Life and the two Joint and Survivor options
Single Life is the option with no continuing income for anyone else. “There is no monthly income provision for beneficiaries under this option.” What a beneficiary does receive is limited: “Upon your death, your beneficiary (ies) will receive a lump sum payment of the remaining amount in your member account balance, if any.” The handbook does not say how that remaining balance is figured, but the statute does, and its wording is not limited to Single Life. NDCC 54-52-17(8) provides: “If a member receiving retirement benefits or the member’s surviving spouse receiving retirement benefits dies before the total amount of benefits paid to either or both equals the amount of the member’s account balance at retirement, the difference must be paid to the named beneficiary of the recipient”, or to the recipient’s estate if there is none. The remainder is therefore the account balance at retirement less the benefits already paid. Ask NDPERS for the figure before choosing Single Life.
The 50% Joint and Survivor option is the half-protection choice: “This option provides a lifetime benefit of 50% of your monthly benefit to your surviving spouse upon your death.” The 100% option is the full version: “This option provides a lifetime benefit of 100% of your monthly benefit to your surviving spouse upon your death.” Both options are tied to a spouse, and the handbook adds a duty for the retiree. “In the event your spouse predeceases you, or in the event of a divorce, notify the NDPERS office immediately.”
What happens if the spouse dies first is spelled out. “Upon receipt of a certified copy of your spouse’s death certificate or a copy of the divorce decree, your monthly benefit will be adjusted back to your Single Life or Normal amount.” The handbook does not state the size of that adjustment, but the rule is in NDAC 71-02-04-04: “In the event the designated beneficiary predeceases the member or, in the event of divorce, the option shall be canceled and the member’s benefit shall be returned to the single life or normal amount.”
A computed example from an assumed $2,000 monthly benefit, not an NDPERS figure: a surviving spouse would receive 2,000 times 50 divided by 100, a computed $1,000 a month under the 50% option, or 2,000 times 100 divided by 100, a computed $2,000 a month under the 100% option. The percentage applies to the retiree’s own monthly benefit under the option, which NDPERS calculates.
Naming a beneficiary: spousal consent and who the survivor must be
The election is tied to the beneficiary form. “If you are married and have designated someone other than or in addition to your spouse as your primary beneficiary for your retirement plan, your spouse’s written consent is required.” And for the survivor options: “If you are drawing your monthly retirement benefit under the 100% or 50% Joint and Survivor Option, your primary beneficiary must be your legal spouse.” For the general question of a spouse waiving a survivor benefit, survivor benefit with a government pension covers the idea; the NDPERS rule is the written-consent sentence above.
On who can sign: “NDPERS will only accept beneficiary designations or retirement option elections from representatives authorized to act under a Durable Power of Attorney.”
Ten Year and Twenty Year Term Certain
The term certain options pay a beneficiary if the retiree dies early in the payout. The Ten Year version: “This option provides monthly payments to your beneficiary in the event you become deceased before receiving at least ten years of benefit payments.” The Twenty Year version has the same shape: “This option provides monthly payments to your beneficiary in the event you become deceased before receiving twenty years of benefits.”
A computed example from assumed figures, not NDPERS figures: if a retiree under the Ten Year option received 48 monthly payments and then died, the ten-year term of 10 times 12 months, minus 48, leaves a computed 72 months. At an assumed $1,500 a month, the beneficiary’s remaining term payments would add up to a computed $108,000. The pages read do not state the reduction for either term certain option.
The Partial Lump Sum Option (PLSO)
The PLSO has eligibility limits: “This option is only available to members who retired at or after full retirement date.” “This option is not available to members receiving disability benefits, or to beneficiaries of deceased members.” On the amount, the handbook says that “you were allowed to take a partial lump sum distribution equal to 12 monthly payment of the Single Life option”, and that it was paid at the same time as the first monthly retirement benefit.
The cost is a smaller check for life: “Your ongoing retirement benefit was actuarially reduced in exchange for the partial lump sum payment.” The handbook does not give the size of that reduction. The statute names the option: NDCC 54-52-17(9)(a)(4) lists “An actuarially equivalent partial lump sum distribution option with a twelve-month maximum lump sum distribution.” NDAC 71-02-04-04.1(1) fixes the amount: “The payment is equal to twelve monthly payments determined under the single life annuity option.” It also says: “The ongoing benefits will be actuarially reduced to reflect the partial lump sum payment.”
A computed example from an assumed $2,500 monthly Single Life figure, not an NDPERS figure: 12 times 2,500 is a computed $30,000 paid with the first monthly benefit, and the ongoing benefit is then lower by an amount NDPERS sets.
The Graduated Benefit Option
A third add-on trades a lower starting check for annual increases. “This option allows members who have retired after March 1, 2011 to select the graduated benefit as either a one percent or two percent annual benefit increase.” “If you made this election, your monthly annuity was actuarially reduced.” The handbook adds that the retiree could still choose a Joint and Survivor or Term Certain form for the ongoing benefit.
The handbook limits the option to members who retired on or after their Normal Retirement Date as set by statute. For the Main and Public Safety plans it adds: “Excludes the benefit in combination with a PLSO or DNRO benefit option.” The pages read do not state the percentage reductions.
Judges and Highway Patrol: a different set of options
For the Judges and Highway Patrol plans the normal benefit is described this way: “If you are married at the time of your death, your surviving spouse will continue to receive one-half of your normal retirement benefit for as long as your spouse lives.” “If you are single, there is no monthly income provision for your beneficiary under this option.” The handbook lists for these plans a 100% Joint and Survivor option, the Ten and Twenty Year Term Certain options, a partial lump sum and a graduated benefit. The handbook does not explain the abbreviation DNRO, but NDAC 71-02-04-04.1(2) does: “Deferred normal retirement option. The deferred normal retirement option will only be available to members who retire after reaching normal retirement date.” The rule adds: “The payment is in lieu of a lump sum equal to the amount of missed payments, without interest, retroactive to the member’s normal retirement date.” “The ongoing benefits will be actuarially increased to reflect the lump sum.”
What cannot be changed
Nearly everything above is final. “The selection you made upon retiring is irrevocable.” The handbook lists no exception or window, but the administrative code does. NDAC 71-02-04-02(2) provides: “A member may revoke the election of an optional benefit as provided in subsection 1 and make a new election, if such revocation is received in writing before the first retirement check is cashed but no later than fifteen days after the first retirement check has been issued.” Subsection (3) closes the door afterwards: “A member may not revoke the elected benefit after receiving and cashing the first benefit check or if paid by direct deposit, after the bank reversal window has expired”, unless the member can show that the election rested on a misrepresentation by the employer or the office. The partial lump sum, deferred normal retirement and graduated elections are stricter: NDAC 71-02-04-04.1 says of each “This option is an irrevocable election made at initial application for retirement, and is not an option for a subsequent retirement.” On a return to work, the handbook says: “If you are a retiree employed for 20 or more hours a week for 20 or more weeks per year in any permanent position with a NDPERS participating employer, your retirement benefit will be suspended.” The administrative code adds three terms. NDAC 71-02-07-02 says the benefits “must be suspended without interest accruing on the suspended account”, apart from exceptions it cites in NDAC 71-02-02-02 and NDCC 54-52-05(1); on a later retirement “the member is required to select the same benefit option as the option selected at initial retirement”; and the benefit for the return period “must be based upon service and earnings attributable to the return to work period only”.
Refund of the member account balance versus leaving it in the plan
A member who leaves covered employment before retirement can apply for a refund or rollover or leave the account. A small account is not left to choice. NDCC 54-52-17(7) says “The board automatically shall refund a member’s account balance if the member has completed less than three years of eligible employment, has an account balance of less than one thousand dollars” (for a judge the test is five years, and for a Bureau of Criminal Investigation peace officer hired after July 31, 2023 it is ten) unless the member acts: “A member may waive the refund if the member submits a written statement to the board, within thirty days after termination, requesting that the member’s account balance remain in the fund.” NDPERS lists the conditions. “You must be off all covered NDPERS employer payroll(s) for at least 31 days.” “Your application must be complete and on file with NDPERS for at least 60 days prior to receiving your refund/rollover.”
By taking a distribution, “you forfeit all service credit to the date of the distribution”. The page lists what else goes: “Retirement Benefits”, “Disability Benefits”, “Non-Vested Employer Contributions”, “Retiree Health Insurance Credit”, and “Health Insurance Coverage”. The NDPERS pages read do not state the vesting period for the Main plan, but the statute does. NDCC 54-52-17(5) begins “Upon termination of employment after completing three years of eligible employment” and says a member who does not take early retirement benefits “is eligible to receive deferred vested retirement benefits payable commencing on the member’s normal retirement date”. Judges need five years and a Bureau of Criminal Investigation peace officer hired after July 31, 2023 needs ten. The general trade is covered on pension refund versus leaving it. The forfeiture can be reversed in two ways. NDAC 71-02-06-02 says “Any former member returning their refund, with interest at the actuarial rate of return, within sixty days from withdrawal must be reinstated.” And NDCC 54-52-02.6 provides: “An individual upon re-employment may elect to repurchase the forfeited past service for retirement and the retiree health benefits program in accordance with rules established by the board.”
Two traps are spelled out. On a return to work: “You may not return to a NDPERS-covered Employer prior to receiving your refund or direct rollover.” “If returning to a covered employer, you will cease to be eligible to receive your requested distribution and your application will be cancelled.” And on the quality of the separation: “If your termination is not bona fide, you are not eligible to request a refund or direct rollover and you may be required to repay any refund or direct rollover you receive with interest.”
On timing: “Your payment will be issued in approximately 60 to 90 days, subject to tax notification requirements.”
Buying service credit
Service credit is a factor in the pension, and the plan offers several ways to buy more. The plan page says “Every month you contribute to your NDPERS retirement plan, you earn service credit.” It also says “You may elect to purchase service credit to increase your future monthly retirement benefit.” The pension buyback calculator helps frame the cost question once NDPERS gives a personal estimate.
Previous public service: “If you have previous permanent public service, you may purchase this service credit at any time while actively contributing to NDPERS.” One type ties to the refund decision above: “Service Credit in NDPERS defined benefit system that was forfeited by taking refund/rollover”.
Military service: “you may be eligible to purchase up to 48 months of active duty service credit for retirement purposes”.
Generic service has a cap and a vesting condition. “In order to buy up to five additional years (60 months) generic service credit, you must be vested.” “Vested means you already have 3 years (36 months) of service credit or more with NDPERS.” “However, the total number of months purchased throughout your NDPERS career cannot exceed 60 months.”
Unused sick leave converts at termination. “One month of service credit will be awarded for every 173.3 hours of unused accumulated sick leave.” “Hours of sick leave equal to a fraction of a month are deemed to be a full month.” A computed example from an assumed 1000 hours of unused sick leave, not an NDPERS figure: 1,000 divided by 173.3 is a computed 5.77 months, and because a fraction is deemed a full month, the credit is a computed 6 months. It is not free. NDCC 54-52-27 gives the credit to a member “if the member or the member’s employer pays an amount equal to the member’s final average salary, times the number of months of sick leave converted, times the percent of employer and employee contributions to the retirement program of the member, plus the required contribution for the retiree health benefits program.”
On paying: “The majority of the purchase amount is deposited into your retirement account and earns interest monthly.” “Benefit estimates revealing your monthly payment with and without the purchase are mailed so you can compare the benefit amounts and determine if a purchase adds value to your retirement.” The statute states the price. NDCC 54-52-17.4(4) lets the member buy the credit “by paying to the board an amount equal to the actuarial cost to the fund of providing the credit”; for service forfeited by an earlier refund the price is the greater of that cost or the refund received plus interest at the actuarial rate of return. It says the member or employer “shall also pay to the retiree health benefits fund established under section 54-52.1-03.2 an amount equal to the actuarial cost to that fund for the additional credit.” A credit also does not count if the same years qualify for a benefit from another retirement system.
Cost-of-living adjustments
“Your retirement benefits are set by the legislature and does not provide an automatic cost of living adjustment (COLA).” “However, the legislature is not required to provide an increase for retirees.” A member comparing options should treat any increase as uncertain, which is the context for the Graduated Benefit Option above.
Taxes on the benefit and on a refund
The handbook describes the tax treatment of a retirement benefit this way: “The majority of your retirement income paid is reportable as taxable income for federal and state income tax purposes.” For the state treatment, see North Dakota retirement taxes.
Figures in the sources
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Survivor share, 50% Joint and Survivor | 50% | nd-ndpers_04 |
| Survivor share, 100% Joint and Survivor | 100% | nd-ndpers_04 |
| Partial lump sum | 12 monthly Single Life payments | nd-ndpers_04 |
| Term certain options | 10 years or 20 years | nd-ndpers_04 |
| Interest on the account balance | 6.00%, compounded monthly, effective January 1, 2023 | nd-ndpers_01 |
| Refund application on file | at least 60 days before payment | nd-ndpers_02 |
| Refund payment timing | approximately 60 to 90 days | nd-ndpers_02 |
| Off payroll for refund or early retiree return to work | 31 days | nd-ndpers_02 and nd-ndpers_04 |
| Military service purchase | up to 48 months | nd-ndpers_03 |
| Generic service purchase | up to 60 months total; vested at 36 months | nd-ndpers_03 |
| Unused sick leave conversion | 1 month per 173.3 hours | nd-ndpers_03 |
| Retiree health insurance credit | $5.00 per year of service credit, reduced for early retirement | nd-ndpers_04 |
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 NDPERS’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 refund page says a payment can be a refund or a rollover and that the distribution date arrives by letter; the pages read do not describe the NDPERS withholding practice, so the tax form NDPERS sends and a tax preparer settle 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.
A direct refund worked through
A computed example from an assumed $30,000 taxable refund paid directly to the member, not an NDPERS figure: 20% withholding is 30,000 times 20 divided by 100, a computed $6,000, leaving a computed $24,000 paid in cash. A 60-day rollover of the full $30,000 would require replacing the withheld $6,000 from other funds. A direct rollover avoids the gap, but the pages read do not say how NDPERS handles a direct rollover payment, so confirm it with NDPERS.
What this page could not settle
- The pages read do not state the size of the reduction for any payment option, the partial lump sum or the graduated increase; each depends on age and the option. The early-retirement reduction is stated in the code. For a member first enrolled after December 31, 2015, other than a public safety or national guard member or a judge, NDCC 54-52-17(4)(e) provides that “early retirement benefits for members first enrolled after December 31, 2015, are calculated for single life benefits accrued to the date of termination of employment, but must be reduced by fixed rate of eight percent per year to account for benefit payments beginning before the normal retirement date.” For a Main plan member first enrolled before January 1, 2016, and for members of the public safety, national guard, Bureau of Criminal Investigation and judges’ plans, NDAC 71-02-04-07 sets a benefit “actuarially reduced from the single life retirement benefit by one-half of one percent for each month (six percent per year)” below normal retirement age.
- The NDPERS pages read do not state the benefit formula, normal retirement ages by tier, or the vesting period for the Main plan; the statute does, as quoted above, and your own tier and an NDPERS estimate settle the figure. Final average salary is defined in NDCC 54-52-17(2); for members who leave on or after August 1, 2010 it reads: “For members who terminate employment on or after August 1, 2010, final average salary is the average of the highest salary received by the member for any thirty-six months employed during the last one hundred eighty months of employment.” For members who terminate employment after December 31, 2019, it uses “the higher of the final average salary calculated on December 31, 2019, or the average salary earned in the three highest periods of twelve consecutive months employed during the last one hundred eighty months of employment.”
- The handbook describes the Partial Lump Sum Option in the past tense, but the administrative code read on October 24, 2026 still provides for it: NDAC 71-02-04-04.1(1) says “The partial lump sum option will only be available to members who retire on or after reaching normal retirement date.”
- The handbook states no way to change a payment option after retirement; the administrative code allows a written revocation before the first check is cashed and no later than 15 days after it is issued; with direct deposit, only while NDPERS can still reverse the deposit, and after that only if the election rested on facts that proved incorrect partly because of what the employer or NDPERS represented, as quoted above.
- The handbook does not explain the abbreviation DNRO; the administrative code defines it, as quoted above, but gives no reduction or increase factors.
- The pages read do not describe how NDPERS handles tax withholding on a refund or a direct rollover.
- The pages read do not describe the Defined Contribution plan’s retirement decisions, the 457 plan, or the plan terms for employees hired January 1, 2025 or later.
Common mistakes
- Treating the payment option as changeable after the window has closed; the handbook calls the selection irrevocable, and the administrative code allows a written revocation only before the first check is cashed and no later than 15 days after it is issued; with direct deposit, only while NDPERS can still reverse the deposit.
- Choosing Single Life and assuming a beneficiary will receive a monthly pension; the handbook says there is no monthly income provision for beneficiaries under it.
- Combining a graduated increase with a partial lump sum under the Main and Public Safety rules; the handbook excludes that combination.
- Taking a refund without realizing it forfeits all service credit to the date of the distribution, as well as retirement benefits and the retiree health insurance credit.
- Returning to a covered employer before a refund is paid; the application is cancelled.
Related on this site: North Dakota retirement taxes, does North Dakota tax pensions, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, survivor benefit with a government pension, pension refund versus leaving it, pension buyback calculator and public pension retirement decisions by system.
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Answer againSources
- North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System, source 1: https://www.ndpers.nd.gov/active-members/retirement-plans-active-members/defined-benefit-hybrid-retirement-plan-main-active
- North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System, source 2: https://www.ndpers.nd.gov/i-want/apply-refund-or-rollover-my-ndpers-retirement-account
- North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System, source 3: https://www.ndpers.nd.gov/i-want/purchase-service-credit
- North Dakota Public Employees Retirement System, source 4: https://www.ndpers.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/members-additional-information/all-defined-benefit/retiree-handbook.pdf
- North Dakota Legislative Council, North Dakota Century Code chapter 54-52 and Administrative Code article 71-02, read on October 24, 2026: https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t54c52.pdf and https://ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/71-02-04.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 2, 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.