South Dakota SDRS: Survivor Options, Refunds and Retirement Ages

Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: A Generational Class A member of the South Dakota Retirement System (SDRS), who joined on or after July 1, 2017, can retire without reduction at 67, or as early as 57 with a 5% cut for each year before 67. At retirement the member may elect a 60% or 100% joint and survivor benefit, which lowers the member’s own payment; the statute makes the election irrevocable once more than one monthly payment has been made (SDCL 3-12C-1210), and the handbook separately states irrevocability for the Supplemental Pension Benefit annuity. A Foundation member’s benefit carries a 60% surviving spouse benefit with no election described. After three years of service, a refund forfeits the pension and, for Generational members, the Variable Retirement Account.

Which SDRS members this page covers

This page works from two SDRS handbooks for Class A members, both dated July 2024, and the SDRS actuarial valuation as of June 30, 2025. South Dakota gives Class A members one of two benefit designs depending on when they joined. The Generational handbook says “Generational members include all Class A and Class B members that joined SDRS on and after July 1, 2017”. The Foundation handbook says “Foundation members include all Class A and Class B members that joined SDRS prior to July 1, 2017”. Each figure below is labelled by group. Class B members (public safety and judicial) have their own handbooks, which were not read, so they are outside this page.

The valuation’s Membership Summary row reads “Number of Active Members 43,784 42,873” (June 30, 2025 and June 30, 2024). The handbook calls itself a general overview and says “In any conflict between the information presented in this handbook and the laws or administrative rules, the laws and administrative rules shall prevail”. Every figure here should be confirmed with the SDRS office before acting on it.

How the pension is figured

For a Generational Class A member, the valuation states the benefit as “1.8% times Final Average Compensation times Class A Credited Service”. Final Average Compensation (FAC) comes from “averaging your annual compensation during the highest 20 consecutive calendar quarters in the last 40 quarters of SDRS membership (the highest five years of pay out of last 10 years)”. Raises are held back inside that average: “The first year of compensation used in determining your FAC is limited to 105 percent of the base year”. The Foundation handbook uses two formulas, a standard and an alternate one, and says “You will receive the larger benefit based on these formula calculations”. The handbook’s formula graphics could not be read as text, but the valuation states the Foundation Class A multipliers. The standard formula is 1.7% times Final Average Compensation times Class A Credited Service before July 1, 2008, plus 1.55% for service after June 30, 2008. The alternate formula is 2.4% for service before July 1, 2008, plus 2.25% for service after June 30, 2008, less 80% of the Primary Social Security Benefit.

A computed example from an assumed $30,000 Final Average Compensation and an assumed 30 years of credited service, not an SDRS figure: 1.8% of $30,000 is a computed $540 for each year of service, so 30 years gives a computed $16,200 a year at the normal retirement age of 67, before any survivor election.

Pay above the cap is not lost. The handbook says “both the member and employer contributions made on compensation in excess of the 105 percent cap, and actual investment earnings on those contributions, will be paid as a lump-sum to the member at retirement”. The statute (SDCL 3-12C-1202) adds a cap on the final quarter: “Compensation in the last calendar quarter considered in the computation of final average compensation is limited to one hundred five percent of the highest compensation considered for any prior calendar quarter during the member’s last forty calendar quarters of membership in the system.” It also says “Compensation in excess of the limited amount may not be included in the computation of final average compensation but is payable pursuant to section § 3-12C-713.” SDCL 3-12C-713 says “The contribution credit plus credited investment return is payable to the member commencing a retirement benefit or a disability benefit three consecutive calendar months after the effective date of the benefit.” and “The amount may be paid in a lump sum, rolled over to the South Dakota deferred compensation plan, rolled over to another eligible plan, or used to purchase a supplemental pension benefit. However, the purchase of a supplemental pension benefit is only available upon the member’s retirement.” Member and employer contributions are each “6 percent of your salary” for Class A.

When a pension can start and what early retirement costs

Every route needs service first: “To be entitled to retirement benefits, you must have a minimum of three years of contributory service”. After that the two groups differ.

The Generational handbook says early benefits are “permanently reduced by five percent for each year (and prorated for each partial year) that payments are made before age 67”. The Foundation handbook says “permanently reduced by three percent for each year (and prorated for each partial year) that payments are made before age 65”. Foundation members who retire between 55 and 62 may also choose “the level income payment option”, and the handbook warns that it “significantly reduces the survivor benefit payable after age 62”.

The statute states the Foundation reduction as a lesser-of rule. SDCL 3-12C-1111 says “Any vested foundation member can retire in the ten years preceding the member’s normal retirement age and the retirement benefit shall be reduced by the lesser of the following:” “One-fourth of one percent for each full month which remains between the date of commencement of payments and the date the member will reach the member’s normal retirement age; or” and “One-fourth of one percent for each full month which remains between the date of commencement of payments and the date the member will reach the member’s reduction age.” For Class A service the reduction age is defined in 3-12C-1110 as “For Class A credited service, an age not less than fifty-five and at which the sum of the foundation member’s age and credited service equals eighty-five;”

On the level income option, SDCL 3-12C-1112 says “Any foundation member who retires before being eligible for social security retirement benefits may elect to receive initial retirement benefit payments from the system in an amount greater than the standard benefit payments computed on the basis of the member’s age and earnings at retirement.” and 3-12C-1112.1 says “A member may not elect to change normal payment of the member’s retirement annuity in favor of adjusted payments pursuant to § 3-12C-1112, or the opposite if more than one monthly retirement annuity payment has been made to the member.”

A computed example from the same assumed $30,000 and 30 years, not an SDRS figure: a Generational member who starts payments at 62, five years before 67, takes 5% for each of 5 years, a computed 25% reduction. That leaves a computed $12,150 a year instead of $16,200.

The survivor election: single life, 60% or 100%

This is the central choice for a married Generational member. The handbook says a member “may make an election at retirement to provide a survivor benefit to the member’s eligible surviving spouse”, and the choices are a single-life benefit or a “60 percent or 100 percent” share for the spouse. Of the reduced options it says “the member’s retirement benefit will be actuarially reduced to provide for a surviving spouse benefit after the member’s death”.

For Foundation members the valuation says the benefit is paid “with a 60% surviving spouse benefit paid for the spouse’s lifetime”, and the Foundation handbook gives the same 60% rule with no election. The handbook prices the Generational reduction with its own example: “if a Generational member with a $1,000 per month single life annuity elects a 60 percent or 100 percent Joint & Survivor benefit, the member’s benefit would be the applicable reduced amount shown below”. Selected rows follow. It adds that “a possible reduction for early retirement” comes on top, so an early starter faces both.

A computed example read from that table, not an SDRS figure for any particular member: for a member and spouse who are both 62, the 60% option pays $930.12 per $1,000 of single-life benefit, a reduction of a computed $69.88, and the 100% option pays $888.72, a reduction of a computed $111.28, which is a computed $41.40 a month less than the 60% option. In return the spouse would receive 60% of $930.12, a computed $558.07 a month under the 60% option, against $888.72 under the 100% option. In every row of the handbook’s table a younger spouse means a lower member payment. The general trade-off is at single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension.

What is irrevocable, what is not, and the deadlines

One step is explicitly irrevocable. For the Supplemental Pension Benefit (SPB) described below, the handbook says “A member who chooses to participate in the SDRS-SPB program will be required to enter into an irrevocable agreement”. For the base survivor election the handbook says only that the member “may make an election at retirement”, but the statute answers both questions. SDCL 3-12C-1210 says “If more than one monthly retirement benefit payment has been made to the generational member, the benefit election made by a member is irrevocable and surviving spouse benefits, if elected, may only be paid to the person who is the spouse both at the time of the election and at the time of the member’s death and only if the spouse survives the member.” It adds “The benefit election may not be rescinded in the event of a subsequent divorce or the subsequent death of the spouse.” So the statute closes the election once a second monthly payment has been made; it does not say how a change is made before then, so ask SDRS. On the deadline, 3-12C-1208 says “No retirement benefit may be paid unless the system has received a completed application for a retirement benefit, including the benefit option elected.”

Two rules matter for a spouse: “To qualify for surviving spouse benefits, your spouse must have been married to you prior to your retirement date and for at least 12 months before your death”. The statute also needs the spouse’s signature on the application. SDCL 3-12C-1208 says “If the member is married, the member’s spouse must sign the form.” It lets a member who cannot get it certify why, but “If the member is unable to obtain the signature of the member’s spouse for either reason, the member must elect the sixty percent joint and survivor benefit pursuant to § 3-12C-1209 and provide documentation to support the assertion of subdivision (1) or (2) of this section.” And on money not yet paid out, “If you (and your spouse, if electing a Joint & Survivor benefit) die before your accumulated contributions have been paid out, your named beneficiary or estate will receive any remaining balance”.

Beneficiary designations are separate and flexible: “A member may change beneficiary designations at any time and as often as necessary”. On timing, the member must “make application to SDRS”, and payments begin the month after the latest of the final contribution, one complete calendar month after SDRS receives the application, or the date named in it. A late applicant “may receive up to a maximum of three months of benefits retroactive to the date your contributory service ended”.

Lump sums, the Variable Retirement Account and the Supplemental Pension Benefit

The pages read do not describe a partial lump sum or a deferred retirement option plan (DROP), and the statute rules out a lump sum in place of the pension. SDCL 3-12C-701 says “A member in the system may claim the benefits provided for in this chapter only in the form of a monthly benefit payment and only after such time as these benefits are payable.” and “Unless otherwise specifically provided, no member or a former member of the system may receive a lump-sum cash payment in lieu of the normal retirement benefit.” Lump sums appear in narrower places: the contribution credit above, and two more.

First, the Variable Retirement Account (VRA), which belongs to Generational members. The handbook says “The VRA is funded by a monthly contribution of up to 1.5 percent of pay to active Generational members” (the statute says, in 3-12C-1302, “The variable retirement contribution for any year may be adjusted from zero to one and one-half percent of each contributing generational member’s compensation and shall be allocated to each generational member’s variable retirement account.”), earnings “may be positive or negative, but your VRA will never be less than the sum of all contributions to the account”, and Generational members may choose “a lump-sum payment, a rollover to the SDRS Supplemental Retirement Plan (SRP) or other eligible plan, or a purchase of a SDRS Supplemental Pension Benefit (SPB) at retirement”.

Second, the SPB lets a retired member convert balances into extra lifetime income. Eligibility requires that the member is “currently receiving an SDRS retirement benefit” and has “at least $10,000” across the listed funds. The statute is firmer on both points. SDCL 3-12C-1503 says “No single premium may be less than ten thousand dollars.” and on who may roll funds in it says “A member who is a retiree receiving a benefit from the system, or, if the member is deceased, the member’s surviving spouse who is receiving a benefit from the system and is a beneficiary of the funds subject to this section, may become a supplemental pension participant by direct rollover of pretax funds held by the member in a variable retirement account, in contribution credit, or in either or both of the plans created in chapters 3-13 and 3-13A into the fund.” SDCL 3-12C-1504 requires “If the participant is married, the spouse shall sign the contract and provide a copy of the spouse’s current driver license or other picture identification card issued by a government agency or tribe.” SDCL 3-12C-1502 says “Any other provision of law notwithstanding, the board may suspend issuance of new supplemental pension contracts at any time.” “Participation in the SDRS-SPB program is optional”, and the member chooses “a single-life SDRS-SPB or, if married, a joint/survivor SDRS-SPB with a percentage (60 percent or 100 percent) of the SDRS-SPB payable to the member’s surviving spouse”.

Leaving before retirement: refund or leave the money

Under three years of service, the member is entitled to “100 percent of your employee contributions plus credited interest and 50 percent of your employer contributions and credited interest” as a lump sum. The member may instead “leave your accumulated contributions with SDRS for up to 10 years”. “If you have not returned to SDRS-covered employment after 10 years, your accumulated contributions must be withdrawn during the 11th year”, and “If you do not withdraw your accumulated contributions during the 11th year and SDRS is not able to locate you, you will forfeit your accumulated contributions”. The statute attaches a condition to that forfeiture and stops the interest. SDCL 3-12C-604 says “At the end of the ten-year period, no further interest may be credited with respect to contributions and no further investment return may be credited with respect to any variable retirement account.” and “If the member fails to withdraw the member’s accumulated contributions within eleven years following the member’s termination, the member shall forfeit all rights to the member’s accumulated contributions, variable retirement account, and to any credited service in connection therewith, if the system has made reasonable efforts to notify the member of the member’s withdrawal rights and the effect of this section.”

After three years the member is vested: “You become vested and entitled to SDRS retirement benefits after three years of contributory service, provided you have not withdrawn (refunded) your accumulated contributions”. The handbook says the member has “two options: you may leave the funds with SDRS until you can begin drawing retirement benefits and your VRA or you may forfeit your benefits and take a refund of your accumulated contributions”. Leaving the money means “lifetime retirement benefits when you reach retirement age”, and for Generational members the VRA comes too, “never less than the contributions made to the VRA”. The valuation adds that a vested member’s benefit is “increased by the COLA from the date of termination to the date benefits commence”.

Taking the refund has a defined price. The member receives “100 percent of your employee contributions plus credited interest and 85 percent of your employer contributions and credited interest” as a lump sum. “Generational members who choose to refund their accumulated contributions also forfeit their Variable Retirement Account (VRA)”. The handbook defines accumulated contributions with both employer percentages: “if vested: 85 percent of employer portion; if not vested: 50 percent of employer portion”. Interest is “no greater than 90 percent of 91-day U.S. Treasury Bill rate for the prior calendar year”. The statute (SDCL 3-12C-602) needs a signature too: “If the member is married, the member’s spouse must sign the form.” It also says “A member who withdraws the member’s accumulated contributions pursuant to this section forfeits all credited service and benefits provided in this chapter.” A refund is also a one-way door: “The right to withdraw accumulated contributions ceases upon returning to employment with an SDRS participating unit”. The general framework is at pension refund versus leaving it.

Buying service credit

The handbook says “Eligible members may purchase additional credited service to enhance their SDRS benefit at retirement”. On cost, “depends on your age at the time of purchase and is an actuarially-determined percentage of your current salary or Final Average Compensation”, whichever is higher. Two kinds are listed: prior public employment “for which you are not eligible to receive a retirement benefit (subject to verification)” and “Nonqualified permissive service (air time)”, which the handbook says needs five years of contributory service and is capped at five years of air time. The statute words the threshold differently: SDCL 3-12C-511 says “Notwithstanding the restrictions contained in §§ 3-12C-504 and 3-12C-509, a current contributing member with over five years of contributory service in the system may purchase nonqualified permissive service credit as defined in and pursuant to the provisions of § 415(n) of the Internal Revenue Code.” For other public service, 3-12C-509 says “If a current contributing member with at least five years of contributory service in the system has other public service for which the member is not entitled to retirement benefits from another public retirement system, the member may elect to deposit or have deposited on the member’s behalf an amount equal to an actuarially-determined percentage times the Class A rate of contribution multiplied by the higher of the member’s annual compensation at the time of making the election, or the member’s final compensation calculated as if the member retired on the date of the member’s election, for each year of other public service for which the member wishes to receive credit as a Class A member.” The pages read give no price table, so the cost has to come from the SDRS office. The break-even arithmetic is at pension buyback calculator.

Cost-of-living adjustments

The Generational handbook says “The minimum annual COLA is 0 percent and the maximum is 3.5 percent”. Eligibility has a waiting period: the member must have “received full benefit payments and not been employed by an SDRS-covered employer during the entire previous fiscal year period”, so the first adjustment can come one year or nearly two years after payments start. The valuation reports the current picture: “The SDRS COLA effective July 1, 2025 was 1.71%”, and “The July 2026 SDRS COLA will equal inflation, no less than 0% and no greater than 1.56%”.

The statute sets the 3.5% ceiling; the lower one is calculated. SDCL 3-12C-704 says “The baseline COLA is equal to the increase in the consumer price index, but no less than zero percent and no greater than three and one-half percent.” When the funding tests in 3-12C-228 are not met, a restricted COLA applies instead, capped at a restricted COLA maximum the system calculates each year under the board’s funding policy, which is how a ceiling below 3.5%, such as the 1.56% for July 2026, arises. It is zero if the tests cannot be met at all: “If the criteria in subdivisions 3-12C-228(1) and (2) cannot be satisfied, the COLA payable is zero percent.” Under 3-12C-703, “The COLA payable must be applied annually to all benefits except those based on the member’s accumulated contributions, variable retirement account, or contribution credit.” On the waiting period, 3-12C-104 says “No COLA may be provided unless the member has received benefit payments for at least the consecutive, twelve-month period before July first.”

The handbook’s further condition, that the member was not employed by a covered employer during the whole previous fiscal year, is not worded that way in the chapter. The closest rule is the next sentence of 3-12C-703: “The COLA must be eliminated for any period of time that a retired member reenters covered employment in the system, unless the member retired as a Class B public safety member and subsequently has reentered covered employment as a Class A member, or the member retired without a benefit suspension pursuant to § 3-12C-1402, and then reentered active status before July 1, 2004.” The fiscal-year wording may come from the board’s administrative rules, and those were not checked.

Going back to work after retiring

This page has not covered this so far; the statute does. SDCL 3-12C-1401 says “Except as provided in § 3-12C-1401.1, a retired member’s retirement is invalid if the member is reemployed by a participating unit unless the member’s employment relationship with the initial participating unit has been terminated, as defined in this chapter and as required pursuant to Revenue Ruling 57-115 by the Internal Revenue Service, and the member has been separated from service for three consecutive calendar months after the member’s effective date of retirement.” Section 3-12C-1401.1 says “The provisions of § 3-12C-1401 do not apply if the retired member is at least fifty-nine and a half years of age when the member begins receiving retirement benefits and is employed for less than twelve hundred fifty hours during the fiscal year of the participating unit.” It adds “However, if the retired member completes twelve hundred fifty hours or more during a fiscal year of the participating unit, the member’s benefits shall be suspended.”

For a member who comes back after those three months, SDCL 3-12C-1405 says “The member’s monthly retirement benefit is reduced by fifteen percent and the COLA is eliminated throughout the period that the member reenters covered employment.” Section 3-12C-1405.1 says “The provisions of § 3-12C-1405 do not apply if the retired member is reemployed for less than twelve hundred fifty hours during the fiscal year of the participating unit.” It adds “However, if the retired member completes twelve hundred fifty hours or more during a fiscal year of the participating unit, the provisions of § 3-12C-1405 apply immediately.” The same sections carry exceptions for Class B public safety members and Class D members, which this page does not cover.

If a member dies before retirement

If a member dies while employed, a family benefit is paid for eligible dependent children under 19 when the member had three or more years of contributory service or died performing the usual duties of the job. The Generational handbook then says “A surviving spouse benefit is effective and payable when your surviving spouse reaches age 67”, and the spouse may elect to start it as early as 57 at a reduction of 5 percent for each year before 67. The Foundation handbook uses age 65 for the same step and age 55 for the earliest start.

For a Generational member, the amount is in SDCL 3-12C-1215: “If no family benefit is being paid pursuant to § 3-12C-907, a surviving spouse of a contributing generational member who had acquired at least three years of contributory service or noncontributory service or died while performing usual duties for the employer is, upon attaining the age sixty-seven, eligible to receive a surviving spouse benefit as follows:” “If a family benefit had been paid, sixty percent of the family benefit paid at the time the family benefit ended, increased by the COLA from the date the last family benefit was paid; or” “If a family benefit had not been paid, sixty percent of the amount calculated pursuant to subsection (a) or (b), whichever is greater, increased by the COLA from the date of the member’s death:” “Twenty-five percent of the member’s final average compensation at the time of the member’s death; or” “The member’s unreduced accrued retirement benefit at the time of the member’s death.”

The early start is in 3-12C-1216: “The early surviving spouse benefit, payable for the life of the surviving spouse, is the surviving spouse benefit reduced by five percent for each full year and prorated for each additional full month between the date the early surviving spouse benefit commences and the date the surviving spouse attains the age of sixty-seven.” The Foundation early start, in 3-12C-1116, is “A foundation member’s spouse who would be eligible to receive a surviving spouse benefit at age sixty-five may elect to start the benefit prior to age sixty-five but no earlier than the date on which the surviving spouse attains the age of fifty-five.”

For a Generational member who had reached normal retirement age but not started a benefit, 3-12C-1214 says “The surviving spouse benefit is equal to sixty percent of the actuarially reduced amount the member would have received if the member retired on the date of death and elected the sixty percent joint and survivor benefit.” The family benefit for children is set in 3-12C-907: “The total family benefit is the greater of:” “Twenty-five percent of the member’s final average compensation at the time of death; or” “The member’s unreduced accrued retirement benefit at the time of death.”

A child is defined in 3-12C-103 as “For purposes of administering benefits pursuant to this chapter, the term, child, means an unmarried dependent child of the member, who has not passed the child’s nineteenth birthday and each unmarried dependent child, who is totally and permanently disabled, either physically or mentally, regardless of the child’s age, if the disability occurred before age nineteen.”

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 SDRS’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 SDRS handbook lists a rollover to the SDRS Supplemental Retirement Plan or another eligible plan as a payment option for the Variable Retirement Account. 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 to a qualified public safety employee from a governmental plan, provided the employee separated from service during or after the year they reached 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.

Where the sources differ

The Generational handbook gives the COLA range as “The minimum annual COLA is 0 percent and the maximum is 3.5 percent”. The June 30, 2025 valuation says “the July 2026 SDRS COLA is limited to a restricted maximum of 1.56%”, and that the July 1, 2025 adjustment was 1.71%. Both can be true, since the handbook states the range and the valuation applies a funding limit, but a retiree estimating future increases should confirm the current ceiling with SDRS. State taxes on the pension are at South Dakota retirement taxes and does South Dakota tax pensions.

What this page could not settle

• The pages read do not say whether the base survivor election can be changed after payments begin or when it must be made; the statute does (3-12C-1210 and 3-12C-1208, quoted above), and the SPB agreement is irrevocable by the handbook’s own words.
• The handbooks’ formula graphics and worked benefit examples were images without readable text; the Class A multipliers on this page, Generational and Foundation, come from the valuation’s text.
• The pages read do not describe a partial lump sum or a DROP; the statute bars a lump sum in place of the monthly pension unless a provision says otherwise (3-12C-701, quoted above).
• The pages read do not give a service purchase price table or a worked purchase cost.
• The pages read do not state the interest rate credited to member accounts for any past year; the handbook gives only a ceiling.
• Class B Public Safety and Class B Judicial rules, disability benefits, the Supplemental Retirement Plan and the Special Pay Plan were not examined in depth.
• The Foundation handbook’s source link is the SDRS home page because the document’s own address was not recorded; the file read is the July 2024 Foundation handbook.
• South Dakota Codified Laws chapter 3-12C was read in full on October 24, 2026 and is quoted above where it answers a point. The board’s administrative rules, amendments after that date and the statute on Class B, Class D and disability benefits were not checked.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the survivor election can be revisited later; under SDCL 3-12C-1210 it is irrevocable once more than one monthly payment has been made, and the SPB agreement is irrevocable too, so ask SDRS before signing.
• Choosing the 100% option without checking the cost: in the handbook’s table the member’s payment is lower than under the 60% option in every row.
• Taking a refund after three years without counting what is forfeited: the lifetime pension, and for Generational members the Variable Retirement Account.
• Applying a Generational figure to a Foundation member, or the reverse; retirement ages, early reductions and the survivor rule differ by group.
• Counting on the 3.5% COLA maximum when the valuation reports a lower current ceiling.

Related on this site: South Dakota retirement taxes, does South Dakota tax pensions, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, pension refund versus leaving it, pension buyback calculator and public pension retirement decisions by system.

Sources

• South Dakota Retirement System, Class A Handbook for Generational Members Joining SDRS on or after July 1, 2017: Information About Your SDRS Retirement Benefits (July 2024): https://www.sd.gov/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=fb1ae54a471d9a10237fbd51026d4303
• South Dakota Retirement System, Class A Handbook for Foundation Members Joining SDRS prior to July 1, 2017: Information About Your SDRS Retirement Benefits (July 2024): https://www.sd.gov/sdrs?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=b35dd80a47f6cf10fc1303dc426d4328
• South Dakota Retirement System, Actuarial Valuation as of June 30, 2025: https://www.sd.gov/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=5c5334224739f610701588ff336d430b
• 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
• South Dakota Codified Laws chapter 3-12C, South Dakota Retirement System (sdlegislature.gov): https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/3-12C

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.