West Virginia EMS Retirement System: Options and Refunds

Updated October 30, 2026. Quick answer: A member of the West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System (EMSRS) picks an annuity option before the retirement date, and the brochure says it cannot be modified once the first payment arrives. The statute offers a contingent joint and survivor annuity paying 50%, 66 2/3%, 75% or 100% to the beneficiary, or a ten years certain and life annuity. A married member gets a 66 2/3% joint and survivor annuity unless the spouse waives it. After 60 months of covered employment, a member who leaves may withdraw contributions, which forfeits the accrued benefit, or leave them for a later pension. The main source is the statute.

More on public pension COLAs for 2027: the West Virginia EMS Retirement System COLA question for 2027.

What this page covers and what it does not

This page covers the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System (EMSRS), run by the West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board (CPRB). The main source is the statute, West Virginia Code Chapter 16, Article 5V, as printed by the Legislature on October 30, 2026. It is a statute compilation, not a member handbook. CPRB’s own member document is a two-page brochure dated June 2024, and the fiscal year 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) supplies the plan notes and member counts. The brochure says the plan was “established January 1, 2008” for “emergency medical services officers employed by participating public employers”. The brochure itself says “In the event there is a discrepancy between information contained in this brochure and WV Code and Rules, the language in the Code and Rules shall prevail”, which is why the statute leads here.

The page covers members of that plan, not the Public Employees Retirement System or the Teachers’ Retirement System, which are on West Virginia PERS and TRS retirement decisions. Members pay 8.5% of gross monthly salary and employers add 9.5%, per the brochure. Disability, death benefits and the scholarship are outside this page.

When a pension can start

The brochure lists the tests for regular retirement. While a member is still in covered employment: “Attainment of age 50 when age plus contributory service equals 70 (excluding military service)”, or “Attainment of age 60 and completion of 10 years of contributory service (excluding military service)”. After covered employment has ceased: “Attainment of age 50 and the completion of 20 years of contributory service (excluding military service)”, or “Attainment of age 62 with 5 or more years of contributory service (excluding military service)”.

Early retirement is a separate path: the brochure says an EMSRS member is “eligible for early retirement (actuarially reduced benefits) upon attainment of age 45 and completion of 20 years of contributory service”. The statute explains the cost: normal retirement age for that member is “the first day of the calendar month coincident with or next following the month in which the member attains the age of fifty years”, and if the annuity starts sooner, “his or her accrued benefit is reduced to the actuarial equivalent benefit amount based on the years and months by which his or her annuity starting date precedes the date he or she attains normal retirement age”. The factors that produce that reduction are not printed in the documents read. A late retiree gets no age adjustment: the statute says such a member “shall receive retirement income payments in the normal form without adjustment for age at commencement”.

How the benefit is figured

Final average salary (FAS) is, in the brochure’s words, “the average of the highest annual compensation received by the member during covered employment for any 5 consecutive plan years”, within the last 10 years of service. The brochure prints the formula this way:

A computed example from assumed inputs, not an EMSRS figure: an assumed FAS of $60,000 and 20 years of service. Applying the brochure’s 2.75% for each of the 20 years gives a computed $33,000 a year, or $2,750 a month, before any option reduction. For 30 years the same schedule runs 20 years at 2.75%, 5 years at 2.0% and 5 years at 1.5%, a computed 72.5% of FAS, or $43,500 a year on the assumed $60,000. The statute’s own wording differs on the percentages, as covered under where the sources disagree below.

The election: which annuity option

The statute’s election clause reads: “Prior to the effective date of retirement, but not after that date, a member may elect to receive retirement income payments in the normal form, or the actuarial equivalent of the normal form from the following options”. The brochure lists three choices, and the statute names two options beside the normal form:

The normal form is defined in the statute as “a monthly annuity which is one twelfth of the amount of the member’s accrued benefit which is payable for the member’s life”. A death early in retirement is covered too: “If the member dies before the sum of the payments he or she receives equals his or her accumulated contributions on the annuity starting date, the named beneficiary shall receive in one lump sum the difference between the accumulated contributions at the annuity starting date and the total of the retirement income payments made to the member”. For the joint option the survivor amount is “fifty percent, sixty-six and two-thirds percent, seventy-five percent or one hundred percent of the amount paid while both were living as selected by the member”. If the survivor dies first, the statute says “the monthly amount of benefits may not be reduced, but shall be paid at the amount that was in effect before the death of the beneficiary”. For the ten-year option the statute says “A life annuity payable during the member’s lifetime but in any event for a minimum of ten years”.

The size of each reduction is not printed in the documents read. The statute pays options as the normal form or its actuarial equivalent, defined as “a benefit of equal value computed upon the basis of the mortality table and interest rates as set and adopted by the board”. A computed example from an assumed $2,000 monthly amount while both were living, not an EMSRS figure: the survivor percentages would be a computed $1,000 at 50%, $1,333.33 at 66 2/3%, $1,500 at 75% and $2,000 at 100%. The real figures depend on the board’s actuarial factors, so request an estimate for each option. The general trade-off is covered at single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension.

What is irrevocable, spousal rights and the deadline

The election must come before the retirement date, not after, and the brochure adds that “An annuity option may not be modified once the member receives their first annuity payment”. The brochure also says “Retirement benefits are not automatic”, and “You must apply to the Board for your retirement benefits”.

For a married member the default matters. The statute says “a member who is married on the annuity starting date will receive his or her retirement income payments in the form of a sixty-six and two-thirds percent joint and survivor annuity with his or her spouse unless prior to the annuity starting date the spouse waives the form of benefit”. The brochure says “A retiree who is married and elects a survivor option naming someone other than their spouse must have their spouse complete a voluntary spousal waiver”. See spousal consent to waive a joint and survivor annuity for how that waiver works in general.

The brochure also sets a distribution deadline. It says “Distributions (whether eligible for lump sum refund or monthly annuity) must start by April 1 of the year following the later of”: “age 72 if you were born before January 1, 1951”; “age 73 if you were born after December 31, 1950”; or “the date upon which you terminate employment”. The statute’s definition of the required beginning date differs in two ways: it adds a third applicable age, “Seventy-five, if the individual attains age 74 after December 31, 2032”, which the brochure omits, and it keys the date to the year the member “retires or otherwise separates from covered employment” rather than to termination of employment. Confirm the date that applies to you with CPRB. A retiree who returns to covered employment is covered by a separate rule: “payment of his or her annuity shall be suspended while the member continues in covered employment”.

Lump sums, DROP and cash-outs

In the documents read, a lump sum at retirement does not appear as an option. The pages read do not describe a lump-sum retirement choice, a partial lump sum or a deferred retirement option plan (DROP). The lump sums that do appear are the refund of accumulated contributions on leaving, and the death payouts described in this page. For someone choosing between a pension and cash after leaving, the choice is the refund decision in the next section.

Leaving before retirement: refund or leave it in

The statute says a member who terminates covered employment and is not immediately eligible for benefits “is, by written request filed with the board, entitled to receive from the fund the member’s accumulated contributions”. It then states the cost, which the statute makes subject to the redeposit rule covered below: “upon withdrawal, the member shall forfeit his or her accrued benefit and cease to be a member”. The brochure puts the refund as “the member’s accumulated contributions, which include regular interest, currently 4%”. The statute defines accumulated contributions as “the sum of all retirement contributions deducted from the compensation of a member, or paid on his or her behalf as a result of covered employment, together with regular interest on the deducted amounts”.

The statute grants the leave-it-in choice to members with a service threshold; the documents read do not say what a member with less service may do. The statute says: “Every member who completes 60 months of covered employment is eligible, upon cessation of covered employment, to either withdraw his or her accumulated contributions” or “to choose not to withdraw his or her accumulated contribution and to receive retirement income payments upon attaining early or normal retirement age”. The brochure puts the threshold as “Any member who has 5 years of contributory service is eligible”, where the statute counts 60 months of covered employment. For the general trade-off see pension refund versus leaving it.

Before retirement, the beneficiary rules change at 10 years. The brochure says “A member with less than 10 years of contributory service may elect to name a beneficiary(ies) on a Pre-Retirement Beneficiary form to receive a return of accumulated contributions upon his or her death”, and “After attaining 10 years of contributory service, a member’s spouse is the primary beneficiary according to WV Code”.

Returning after a refund, and buying service

A refund can be undone only under conditions. The brochure says a returning member gets no credit for withdrawn contributions unless the member “redeposits in the fund the amount of the accumulated contributions withdrawn from previous covered employment, together with interest on the accumulated contributions at the rate determined by the board, currently 7.5%, from the date of withdrawal to the date of redeposit”. It adds: “The repayment shall be made in a lump sum within 60 months of reemployment in covered employment”. On the result: “Upon repayment, the member shall receive the same credit as if no refund had been made”. Pricing that repayment against the benefit it restores is the question behind the pension buyback calculator.

Two other credits appear in the brochure. On leave, a member at retirement “may elect to acquire additional credited service under EMSRS”, on the basis of “2 workdays’ credit granted for each 1 day of accrued annual and/or sick leave”, but “such credited service shall not be used in meeting initial eligibility for retirement”. On military service, a member is “entitled to apply for up to 5 years of credited service for that active duty upon time of retirement”.

Rollovers

The statute provides that “a distributee may elect, at the time and in the manner prescribed by the board, to have any portion of an eligible rollover distribution paid directly to an eligible retirement plan specified by the distributee in a direct rollover”. The statute’s definition of an eligible rollover distribution leaves out, among other payments, “Any distribution that is one of a series of substantially equal periodic payments not less frequently than annually made for the life or life expectancy of the distributee”. Whether a particular payment qualifies is for CPRB and a tax preparer to confirm.

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 EMSRS’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 do roll it over and want to defer tax on the entire taxable portion, you’ll have to add funds from other sources equal to the amount withheld”. The statute describes a direct rollover, a payment from the plan to the receiving plan, as an alternative to being paid the money first. 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 (within in the meaning of section 414(d)) provided that the qualified public safety employee has separated from service during or after the year in which they attained 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 disagree

First, the member count. The brochure says EMSRS has “more than 800 active members and 160 retirees”, with no date beyond the brochure’s June 2024 edition. The ACFR gives two counts for the same period. Its actuarial section lists 943 active EMSRS members at a valuation date of 6/30/2024 (the table row reads “6/30/2024 943”), while Note 2 reports 1,537 active members in the EMSRS column of a table introduced as “Membership in the systems consisted of the following as of July 1, 2024, the date of the annual actuarial valuation”. The ACFR does not explain the gap between 943 (valuation basis) and 1,537 (notes basis). This page does not adopt either count.

Second, the benefit percentages. The statute’s definition of the accrued benefit starts with “two and six-tenths percent per year of the member’s final average salary for the first 20 years of credited service”, “with a maximum benefit of 67 percent”, and for later years “one and one-half percent per year for each year over 25 years”. It then provides that “Upon reaching the 75 percent actuarial funded level, as of an actuarial valuation date”, “the board shall increase the two and six-tenths percent to two and three-quarter percent for the first 20 years of credited service”, and “The maximum benefit will also be increased from 67 percent to 90 percent”. The brochure prints 2.75% and a 90% maximum, the higher figures. The ACFR reports EMSRS’s fiduciary net position at 105.18% of total pension liability on June 30, 2025, an accounting measure rather than the statute’s actuarial funded-level test, and the pages read do not say when or whether the board made the increase, so the statute’s lower base and the brochure’s higher figures stand side by side. The ACFR repeats 2.75% for the first 20 years but prints “1.0% x FAS x Years of Service” for years 26 to 30, where the brochure and the statute give 1.5%. The computed examples above use the brochure’s schedule, so confirm the percentages with CPRB.

What this page could not settle

• The pages read do not state the actuarial reduction for any annuity option or for early retirement, so no option or early-retirement payout is priced here beyond an assumed example.
• The pages read do not state a cost-of-living adjustment for EMSRS retirees. The statute and brochure mention only federal limit adjustments, and nothing was found describing an annual retiree increase, so a retiree should ask CPRB.
• The pages read do not describe a lump-sum retirement option, a partial lump sum or a DROP.
• The pages read do not state that the board has made the statute’s increase at the 75 percent actuarial funded level (the ACFR’s 105.18% fiduciary net position is a different, accounting measure), so the higher benefit percentage and 90 percent maximum rest on the brochure alone.
• The pages read do not explain why the ACFR prints 943 active members in its actuarial section and 1,537 in Note 2.
• The brochure carries only a June 2024 date and the statute copy is the version printed on October 30, 2026, so CPRB should confirm the current terms; the brochure itself says it is for general guidance and the Code and Rules prevail.
• Disability, death benefits, the Social Security interaction, retiree health insurance through PEIA and the administrative rule were not examined.

Common mistakes

• Assuming an annuity option can be revisited after the first payment; the brochure says it may not be modified.
• Naming someone other than a spouse as survivor without the spouse’s waiver; the brochure requires a voluntary spousal waiver.
• Withdrawing contributions without weighing that the accrued benefit is forfeited and membership ends.
• Expecting the full refund check when the money is paid to the member; 20% of the taxable part is withheld unless it is rolled over.
• Quoting one EMSRS member count without its basis and date; the ACFR alone prints 943 and 1,537.

Related on this site: West Virginia PERS and TRS retirement decisions, pension refund versus leaving it, single-life versus joint-and-survivor pension, spousal consent to waive a joint and survivor annuity, 20% withholding on a pension lump sum and public pension retirement decisions by system.

Sources

• West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board, The West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System brochure (June 2024): https://www.wvretirement.com/forms/EMSRSBrochure.pdf
• West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code Chapter 16, Article 5V: West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement System (statute compilation printed October 30, 2026): https://code.wvlegislature.gov/pdf/16-5V/
• West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025: https://www.wvretirement.com/Forms/2025-ACFR.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.