STRS Ohio Retirement Application Checklist

The Filing Window

You can submit your Service Retirement Application through your STRS Ohio Online Personal Account as early as 12 months before your retirement effective date. STRS Ohio recommends filing at least three months in advance to ensure timely processing. Submit at least 30 days before your effective date to keep initial payments on schedule; a later application may delay your first payment.

Your retirement effective date is the first day of the month following the later of your last day of covered public employment or the date you meet eligibility requirements.

12 Months Before: Prepare Your Foundation

Generate your official estimate. Log into your Online Personal Account and run a service retirement estimate using your real-time account data. The estimate shows your projected monthly benefit under each Plan of Payment option at different retirement dates.

Audit your service credit. Check your annual statement against your own records. Verify that all teaching service, military credit, and any combined service under OPERS or SERS is fully credited. Discrepancies are easier to resolve now than at the 30-day mark.

Schedule a counseling session. STRS Ohio offers individual benefits counseling in person, by phone, or by video. A specialist can walk through your estimate, explain payout trade-offs, confirm health care eligibility, and identify purchasable service credit.

Request service credit cost statements. If you have purchasable credit — out-of-state teaching, military service, restored refunded service, or approved leaves of absence — request formal cost statements now. All purchases must be completed and paid before your retirement effective date.

6 Months Before: Lock Down the Details

Complete service credit purchases. Fund any remaining purchases via lump-sum payment or pretax rollover from a 403(b), 457(b), or IRA using STRS Ohio Form 20-101.

Gather civil documents. You'll need proof of birth for yourself and any Joint and Survivor beneficiary, a marriage certificate (required if there's a 10+ year age gap between spouses), Medicare Part B card (if age 65+), and any divorce decrees or Division of Property Orders (DPOs).

Notify your employer. Tell your district's HR or payroll office your intended retirement date so they can align contract fulfillment with STRS Ohio's effective date rules.

3 Months Before: Submit the Application

File online. Complete and submit the Service Retirement Application through your Online Personal Account. Combined Plan members must file separate applications for the DB and DC components.

Select your Plan of Payment. Choose Single Life, Joint and Survivor, or Annuity Certain. Specify any PLOP amount (6 to 36 times your unreduced monthly Single Life benefit, in $1,000 increments).

Enroll in health care. If you have 15+ years of qualifying service credit and are in the DB or Combined Plan, complete your STRS Ohio Health Care Program enrollment within 31 days of your retirement effective date.

Set tax withholding. Elect federal and Ohio state income tax withholding for your monthly benefit and any PLOP distribution.

30 Days Before: Final Submissions

File spousal consent. If you're married and elected Plan I, Annuity Certain, a PLOP, a non-spouse beneficiary, or less than 50% to your spouse, upload the notarized Spousal Consent Form.

Confirm all service purchases are paid. Any outstanding balance on a service credit purchase blocks your retirement. Verify completion through your Online Personal Account.

Verify document receipt. Check that STRS Ohio has received all civil documents and forms. Missing paperwork at this stage delays your first payment.

After Retirement: The First 91 Days

Your initial benefit payment arrives on the first banking day of the month following your effective date. If your employer's final payroll report is still pending, you'll receive partial payments — typically across three consecutive months — until STRS Ohio verifies your exact compensation and finalizes your account.

PLOP distributions are paid exactly 91 days after your effective date or after account finalization, whichever comes later. Direct payouts have 20% federal tax withheld; direct pretax rollovers transfer to your designated institution with no withholding.

Our STRS Ohio Retirement Guide includes a month-by-month countdown calendar with every form, document, and deadline mapped to your target retirement date.

See more Ohio guides →