Yes, in limited circumstances. The Supplemental Retirement Plan is intended to provide you with benefits during your retirement. Therefore, you have very limited access to your account balance until then. There are three exceptions:

• Age 59 ½ or older distributions

  If you are age 59-1/2 or older, you may take an In-service Distribution of up to 100% of your account balance (or you may designate a lesser) amount once every rolling twelve months.

• Younger than age 59 ½ distributions

  Once every rolling twelve months, you may take an In-Service Distribution of all or any portion of your account except employer contributions made to your account during the 24 months preceding the date of distribution.

• Hardship distributions

  You may take a Hardship Distribution from the Plan twice within a rolling 12 month period. (Foreclosure and tuition hardships may be made more than twice in a rolling 12 months, provided certain conditions are met). You may take a Hardship Distribution from the Supplemental Retirement Plan for the following reasons:

  • Expenses for medical care (that are not covered by insurance) that are less than two years old for you, your spouse, or your dependents,
  • Costs directly related to the purchase of your principal residence (excluding mortgage payments),
  • Payments of tuition, related education fees, and room and board expenses for the next twelve months of post-secondary education for you, your spouse, or your dependents,
  • Payments necessary to prevent eviction from your principal residence,
  • Payments necessary to prevent foreclosure on your principal residence, or
  • Costs relating to funeral or burial expenses for a parent, spouse, child or eligible dependent.

  You may withdraw only the amount necessary to satisfy the immediate hardship need (including amounts necessary to pay any federal, state, or local income taxes or penalties reasonably anticipated to result from the distribution).

  The minimum amount of a Hardship Distribution is $1,000 or your total Supplemental Retirement Plan account balance, whichever is less. If you are applying for a Hardship Distribution and you do not supply the information necessary to support your hardship distribution request (listed on the distribution form), the Fund Office will deny your application.

When you stop working, your balance in the Supplemental Retirement Plan will be available to be paid to you when you reach a “Settlement Date,” which means you either:

• Qualify for and begin receiving benefits from the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Pension Plan, the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council Millmen Pension Plan or another similar industry pension fund; or
• Have not received a Plan contribution for the previous 24 consecutive months; or
• Have not received a Plan contribution for the previous 12 consecutive months and your account balance is less than $5,000; or
• Reach Normal Retirement Age (age 60); or
• With respect to assets transferred from the Carpenters Local 496 Supplemental Retirement Fund, you reach age 55 and terminate employment either with an employer required to make contributions to the Trust Fund on your behalf, or with an employer not required to make contributions to the Fund but is: (1) within what was the Carpenters Local 496 jurisdiction; and (2) in a job classification or trade for which an employer would have been required to make contributions on the employee'’'s behalf (including self-employment).
  
  

If the Trustees determine that you have become totally and permanently disabled, you are eligible to receive a distribution from the Plan. The Plan defines a disability as a condition, based on medical evidence, where:

• You are unable to engage in any gainful activity due to a physical or mental impairment; and
• Your physical or mental impairment is expected to result in death, or has lasted or is anticipated to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.

Request a disability distribution application and a Medical Examination Report Form from the Plan’s recordkeeper, John Hancock.

Complete the application and have your physician complete the Medical Examination Report Form as proof of your disability. If you qualify for disability benefits from the Social Security Administration under Title II of the Social Security Act, you may provide that award letter as proof of your disability in place of the Medical Examination Report Form.

When you become eligible to receive payment of your account balance as outlined above, you may choose (with spousal consent if you are married) to have it paid to you in one of the following ways:

• A lump sum distribution, up to 100% of your account balance. You may request a partial distribution once during a 12-month period. By electing this option, your retirement funds stay invested until you need them. You may take a second distribution from your account during the same rolling 12-month period, provided the second distribution is for the full amount remaining in your account. You may elect to receive this payment in a:
  • Direct rollover to another qualified retirement plan or an IRA;
  • Check payable to you; or
  • Combination of the above, provided the direct rollover portion is at least $500;
• A series of equal monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual installments over a certain period, but in no event longer than the joint and last-survivor expectancy of you and a beneficiary.
• A partial lump-sum distribution in conjunction with equal monthly, quarterly, semiannual or annual installments.

Certain installment payments are only available if your account balance exceeds $1,000. You may consider a change to your installment method, once a year, in a rolling 12-month period.

Your account balance will be paid to your designated beneficiary. If you are married when you die, your spouse will be your beneficiary, unless you have designated another beneficiary, with your spouse’s consent. You may designate a beneficiary by completing a Supplemental Retirement Plan Beneficiary Designation form.

If you die without a valid designation of beneficiary on file, the Plan will pay benefits to:

• Your surviving spouse, or if none, then
• Your surviving biological children and legally adopted children (in equal shares), or if none, then
• Your surviving parents (in equal shares), or if none, then
• Your estate.

If you do not have an estate, the Plan will distribute your account according to applicable state intestate succession law (i.e., the laws that determine how assets are distributed for individuals who die without a will).

If you are still employed at age 72, your Plan account must be distributed beginning no later than the April 1st following the year in which you terminate employment. If you have terminated employment, you may not elect to defer benefit payments past the April 1st following the calendar year in which you reach age 72. Unless you elect to defer distributions, the Plan Administrator will automatically direct the recordkeeper to distribute your Plan account no more than 60 days after the close of the Plan year in which the later of the following occurs:

• you reach normal retirement age (age 60),
• your 10th anniversary of participation in the Plan, or
• your employment with your employer terminates.

If you do not request a distribution by completing and submitting a Distribution Form, the Plan Administrator will treat you as having made a decision to defer payment of your Plan account.

A direct rollover is a payment of your account to your IRA or to another employer’s retirement plan that accepts your rollover. A direct rollover also may be made to a Roth IRA. Certain distributions cannot be paid in the form of a rollover, such as hardship distributions and required minimum distributions after age 72.

You may directly roll over eligible distributions to an IRA or another qualified plan in two ways. You can have your payment either paid as a direct rollover or paid directly to you. Your choice will affect the tax you may owe. In either case, the rollover amount must equal at least $500.

To help you determine the best way for you to receive payment of your account and understand the tax consequences of the benefits you receive, you should consult a qualified tax advisor.

If you choose a direct rollover, your payment can be made directly to:

• An individual retirement account (IRA) under Internal Revenue Code section 408(a);
• A Roth IRA as described in Internal Revenue Code section 408(a);/li>
• An individual retirement annuity under Internal Revenue Code section 408(b);
• An Internal Revenue Code Section 403(a) annuity plan;
• An Internal Revenue Code Section 403(b) annuity contract;
• Another employer's plan qualified under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a) that accepts your rollover; or
• An eligible Internal Revenue Code section 457(b) plan maintained by a state, political subdivision of a state, or any agency or instrumentality of a state or political subdivision of a state which agrees to separately account for amounts transferred to it from the Plan.

Beginning in the year you reach your required beginning date, you cannot roll over a certain portion of your payment, because it is a required minimum payment that must be paid directly to you.

No. Direct rollovers have no mandatory withholding, unless you roll to a Roth IRA. You will be taxed later, when you withdraw the funds that were directly rolled over to a non-Roth IRA or other employer's retirement plan.

If you choose to have your distribution paid directly to you~

• you will receive only 80 percent of the payment, because Federal law requires that the Plan withhold 20 percent of the payment and send it to the Internal Revenue Service as income tax withholding to be credited against your taxes;
• your payment will be taxed to you in the year distribution is made unless you roll it over to a non-Roth IRA. If you receive a payment before age 59½, you also may have to pay an additional 10 percent federal excise tax for early withdrawal (plus any applicable state penalty tax for an early withdrawal). If you terminate employment during or after the calendar year in which you reach age 55, you may receive payment without the additional 10% federal excise tax;
• you may roll over the distribution by paying it within 60 days of receiving the payment to your IRA or to another qualified retirement plan that accepts your rollover, and the amount will not be not be taxed until you take it out of the IRA or other qualified retirement plan; or if you want to roll over 100 percent of the payment to an IRA or another employer’s retirement plan that accepts your rollover, you must find other money to replace the 20 percent that was withheld (if you roll over only the 80 percent that you received, you will be taxed on the 20 percent that was withheld and is not rolled over).

Federal law requires the Fund Office to provide you with a "Special Tax Notice Regarding Plan Payments" if you apply for a distribution that can be rolled over. This notice describes your rights and obligations regarding rollovers and withholding requirements. John Hancock, the Plan's recordkeeper, will send you this notice along with the Distribution Form.

To determine what may be the best way for you to take a distribution from your Plan account (lump sum, installment payments or rollover) and the tax consequences of any payments you receive, you should discuss your particular circumstances with your tax advisor. The Trustees or the Fund Office staff can only inform you of your options and the Plan provisions; they cannot help you make decisions regarding your account.