General Frequently Asked Questions

To update your name on your account, please send a copy of your Social Security card, a certified copy of your marriage license or divorce decree verifying your name change to the Retirement Systems at the following address:

South Carolina Retirement Systems
Attention: Enrollment Department
Post Office Box 11960
Columbia, South Carolina 29211-1960

You may contact our Customer Services department at 803-737-6800 or 800-868-9002 (within SC only) to update your address.

There are no provisions to borrow from accounts held at the South Carolina Retirement Systems while still employed by a covered employer. You would have the option of taking a refund of your account upon termination of employment.

If you leave your job and terminate all employment covered by the South Carolina Retirement Systems before you are eligible to retire, you may receive a refund of your accumulated contributions and interest by completing a Refund Request (Form 4101) and returning it to the Retirement Systems. You may submit your refund request immediately upon termination; however, by law, there is a minimum 90-day waiting period from your date of termination until a refund can be made. If you receive a refund, you forfeit your rights to any future service retirement or disability benefit. Employer contributions are not refunded. If you are working for two or more covered employers and/or contributing to more than one retirement account (i.e., working two jobs and paying into a South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS) and a Police Officer Retirement System (PORS) account), you must stop working in all correlated systems to request a refund from any account. The Retirement Systems is required to withhold federal taxes of 20 percent on the taxable portion of any refund that is eligible for a rollover but is not transferred directly into another qualified retirement plan. Other taxes or penalties may apply as well. Be sure to check with an accountant or tax advisor regarding your tax liability.

You may contact our Customer Services department at 803-737-6800 or 800-868-9002 (within SC only) to request an Active Member Beneficiary Form (Form 1102) to change the beneficiary designations on your account.  When complete, please have your signature notarized and mail the form to our office at:

South Carolina Retirement Systems
Attention:  Enrollment Department
Post Office Box 11960
Columbia, South Carolina 29211-1960

Your retirement benefit is based on your average final compensation (AFC), years of service credit, and a benefit multiplier. Your AFC is calculated by taking your 12 highest consecutive quarters of earnable compensation (this information is provided to the Retirement Systems by your employer) and dividing by three. 

In a defined benefit retirement plan, the plan bears the investment risk and provides a guaranteed monthly benefit based on a statutory formula, not on a member's account balance. The South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS) and the Police Officers Retirement System (PORS) are two examples of a defined benefit plan.

Only an amount up to and including 45 days’ pay for unused annual leave from your last termination payment can be included before averaging your 12 highest consecutive quarters of earnable compensation. Your employer provides this information to the Retirement Systems when you retire.

Please bring with you a copy of your birth certificate, as well as the birth certificate of your beneficiary(s) if you are planning on choosing a survivor payment option (Option B and C are survivor options that provide a future annuity for beneficiaries upon your death). When completing the retirement application, the counselor will ask for the Social Security numbers of your beneficiary(s). You may also bring your latest check stub so we may use that information in calculating benefit estimates for you.

If you select Opion A (maximum) benefit payment option and multiple beneficiaries, then each surviving beneficiary will receive an equal share of any contributions and interest that was not paid to you. If any beneficiary predeceases you, the remaining beneficiaries will receive equal shares of any unpaid contributions and interest. If you select Options B or C which provide survivor benefits and multiple beneficiaries, then each beneficiary will receive an equal share of the monthly benefit.  If any beneficiary predeceases you, the deceased beneficiary’s share ends and the remaining beneficiaries will receive their normal monthly entitlements.

Trustee designations are allowed for all payment plans. You must first create the trust in a separate document and attach this trust document and a completed Form 1113, Certification of Trust, to your retirement application.

No. You can only receive one year of service credit each year, regardless of the number of covered employers for which you work. However, your earnings from all employers by which you remit contributions are considered during the calculation of your average final compensation (AFC) at retirement. 

Active members can view and print their annual statement through our Member Access project. To learn more, please select the Member Login button at the top of our website. Please note that currently this new program is available only to active and inactive members. Retirees, including Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive (TERI) program participants, should contact Customer Services at 803-737-6800, toll free at 800-868-9002 (within S.C. only), or by using the contact form for information regarding their account.

Each year, there is an annual open enrollment period from January 1 to March 1. During this time, you, as a State ORP participant, may irrevocably switch to SCRS if you have between one and five years of State ORP service. 

If, as a State ORP participant, you do not make the change within the allotted time, you will, by default, continue your State ORP participation and forfeit your one-time opportunity to elect SCRS membership.  If you join SCRS during the allotted time, you may purchase all or a portion of your State ORP service at any time after joining SCRS.  The cost is 16 percent of your current salary or highest career salary (in SCRS or State ORP), whichever is higher, for each year purchased.