FRS DROP Worksheet
How much will your DROP account hold when you leave?
For Florida Retirement System members: teachers, deputies, firefighters, nurses and state and county staff across Marion, Alachua, Sumter and Lake counties. Enter your monthly benefit, start date and planned months to estimate your DROP balance at exit, month by month, under today’s rules.
Month-by-month detail
How this is calculated
Each month. Your monthly benefit is added to your DROP account. From the second month on, interest is added on the prior month’s ending balance. A month’s new benefit earns no interest until the next month.
Interest rate. 4% a year (the effective yearly rate), compounded monthly, for months from July 2023 on. For a DROP that began between July 1, 2011 and June 2023, earlier months earned 1.3%. A DROP that began before July 1, 2011 earns 6.5%.
How long. Up to 96 months. A DROP that ended before June 5, 2023 was limited to 60. Some K-12 teachers and school administrators can extend past 96 months with their employer’s approval; this worksheet stops at 96.
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Each July your benefit in DROP can rise. If your DROP began before July 1, 2011, the COLA is 3%. Otherwise it is 3% times the share of your service earned before July 1, 2011. The first July is prorated by the months you have been in DROP.
Special Risk Class. Starting July 1, 2026, eligible Special Risk members get at least 1.5% each July after the fifth anniversary of their DROP start.
Not included. Taxes. A lump-sum payout has 20% federal tax withheld; a direct rollover does not. Leave payouts. Any change to your payment option or service. You must end all FRS employment to be paid. Your FRS Online account shows the official figures.
The 2023 changes, in plain English
In 2023 Florida made DROP more generous. The interest rate went from 1.3% to 4% a year starting July 1, 2023, and the longest DROP went from 60 months to 96. Members already in DROP got the new rate for the months after that date, and could extend to 96 months with their employer’s approval.
Your DROP balance is often the largest single check of a public-service career. When DROP ends you choose a lump sum, a rollover, or a mix. A lump sum has 20% withheld for federal tax and can push you into a higher bracket. A rollover keeps the money growing tax-deferred until you draw on it.
The best choice depends on your other income, your taxes and how the money will pay you in retirement. It is worth deciding before your termination paperwork arrives, about three months before your DROP ends.
Leaving DROP?
Make your DROP payout work as hard as you did.
In one complimentary meeting we’ll compare a lump sum, a rollover and a mix against your taxes and income plan.