§ 77-1421 — Participation agreement; cancellation; when; effect

(1) A participant may cancel a participation agreement at will by submitting a request to terminate the participation agreement. Additionally, if a participant requests and obtains a nonqualified withdrawal, the participation agreement shall be deemed canceled with respect to the amount of the nonqualified withdrawal. A participation agreement shall not be deemed canceled if a participant requests and obtains a distribution of his or her entire account balance for qualified education expenses and subsequently closes his or her account. Furthermore, the State Treasurer shall have the power to terminate, freeze, or suspend a participation agreement if he or she determines that the participant provided false or misleading information to the detriment of the Nebraska educational savings plan trust, if the participant's account has a zero balance, or if the State Treasurer is unable to verify the identity of the participant.
(2) If a participation agreement is canceled for any of the causes listed in this subsection, the participant shall be entitled to receive the principal amount of all contributions made by the participant under the participation agreement plus the actual program fund investment income earned on the contributions, less any losses incurred on the investment, and such distribution will generally not be subject to federal tax penalty:
(a) Death of the beneficiary if the distribution is paid to the estate of the beneficiary or transferred to another beneficiary as set forth in subsection (10) of section 77-1422 ;
(b) Permanent disability or mental incapacity of the beneficiary;
(c) The beneficiary is awarded a scholarship as defined in section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, but only to the extent the distribution of earnings does not exceed the scholarship amount; or
(d) A qualified rollover is made as permitted by section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, except that if a qualified rollover is made into a plan sponsored by another state or entity, the participation agreement shall be deemed to have been canceled for purposes of subdivision (8)(d) of section 77-2716 and federal adjusted gross income shall be increased to the extent previously deducted as a contribution to the trust.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, under no circumstances shall a participant or beneficiary receive a distribution that is more than the fair market value of the specific account on the applicable liquidation date.
(4) If a participant cancels a participation agreement, obtains a rollover into a plan sponsored by another state or entity, or obtains a distribution, a portion of which constitutes a nonqualified withdrawal, the amount of the distribution, rollover, or withdrawal will be subject to recapture of previous Nebraska state income tax deductions as set forth in subdivision (8)(d) of section 77-2716 . The transfer of assets among plans sponsored by the State of Nebraska shall be considered an investment option change and not a rollover.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 2000, LB 1003, § 8; Laws 2001, LB 750, § 4; Laws 2003, LB 574, § 30; Laws 2005, LB 216, § 20; Laws 2010, LB197, § 6; Laws 2012, LB1104, § 8; Laws 2020, LB1042, § 4; R.S.1943, (2024), § 85-1808; Laws 2025, LB647, § 46. Operative Date: October 1, 2025