Defined Contributions Plans

On January 12, 2021, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) of the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced new guidance on a range of issues related to missing participants:

  • In Missing Participants – Best Practices for Pension Plans, EBSA has provided examples of best practices that it has identified as being effective at minimizing and mitigating the problem of missing or nonresponsive participants.
  • This new guidance also includes Compliance Assistance Release No. 2021-01, which provides a roadmap of investigative processes and case-closing practices of EBSA investigators who conduct Terminated Vested Participants Project (“TVPP”) audits of defined benefit pension plans. One purpose of these audits is to assess whether defined benefit plans have taken appropriate steps to locate missing participants and beneficiaries.
  • EBSA also issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-01, which announced the DOL’s temporary enforcement policy on a terminated defined contribution plans’ use of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s expanded missing participants program.

This article focuses on the guidance for ongoing plans (and not Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-01 for terminated plans).Continue Reading Five New Ways That Plan Fiduciaries May Locate Missing Participants

The IRS recently published new guidance on the tax withholding and reporting consequences associated with qualified retirement plan distributions to state unclaimed property funds.  In Revenue Ruling 2020-24, the IRS clarified that distributions from qualified retirement plans to state unclaimed property funds are subject to both federal income tax withholding and 1099-R reporting requirements.  In a companion revenue procedure, Rev. Proc. 2020-46, the IRS permitted taxpayers to self-certify for a waiver of the 60-day deadline for rolling over funds between qualified plans when the funds had been distributed to a state unclaimed property fund.
Continue Reading IRS Updates Guidance on Qualified Plan Distributions to State Unclaimed Property Funds

As we noted in our prior blog post, the DOL has announced new guidance, in the form of an interim final rule, implementing the lifetime income disclosure requirement for defined contribution plans that was added to ERISA by the 2019 SECURE Act.  This guidance has since been published…
Continue Reading DOL Publishes New SECURE Act Guidance Regarding Lifetime Income Disclosures

The IRS recently released Notice 2020-62, which updates the safe harbor explanations that may be used to satisfy the  notice requirement for eligible rollover distributions, also referred to as the “Safe Harbor Notices.”  These changes to the Safe Harbor Notices take into account recent statutory changes brought about by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act of 2019 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act.

What are the § 402(f) Safe Harbor Notices?

Under § 402(f) of the Code, plan administrators of certain retirement plans are required to provide a written explanation to any recipient of an eligible rollover distribution.  This notice must be provided by 401(k) plans and other qualified plans, 403(b) plans and 457(b) governmental plans within a reasonable period of time before the distribution is to made — generally at least 30 days unless otherwise elected by the recipient.  To assist plan administrators in satisfying this notice requirement, the IRS has published and continues to update two versions of its Safe Harbor Notice, one for distributions from a designated Roth account, and one for distributions from non-Roth accounts.

Plan administrators may satisfy the § 402(f) notice requirement by relying on the Safe Harbor Notices, although they are not required to do so.

What Changes Have Been Incorporated Into the New § 402(f) Safe Harbor Notices?

The Safe Harbor Notices have been revised to reflect the following statutory changes adopted by the SECURE Act and by the CARES Act:Continue Reading What You Need to Know About the New SECURE Act and CARES Act Updates to the § 402(f) Safe Harbor Rollover Notice

On August 18, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced new guidance on lifetime income disclosures that must be included in pension benefit statements furnished to participants in defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans.  This guidance, issued in the form of an interim final rule, sets forth the rules that plan administrators must follow in implementing the lifetime income disclosure requirement that was added to ERISA by Section 203 of the 2019 SECURE Act.

  • The disclosures required by the interim final rule must be provided starting one year after publication of the interim final rule in the Federal Register. (As of publication of this post, the rule has yet to be published in the Federal Register.)
  • As used in the interim final rule (and this blog post), the term participant includes an beneficiary with a plan account, such as an alternate payee or the beneficiary of a deceased participant.

Continue Reading New SECURE Act Guidance: Lifetime Income Disclosures for 401(k) and 403(b) Plans

On May 27, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL” or “Department”) published a final rule providing an alternative safe harbor for furnishing ERISA pension plan disclosures electronically on a website or via email.  We previously blogged about the proposed rule here.  This post provides an overview of the final rule and highlights some key changes from the proposed rule.

As we previously noted, electronic disclosure has been permitted since 2002 under a safe harbor that allows plan administrators to electronically disclose ERISA documents to individuals who are “wired at work” or individuals who have affirmatively consented to electronic delivery.  This new safe harbor is an alternative to the 2002 safe harbor.  Plan administrators of pension plans may rely on either the new safe harbor, the 2002 safe harbor, both, or neither.  Significantly, however, the new safe harbor is limited to pension plans.  The 2002 safe harbor remains available for welfare plans.Continue Reading Electronic Disclosure Rule for Pension Plans Finalized

We recently wrote about Rev. Proc. 2019-39, which provides for remedial amendment periods for 403(b) plans and establishes deadlines for 403(b) plans to adopt discretionary amendments and amendments that correct form defects.  Rev. Proc. 2019-39 also announced the IRS’s intent to include changes to § 403(b) requirements on its annual Required Amendments List (the “List”).  The List is issued annually and includes statutory and regulatory changes that become effective during the year in which it is published, or which became effective after publication of the previous year’s List.

The Service has kept its promise, issuing IRS Notice 2019-64 on December 4, 2019.  Notice 2019-64 contains the 2019 Required Amendments List, which applies to 403(b) plans as well as qualified plans, and is the first Required Amendments List to include changes to § 403(b) requirements.  Only one change affecting 403(b) plans (as well as qualified defined contribution plans) is included on the 2019 List: sponsors must amend 403(b) plan documents to comply with two of the provisions of the final hardship distribution regulations.  (The List also covers certain amendments to cash balance and other hybrid defined benefit plans.)Continue Reading 2019 Required Amendments List Includes Change Affecting 403(b) Plans

On September 23, 2019, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service released final regulations amending the rules applicable to hardship distributions from 401(k) plans. The final regulations are substantially similar to the proposed regulations issued on November 14, 2018 (described in this previous blog post), such that plans that have been amended to comply with the proposed regulations will also satisfy the final regulations.
Continue Reading Final Regulations Affecting Hardship Distributions Under 401(k) Plans

On September 30, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Procedure 2019-39, which finalizes important changes to how sponsors and employers can ensure 403(b) plan compliance.  The guidance is a welcome update from the Service, which initiated a regular system of remedial amendment periods for 403(b) plans in 2013, with the first period ending on March 31, 2020.  Most significantly, Revenue Procedure 2019-39:

  • Makes permanent the system of remedial amendment periods, during which an employer may retroactively amend its 403(b) plan or adopt a pre-approved 403(b) plan to correct a “form defect” (e., a defect in the terms of the plan that causes the plan to fail a § 403(b) requirement);
  • Clarifies that a retroactive amendment to correct a form defect is only permitted where the plan has been operated in compliance with the § 403(b) requirement;
  • Establishes deadlines to adopt amendments that correct form defects as well as deadlines to adopt discretionary amendments (e., amendments that do not remedy a form defect);
  • Confirms that the Service will not review individually designed 403(b) plans through a determination letter process;
  • Sets out a cyclical system in which pre-approved 403(b) plan sponsors may seek Service approval of plans; and
  • Announces the Service’s intent to provide additional guidance related to 403(b) plans, including its intent to include changes to the § 403(b) requirements on its annual Required Amendments List and the Operational Compliance List.

The Service intends to issue additional guidance in the next several years to address the procedures announced in Revenue Procedure 2019-39.Continue Reading IRS Announces Remedial Amendment Periods and Deadlines for Correction of 403(b) Plan Form Defects

On November 14, 2018, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations updating the 401(k) plan regulations for hardship distributions from section 401(k) plans.  In particular, these proposed amendments reflect statutory changes including recent changes made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.  Plan sponsors of 401(k) plans have been awaiting guidance as they make plan design choices for 2019.  While the proposed regulations do not explicitly say that plan sponsors can rely on the proposed regulations, we would not be surprised if the final regulations closely track the proposed regulations.  Comments are due January 14, 2019.  These proposed rules also affect 403(b) plans, but the rules are somewhat different – consult with legal counsel.

Key Takeaways

The proposed changes affecting 401(k) plans are summarized below, but the key takeaways from the proposed regulations include:

  • 401(k) plans must eliminate the 6-month suspension on participant contributions following a hardship withdrawal no later than January 1, 2020; plans will not be permitted to impose a suspension after that date.
  • 401(k) plans can lift the suspension on participant contributions beginning January 1, 2019, even for hardship withdrawals taken before January 1, 2019. For example, if a participant in a calendar year plan took a hardship distribution in the latter half of 2018, the plan could be amended to lift the suspension beginning January 1, 2019.
  • The proposed regulations replace the “facts and circumstances” test for determining whether a distribution is necessary to satisfy a financial need with a “general standard” that requires a representation by the participant that he or she has insufficient cash or other liquid assets to satisfy the financial need. 401(k) plans may apply the new “general standard” for distributions on and after January 1, 2019, or may continue to apply the “facts and circumstances” test through December 31, 2019.  Notably, if a plan elects to apply the new “general standard” beginning in 2019, plans are not obligated to require the participant representation until January 1, 2020.
  • Beginning January 1, 2019, safe harbor contributions may also be distributed on account of an employee’s hardship. The preamble explains this is because safe harbor contributions are subject to the same distribution limitations applicable to QNECs and QMACs, which are available for hardship distributions beginning January 1, 2019.

Continue Reading Proposed Changes to Hardship Distribution Rules Affect 401(k) Plans