The American Retirement Association wrote to the Internal Revenue Service to provide recommendations relating to the substantiation and documentation of hardship distributions and participant loans and to highlight the need for formal guidance from the Service on these issues. (more…)
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Department of Labor with its overarching concern about the proposal to modernize and improve the Form 5500 series contending that the agencies developing the proposal did not adequately take into consideration the overall time and cost burden for compliance, the impact on small plan filers, and public disclosure...
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) with 11 recommendations to improve upon the proposed changes to the PBGC program to hold retirement benefits for missing participants and beneficiaries. (more…)
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Internal Revenue Service to request for relief for taxpayers and service providers adversely affected by Hurricane Matthew. Specifically, American Retirement Association asked for hardship distribution relief and Form 5500 filing deadline relief patterned on past IRS announcements in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. (more…)
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Department of Labor in response to the request for comments on the proposed guidance for payroll deduction IRA programs offered by political subdivisions within a state. The American Retirement Association recommended that the non-ERISA safe harbor created for state-based payroll deduction savings programs not be extended certain political...
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Department of Labor to request an extension of the public comment period and a public hearing on the proposal to modernize and improve the Form 5500 Annual Return. Specifically, the American Retirement Association asked for the public comment period be extended to January 17, 2017 and that the...
The American Retirement Association wrote the Office of Management and Budget to express concerns the Internal Revenue Service’s July 7, 2016 submission to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs regarding the 2016 Form 5500 series, including the Form 5500-SUP. The American Retirement Association noted that it submitted written comments to the Service on May...
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Department of Labor, as a follow up to the Association’s meetings with the Department regarding the Fiduciary Rule, to provide proposed questions and suggested answers related to issues the Association believes could benefit by further clarification under the Conflict of Interest Regulation and the related Best Interest Contract...
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Internal Revenue Service to recommend an order of priority for Retirement Benefit items to be included on the 2016-2017 Priority Guidance Plan in response to IRS Notice 2016-26. (more…)
The American Retirement Association wrote to the Internal Revenue Service to respond to the request for comments on the proposed compliance questions for the Form 5500 series. The letter recommended that the effective date for the mandatory collection of information solicited by the new compliance questions be delayed to coincide with the proposed Department of...