Read about legislation and actions being taken to provide relief in times of disaster.
The deadlines for certain participant notices have been extended due to Hurricane Harvey. Blackout notices – In general there is a requirement that blackout notices be provided 30 days in advance. The existing blackout rules provide an exception when circumstances beyond the control of the plan administrator cause the delay. For this exception to apply, … Read more
The IRS, DOL and PBGC promptly issued Harvey relief on many topics. However, there are some items for which no relief was granted. Participants There is no relief from the 10% early withdrawal tax for hardship distributions from 401(k) plans. Thus, if a participant takes a hardship distribution and is under the age of 59 … Read more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recognizes that some employers and service providers acting on the employer’s behalf, such as payroll processing services, located in identified covered disaster areas will not be able to forward participant payments and withholdings to employee retirement benefit plans within the prescribed timeframe. In such instances, the DOL will not – … Read more
The IRS has provided employers with some administrative relief to make it easier to offer loans and hardship distributions. Delayed amendments – The IRS will allow plans that do not offer loans and hardship distributions to administratively adopt those provisions and then amend the plan no later than the end of the first plan starting … Read more
The Form 5500 deadline has been extended to January 31, 2018 for Forms 5500, Forms 5500-SF and Forms 5500-EZ that would have been due between August 23, 2017 and January 31, 2018. This automatically extends the deadline for Summary Annual Reports and small defined benefit plan Annual Funding Notices. In order to qualify for relief, … Read more
In TX-2017-09, the IRS extended the filing deadline to January 31, 2018 for income tax returns due between August 24, 2017 and January 31, 2018. Deadlines for certain employer contributions to retirement plans key off of fully extended tax filing deadlines. Thus, when the fully extended tax filing deadline is delayed, the employer contribution deadline … Read more