On December 21, 2018, the American Retirement Association filed a comment letter with Ms. Lyssa Hall, Director of the DOL Employee Benefit Security Administration’s Office of Exempt Determinations in response to DOL’s Notice of Proposed Exemption Involving the Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC, supporting the Proposed Exemption. [Letter]
On December 21, 2018, the American Retirement Association filed a comment letter with Mr. Joe Canary, DOL Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Office of Regulations and Interpretations, regarding the circumstances under which an employer group or association or a professional employer organization (“PEO”) may sponsor a workplace retirement plan that would qualify as a multiple employer plan (“MEP”). [Letter]
On December 12, 2018, the American Retirement Association submitted a comment letter to Mr. Joe Canary, Director of the DOL Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Office of Regulations and Interpretations in response to the Executive Order on Strengthening Retirement Security in America issued on August 31, 2018, providing recommendations to the Department of Labor on making retirement plan disclosures required under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code more understandable and useful for participants and beneficiaries, while reducing costs and burdens to employers. [Letter]
On December 11, 2018, the American Retirement Association submitted a comment letter to Mr. David Horton, Acting Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities Division of IRS, on recommended future enhancements to the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). [Letter]
On October 5, 2018, the American Retirement Association submitted a comment letter to Ms. Carol Weiser, Acting Benefits Tax Counsel at the Department of the Treasury in response to the Executive Order on Strengthening Retirement Security in America issued on August 31, 2018, providing recommendations to Treasury and the IRS on the timing and potential effective dates of updates to life expectancy tables used for required minimum distribution rules. [Letter]
On October 4, 2018, the American Retirement Association submitted a comment letter to Mr. David Horton, Acting Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Governmental Entities Division of IRS, requesting relief for taxpayers and service providers adversely affected by Hurricane Florence. [Letter]
On June 26, 2018, the American Retirement Association joined seven other organizations in submitting a letter to Senators Orrin Hatch, Chair, and Ron Wyden, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. The letter recommended that language to expand the Self Correction Program (SCP) within the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) be added to bipartisan legislation currently being considered by the Committee to restructure and reform certain IRS operations. [Letter]
On June 26, 2018, the American Retirement Association Government Affairs Committee filed a comment letter with Ms. Cathy Jones, Acting Director of the IRS Employee Plans Division, requesting clarifications and recommending further enhancements to the IRS pre-approved plan program as set forth in Revenue procedure 2017-41. [Letter]
On June 15, 2018, the American Retirement Association Government Affairs Committee, in response to IRS Notice 2018-19, filed a comment letter providing recommendations to the IRS and Treasury Department with respect to guidance projects that should be included in the 2018-2019 Priority Guidance Plan. [Letter]
On June 7, 2018, the American Retirement Association (ARA) filed comments with Ms. Mable Capolongo, Director of the DOL Employee Benefit Security Administration’s Office of Enforcement, objecting to language being used in recent letter to plan sponsors who reported correction of late deposit violations outside of the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). The letters threaten “alternative enforcement measures” if the plan sponsor does not file a VFCP application within 60 days of receiving the letter. The ARA letter states that these threats are inappropriate and clearly intended to scare plan sponsors into participating in what is supposed to be a voluntary program. They are contradictory to the DOL’s own long standing guidance with regard to VFCP and flies in the face of the President’s efforts to reduce regulatory burdens and should cease immediately. [Letter]
On April 4, 2018, the American Retirement Association submitted a comment letter to the Acting Commissioner of the IRS, David J. Kautter, with recommendations on how the Self-Correction Program (SCP) component of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) could be improved and expanded. Among other things, the letter recommended adding participant loan and minimum distribution failures to SCP. [Letter]
On January 31, 2018, the American Retirement Association submitted a comment letter to the Acting Commissioner of the IRS, David J. Kautter, objecting to the revised user fee structure for VCP submissions under EPCRS. The letter pointed out the new fee structure is in violation of a Congressional directive that the IRS take into account the special concerns and circumstances that small employers face with respect to compliance and correction of errors. The letter recommended that the changes be rescinded immediately. [Letter]