Benefits Blast

With the passage of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) and the subsequent SECURE 2.0 Act (SECURE 2.0) in 2022, the last few years have been a time of upheaval, confusion, and ongoing disruption within the retirement plan space. 

Amid a recent resurgence in litigation targeting pension risk transfer (PRT) transactions, plan sponsors and fiduciaries should take extra care in selecting annuity providers to ensure compliance with fiduciary duties. Read on for a summary of recent developments and insights.   

Earlier this year, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced updates to the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP), which are set to take effect March 17, 2025. As an alternative to the more onerous VFCP Application Process, certain common plan errors will soon be eligible for a streamlined self-correction process, known as the Self-Correction Component (SCC). In addition, the DOL amended the associated Prohibited Transaction Exemption, PTE 2002-51, to extend relief to certain corrections under the new SCC.

In recent weeks, fires have devastated communities in and around Los Angeles, California. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Revenue Ruling 2019-19, which addresses three basic questions related to the treatment of uncashed checks that result from qualified retirement plan distributions.

Recently, the United States Department of Labor (the Department) published a Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) fact sheet called the USERRA Fact Sheet 1.