Retirement Plans Newsletter

BULLETIN
Supplement to
October 21, 2016

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[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Announcement 2016-39: Retirement Plan Distribution Relief for Victims of Hurricane Matthew (PDF)
"[A] qualified employer plan will not be treated as failing to satisfy any requirement under the Code or regulations merely because the plan makes a loan, or a hardship distribution for a need arising from Hurricane Matthew, to an employee or former employee whose principal residence on October 4, 2016, (October 3, 2016, for Florida) was located in one of the counties identified for individual assistance by [FEMA] because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew or whose place of employment was located in one of these counties on that applicable date or whose lineal ascendant or descendant, dependent, or spouse had a principal residence or place of employment in one of these counties on that date. These counties identified for individual assistance by FEMA are in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina and can be found on FEMA's website ...

"Plan administrators may rely upon representations from the employee or former employee as to the need for and amount of a hardship distribution, unless the plan administrator has actual knowledge to the contrary, and the distribution is treated as a hardship distribution for all purposes under the Code and regulations ...

"[A] 'qualified employer plan' means a plan or contract meeting the requirements of Section 401(a), 403(a) or 403(b), and ... a plan described in Section 457(b) maintained by an eligible employer described in Section 457(e)(1)(A), and any hardship arising from Hurricane Matthew is treated as an 'unforeseeable emergency' for purposes of distributions from such plans....

"To make a loan or hardship distribution pursuant to the relief provided in this announcement, a qualified employer plan that does not provide for them must be amended to provide for loans or hardship distributions no later than the end of the first plan year beginning after December 31, 2016. To qualify for the relief under this announcement, a hardship distribution must be made on account of a hardship resulting from Hurricane Matthew and be made on or after October 4, 2016, (October 3, 2016, for Florida) and no later than March 15, 2017."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Information Release 2016-138: Retirement Plans Can Make Loans, Hardship Distributions to Victims of Hurricane Matthew (PDF)
"Participants in 401(k) plans, employees of public schools and tax-exempt organizations with 403(b) tax-sheltered annuities, as well as state and local government employees with 457(b) deferred-compensation plans may be eligible to take advantage of these streamlined loan procedures and liberalized hardship distribution rules. Though IRA participants are barred from taking out loans, they may be eligible to receive distributions under liberalized procedures.... Currently, parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida qualify for individual assistance."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

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BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2016 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

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