May 21, 2026. "Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-NR, or 1041.... If you only owe the additional 10% tax on the full amount of the early distributions, you may be able to report this tax directly on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 5, without filing Form 5329."  MORE >>

"The provisions included on the 2026 Cumulative List mostly relate to changes in law as a result of the SECURE Act, the CARES Act, and the SECURE 2.0 Act (along with some other changes along the way)."  MORE >>

"Plan committees should evaluate whether their current fiduciary process, including investment review and selection framework, generally aligns with the proposed six‑factor analysis, particularly with respect to the rationale documented in committee minutes. Plan fiduciaries should consider with their ERISA counsel and investment advisor what preparatory steps, if any, may be appropriate in anticipation of the proposed regulations being finalized, including with respect to fiduciary process, committee documentation, and investment policy statements."  MORE >>

"[We] still do not know if changing the beneficiary of the 529 account resets the 15-year clock. Will the existing time period applicable to the initial account opening carry over to the new beneficiary? No one on the planet has that information. Accordingly, advisors and custodians alike have been advising clients to leave the 529 beneficiary as-is until confirmation is received as to how the 15 years will be applied."  MORE >>

"[T]he Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court's Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of all four counts of the operative complaint, holding that ERISA's 'actuarial equivalent' requirement for joint-and-survivor annuities imposes substantive limits on the mortality and interest-rate assumptions plans may use, and that Section 1055(i) likewise caps preretirement survivor annuity (QPSA) charges at amounts that reasonably reflect a plan's increased costs of providing the benefit." [Drummond v. Southern Company Services, Inc., No. 24-12773 (11th Cir. May 26, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Benefits Council filed a joint amicus brief ... asking the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside the ERISA class certification approved by a district court in a lawsuit involving the 401(k) pension plan of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association....[The lawsuit was filed] by two current plan participants, representing a class of more than 77,000 participants.... The plaintiffs accuse NRECA and its fiduciary committee of breaching obligations under [ERISA] and charging the multiple employer plan's participants excessive administrative fees." [Mullins v. NRECA, No. 25-0994 (E.D. Va. Mar. 13, 2026; on appeal to 4th Cir. No. 26-0165)]  MORE >>

"An employer seeking to challenge actuarial assumptions can still request review and demand arbitration, at which point it is now even more critical to press the actuary on the information relied upon to develop the assumptions used to calculate the pension fund's unfunded vested benefits. To the extent an actuary relies on information that becomes known only after the measurement date in developing an assumption, or the assumption is otherwise unreasonable, that assumption is impermissible." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"[1] Withdrawal liability may be higher -- and less predictable -- than you expect.... [2] Arbitration remains your primary remedy.... [3] Engage actuarial and legal advisers early.... [4] Monitor plan communications closely." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Resolving a circuit split, the U.S. Supreme Court ... held that actuarial assumptions used to calculate withdrawal liability may be selected after the measurement date. The Court reasoned that actuarial assumptions are forward-looking 'predictive judgments,' and ERISA does not impose a deadline requiring them to be set before the measurement date." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The decision confirms the DC Circuit's view that plans need not have actuarial assumptions in place on the measurement date. The Supreme Court did not decide whether those assumptions must rely only on information available as of that date." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Higher default contributions, broader auto‑increase adoption, periodic auto‑reenrollment, and emergency savings defaults can increase participation, reduce leakage, and improve adequacy. From a policy perspective, encouraging age‑based default contribution rates and increasing the pension‑linked emergency savings account (PLESA) cap could improve outcomes."  MORE >>

"As required by statute, the [DOL] annually publishes a final rule updating the civil monetary penalties it assesses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) did not publish its October 2025 Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) data due to a lapse in funding. Because the relevant law requires that annual penalty adjustments be based specifically on October CPI-U data -- with no alternative calculation allowed -- the 2026 adjustment is cancelled entirely."  MORE >>

"[T]he Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a class action in which Plaintiffs attempted to collect a federal judgment against a defunct employer by suing a private equity firm and fifteen related individuals and entities on alter ego and veil-piercing theories.... The Fourth Circuit concluded that because Plaintiffs' suit was based exclusively on veil-piercing and alleged no new or additional ERISA or WARN Act violations, and because their voluntary dismissal of Garrison from the original suit resulted in a judgment against BCI only, the district court correctly held that it lacked federal subject matter jurisdiction." [Messer v. Garrison Investment Group, LP, No. 25-1657 (4th Cir. May 26, 2026)]  MORE >>