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Treasury Official Provides Favorable Interpretation of 401(k) Hardship Amendment Deadlines for Volume Submitter and Prototype Plans (PDF)

"Carol Weiser, Benefits Tax Counsel at the Treasury, discussed recent concerns about the deadline for preapproved plans to amend to conform to the recently published final hardship regulations. In effect, she said that the deadline is the due date of the employer's income tax return, plus extensions, if any, for the tax year which includes January 1, 2020. This is true even if the amendment was put into effect in 2019. This gives us more time than many of us had feared, based on a conservative reading of the final regulation."

Retirement Plan Relief for Hurricane Harvey (PDF)

"[IRS Announcement TX-2017-09] provides ... relief postponing numerous deadlines to January 31, 2019.... Announcement 2017-11 simplifies and streamlines loans and hardship distributions in the wake of Harvey.... The relief related to hardship distributions applies to plans that the law allows to provide for hardship distributions.... The documentation relief applies to all types of plans eligible to make plan loans, including qualified plans, 403(b) plans, and governmental 457(b) plans.... The Announcement does not provide any relief for 457(b) plans sponsored by tax-exempt organizations. While the Announcement does not expressly mention 409A plans, it is likely that the IRS would find that Harvey is an unforeseeable emergency permitting distributions under those plans.... The DOL issued a press release outlining several points relating to Hurricane Harvey[.]"

COVID-19: Retirement Plan Questions and Answers (PDF)

30 pages. Topics: [1] Coronavirus-related distribution; [2] Coronavirus-related loan extensions; [3] Qualified individual/certification; [4] Spousal consent; [5] Safe harbor/QACA 401(k) suspensions; [6] Required Minimum Distribution relief; [7] Plan amendments: CARES and other; [8] Defined benefit funding relief; [9] Deadline extensions; [10] Partial plan terminations; [11] Interim valuations; [12] Termination/severance/separation; [13] Treatment of furloughed employees/service crediting; [14] SIMPLE plans; [15] Regular hardship Distributions; [16] FFCRA: compensation; [17] PPP forgivable small business loans; [18] Miscellaneous questions. (See also a small correction issued by the author pertaining to rollovers of Roth and after-tax contributions).  [Editor's note:  current as of Apr. 2, 2020; does not reflect guidance issued after that date, including IRS Notice 2020-23.]