IRS Guidance

Published in the Federal Register is an IRS notice of public hearing on proposed regulations for automatic 60-day postponement of certain deadlines following federally declared disasters. (The proposed regulations were published January 13, 2021, in the Federal Register.)

The SECURE Act makes it easier for employers to adopt ADP/ACP safe harbor plan provisions. These plans, which include both “traditional” safe harbor plans and qualified automatic contribution arrangements (QACAs), have proven popular with many employers. This is because such plans are usually deemed to pass several nondiscrimination tests. IRS Notice 2020-86 provides guidance on some of the details of these SECURE Act provisions, including direction on amendments and notices. But while this notice gives important direction, we await more comprehensive regulatory guidance.

The IRS has released a pre-publication version of proposed regulations that would create an automatic 60-day postponement of deadlines for certain time-sensitive, tax-related acts in circumstances of federally-declared disasters.

The IRS has issued News Release MS-2021-01, announcing the postponement of certain tax-related deadlines for Mississippi victims of Hurricane Zeta, for hurricane-related events beginning October 28, 2020. In addition to extending certain tax filing and tax payment deadlines, the relief includes completion of many time-sensitive, tax-related acts described in IRS Revenue Procedure 2018-58 and Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1(c)(1), which include filing Form 5500 for retirement plans, completing rollovers, making retirement plan loan payments, etc.

Published in today’s Federal Register are IRS final regulations that implement a provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that provides an extended period—beyond the normal 60 days—to roll over amounts of certain retirement plan loans that are offset and treated as distributions. These final regulations were released in pre-publication form on December 8, 2020.

The IRS has posted at its website the 2021 tax year version of Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc., and Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information. As the title implies, Form 1099-R is filed by financial organizations and service providers to report to account owners and the IRS distributions from tax-qualified retirement savings arrangements. Form 5498 more narrowly reports IRA-related information—including contributions to IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRA employer plans, end-of-year fair market values, rollovers, conversions, recharacterizations, etc.

The IRS issued Notice 2021-03, extending previous guidance released under Notice 2020-42, which provided temporary relief from the physical presence requirements for certain elections that are made by participants and beneficiaries in qualified retirement plans and other tax-favored retirement arrangements. The extension is being issued in consideration of continued business shutdowns and social distancing in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and provides relief through June 30, 2021. This includes signatures of those making an election that ordinarily need to be witnessed in the physical presence of a plan representative or notary public, including spousal consent and certain forms of distribution from retirement plans.

The IRS has issued Revenue Ruling 2020-23 to address how employers may terminate 403(b) plans that contain custodial accounts. This guidance gives plan administrators direction on how they can distribute plan assets to participants in order to satisfy plan termination requirements. The revenue ruling also gives the option for plan participants to preserve their accounts—as 403(b) accounts—following a plan termination, or to roll them over to an eligible retirement plan.

The IRS has issued News Release PR-2020-03, providing for the postponement of certain tax-related deadlines for victims of September 13, 2020, storm and flood events on the island of Puerto Rico. In addition to extending certain tax filing and tax payment deadlines, the relief includes completion of many time-sensitive, tax-related acts described in Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1(c)(1), which include filing Form 5500 for retirement plans, completing rollovers, making retirement plan loan payments, etc.

The IRS has issued Notice 2020-86, providing guidance for implementing provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019. Specifically, the SECURE Act provisions addressed deal with features and procedures of 401(k) and 403(b) plans that incorporate safe harbor designs for satisfying nondiscrimination testing requirements, and automatic enrollment and automatically increased deferral rates.