SECURE ACT 2.0 - a synopsis
by - Mark Ward
artist - Daisy Lopez
Highlights of the SECURE 2.0 Act include:
· Enables matching contributions for student loan payments.
· Permits older workers to save more and stay invested longer.
· Enables plans to include emergency savings accounts.
· Simplifies disclosures.
· Encourages automatic enrollment automatic contribution increases.
· Provides new and enhanced credits for small businesses sponsoring plans.
· Increases catch-up contribution limit.
· Allows for limited 529 account rollovers to Roth IRA accounts.
This is a long a complicated act and there are still some issues to be worked out by either Congress or the IRS as some of the provisions have some clear errors in them that contradict already existing law without clarification. These have to do with Required Minimum Distributions, SEP and SIMPLE IRA plan changes, and Roth Catch-up contributions in retirement plans. However, history does suggest that in time this will all get settled into a clearer law that hopefully we can all understand.
In the meantime, what follows is a short description of most of the plan provisions by code section, description, and effective date:
Provisions Effective by January 1, 2023
Section 102
Modification of credit for small employer pension plan startup costs
Increases the startup credit from 50% to 100% for employers with up to 50 employees. Additional credit provided based on employer contribution.
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2022
Section 107
Increase in age for required beginning date for mandatory distributions
Increases the required minimum distribution (RMD) age to 73 starting on January 1, 2023, and to 75 starting on January 1, 2033.
January 1, 2023 and January 1, 2033
Section 112
Military spouse retirement plan eligibility credit for small employers
Provides small employers a tax credit with respect to their defined contribution plans if they allow military spouses to participate with certain requirements.
Taxable years beginning after December 29, 2022
Section 113
Small immediate financial incentives for contributing to a plan
Enables employers to offer de minimis financial incentives, not paid for with plan assets, such as low-dollar gift cards, to boost employee participation in workplace retirement plans.
Plan years beginning after December 29, 2022
Section 128
Enhancement of 403(b) plans
Changes tax laws to allow 403(b) custodial accounts to participate in collective investment trusts. NOTE: The needed securities law provisions were not included.
Effective after December 29, 2022
Section 201
Remove required minimum distribution barriers of life annuities
Eliminates certain barriers to the availability of life annuities in qualified plans and IRAs that arise under current law due to an actuarial test in the RMD regulations.
Calendar years ending after December 29, 2022
Section 202
Qualifying longevity annuity contracts (QLAC)
Repeals the 25% limit and allows up to $200,000 (indexed) to be used from an account balance to purchase a QLAC.
Effective for contracts purchased or received in an exchange on or after December 29, 2022
Section 301
Recovery of retirement plan overpayments
Allows retirement plan fiduciaries the latitude to decide not to recoup overpayments that were mistakenly made to participants, including retirees. Certain overpayments may also be treated as eligible rollover distributions.
Effective December 29, 2022
Section 302
Reduction in excise tax on certain accumulations in qualified retirement plans
Reduces the penalty for failure to take RMDs from 50% to 25%, with a further reduction to 10% if the RMD failure is corrected in a timely manner.
Taxable years beginning after December 29, 2022
Section 305
Expansion of Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS)
Expands EPCRS to (1) allow inadvertent errors to be self-corrected within a “reasonable time” and (2) apply to inadvertent IRA errors.
Effective December 29, 2022
Any required guidance shall be promulgated no later than two years after the date of enactment of this act
Section 306
Eliminate the “first day of the month” requirement for governmental Section 457(b) plans
Allows participants in governmental 457(b) plans to change their deferral rate at any time, i.e., it is no longer necessary to request a deferral change prior to the beginning of the month in which the deferral was made.
Taxable years beginning after December 29, 2022
Section 311
Repayment of qualified birth or adoption distribution (QBAD) limited to three years
Amends the QBAD provision to restrict the recontribution period to three years for distributions made after enactment and to January 1, 2026, for distributions made prior to enactment.
Distributions made after December 29, 2022, and retroactively to effective date of the original SECURE Act for distributions prior to enactment
Section 312
Employer may rely on employee certifying that deemed hardship distribution conditions are met
Allows employees to self-certify that they have had an event that constitutes a hardship or unforeseeable emergency for purposes of taking a hardship or unforeseeable emergency withdrawal.
Plan years beginning after December 29, 2022
Section 318
Performance benchmarks for asset allocation funds
Directs the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to update the fee and investment disclosure regulations within two years after the date of enactment so that investments that use a mix of asset classes, such as target date investments, can be benchmarked against a blend of broad-based securities market indices.
Effective December 29, 2022
Section 320
Eliminating unnecessary plan requirements related to unenrolled participants
Eliminates requirement for employers to provide certain annual ERISA or code notices to unenrolled participants who have not elected to participate in a workplace retirement plan provided they receive disclosures initially and a subsequent annual reminder of the right to enroll.
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2022
Section 331
Special rules for use of retirement funds in connection with qualified federally declared disasters
Provides permanent rules relating to the use of retirement funds in the case of a federally declared disaster.
Disasters occurring on or after January 26, 2021
Section 601
SIMPLE and SEP Roth IRAs
Allows SIMPLE IRAs to accept Roth contributions. Also allows employers to offer employees the ability to treat employee and employer SEP contributions as Roth (in whole or in part).
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2022
Section 604
Optional treatment of employer matching or nonelective contributions as Roth contributions
Allows defined contribution plans to provide participants with the option of receiving matching and qualified nonelective contributions on a Roth basis.
Effective for contributions made after December 29, 2022
Provisions Effective by January 1, 2024
Section 110
Student loan matching
Permits an employer to make matching contributions under a 401(k) plan, 403(b) plan, governmental 457(b) plan, or SIMPLE IRA with respect to “qualified student loan payments.”
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2023
Section 115
Penalty-free withdrawals for certain emergency expenses
Provides an exception to the early withdrawal penalty for distributions up to $1,000 annually used for emergency expenses. A taxpayer has the option to repay the distribution within three years.
Distributions made after December 31, 2023
Section 117
Contribution limit for SIMPLE plans
Increases the annual deferral limit and the catch-up contribution limit at age 50 by 10% in SIMPLE IRAs, as compared with the limit that would otherwise apply in the first year this change is effective. Employees with 26 to 100 employees: Employers permitted to provide higher deferral limits, but only if the employer either provides a 4% matching contribution or a 3% employer contribution. Makes similar changes to contribution limits for SIMPLE 401(k) plans.
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023
Section 120
Prohibited transaction exemption for certain automatic portability transactions
Permits a retirement plan service provider to provide employer plans with automatic portability services. Such services involve the automatic transfer of a participant’s default IRA (established in connection with a distribution from a former employer’s plan) into the participant’s new employer’s retirement plan, unless the participant affirmatively elects otherwise.
Effective for transactions occurring on or after December 29, 2023 (12 months after enactment)
Section 121
Starter 401(k) plans for employers with no retirement plan
Permits an employer that does not sponsor a retirement plan to offer a starter 401(k) plan (or safe harbor 403(b) plan) with simplified requirements and lower contribution limits.
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2023
Section 126
Expanding 529 account benefits
Allows 529 accounts that are aged 15 years or more to rollover a maximum of $35,000 per beneficiary to a Roth IRA at a (Current) rate of $7,000 per year.
After December 31, 2023
Section 127
Emergency savings accounts linked to individual account plans
Provides employers the option to offer their non-highly compensated employees’ pension-linked emergency savings accounts. Contributions are treated as Roth and are prohibited once the account balance meets or exceeds $2,500 (indexed). Auto-enrollment and match are permitted, subject to conditions.
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2023
Section 304
Updating dollar limit for mandatory distributions
Increases the amount that plans can require to be distributed without consent from $5,000 to $7,000.
Distributions made after December 31, 2023
Section 314
Penalty-free withdrawals for victims of domestic abuse
Allows retirement plans to permit participants that self-certify that they experienced domestic abuse to withdraw up to the lesser of $10,000 indexed (or 50% of the vested balance) within one year of incident without penalty.
Distributions made after December 31, 2023
Section 325
Roth plan distribution rules
Eliminates pre-death RMDs from Roth accounts in employer plans.
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023. (Note: Change does not apply to distributions required with respect to years beginning before January 1, 2024, but payable on or after such date.)
Section 602
Hardship withdrawal rules for 403(b) plans
Conforms the hardship rules for 403(b) plans to those for 401(k) plans
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2023
Section 603
Elective deferrals generally limited to regular contribution limit
Provides that all catch-up contributions to qualified retirement plans are subject to Roth tax treatment. An exception is provided for employees with wages of $145,000 or less (indexed) in the prior year.
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2023
Provisions Effective by January 1, 2025
Section 101
Expanding automatic enrollment in retirement plansquires auto‑enrollment and auto‑escalation for all 401(k) and 403(b) plans (with certain exceptions for collective bargaining plans, church plans, and governmental plans, as well as plans established on or before December 29, 2022). The initial automatic enrollment amount is at least 3% but not more than 10%. Each year thereafter, that amount is increased by 1% until it reaches at least 10%, but not more than 15%.
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2024
Section 109
Higher catch-up limit to apply at ages 60, 61, 62, and 63
Increases catch-up limits to the greater of $10,000 ($5,000 for SIMPLE plans) or 50% more than the regular catch-up amount in 2025 for individuals who have attained ages 60, 61, 62, and 63. The increased amounts are indexed for inflation after 2025.
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024
Section 125
Improving coverage for part-time workers
Reduces to two years (from three years) the requirement to allow long-term, part-time workers to participate in employers’ 401(k) plans and extends these rules to ERISA-covered 403(b) plans.
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2024
Section 303
Retirement savings lost and found
Requires DOL to create and administer a national online searchable lost and found database for Americans’ retirement plans; requires plan administrators to provide annual reporting of disposition of balances for vested terminated participants.
Directs the creation of the database no later than two years after the date of enactment of this act
Provisions Effective by January 1, 2026
Section 338
Requirement to provide paper statements in certain cases
Amends ERISA to generally provide that, with respect to defined contribution plans, unless a participant elects otherwise, the plan is required to provide a paper benefit statement at least once annually.
Plan years beginning after December 31, 2025
Provisions Effective by January 1, 2027
Section 103
Saver’s Match
Changes the saver’s credit (applicable to tax obligations) to a federal “match” deposited into a taxpayer’s IRA or retirement plan that accepts such contributions; increases eligibility for the saver’s match.
Taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026
Thank you for your confidence and trust,
Mark Ward,
V. P., Operations