Recent Published Guidance
Recent Interest Rate Notices
Updates for the corporate bond weighted average interest rates; the 24-month average segment rates; the funding transitional segment rates; and the minimum present value transitional rates.
Announcement 2012-44 (Hurricane Sandy Relief)
Streamlined rules for loans and hardship distributions to Hurricane Sandy victims. 2012-49 I.R.B. (November 16, 2012).
Revenue Procedure 2012-50 (governmental plan determination letters)
Individually designed governmental plan sponsors may elect to submit a determination letter application in Cycle E (instead of C). 2012-50 I.R.B. (November 21, 2012).
Notice 2012-70 (limitations on benefits)
Extends the deadline for adopting IRC Section 436 interim amendments to the last day of the 2013 plan year for most defined benefit plans. 2012-51 I.R.B (November 21, 2012).
TD 9601 (anti-cutback rules)
Final regulations offer a limited exception to the anti-cut back rules of IRC Section 411(d)(6) for a debtor in bankruptcy to amend its plan to eliminate lump-sum or accelerated payment options. 77 FR 66915 (November 8, 2012).
News Release IR-2012-77 (cost-of-living adjustments)
Cost-of-living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for Tax Year 2013.
Notice 2012–61 (MAP-21 funding stabilization)
Guidance on the special rules relating to pension funding stabilization for single employer defined benefit pension plans under amendments to the tax code and ERISA made by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), Pub. L. No. 112-141. 2012-42 I.R.B. 479.
Notice 2012-55 (MAP-21 segment rates)
Guidance on the 25-year average segment rates that are applied to adjust the otherwise applicable 24-month average segment rates that are used to compute the funding target and other items under Section 430 of the Internal Revenue Code. Reflects the changes made by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), Pub. L. No.112-141. 2012-36 I.R.B. 332.
Notice 2012-46 (notice requirements – limits on benefits)
Questions and answers about the notice requirements of section 101(j) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) relating to certain limitations on benefits in pension plans. 2012-30 I.R.B. 86.
Rev. Proc. 2012-34 (Form 8955-SSA)
Provides the specifications for filing Form 8955-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants with Deferred Vested Benefits, with Internal Revenue Service/Information Returns Branch (IRS/IRB) electronically through the Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system. Must be used to prepare current and prior year information returns filed beginning January 1, 2013, and received through FIRE by December 31, 2013.
REG-153627-08 (Form 8955-SSA)
Proposed regulations that would add the Form 8955-SSA, “Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits,” to the list of forms that are covered by the Income Tax Regulations on automatic extensions. The proposed regulations would also provide guidance on applicable reporting and participant notice rules for deferred vested participants. 77 FR 37352, June 21, 2012.
REG-113738-12 (anti-cutback rules - bankruptcy)
Proposed regulations that would provide an additional limited exception to the anti-cutback rules to permit a plan sponsor that is a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding to amend its single-employer defined benefit plan to eliminate a single-sum distribution option (or other optional form of benefit providing for accelerated payments) under the plan if certain specified conditions are satisfied. 77 FR 37349, June 21, 2012.
Rev. Proc. 2012–35 (letter-forwarding program)
Guidance on changes to the IRS’s letter-forwarding program. The IRS will no longer forward letters on behalf of plan sponsors or administrators of retirement plans or qualified termination administrators (QTAs) of abandoned plans under the Department of Labor’s Abandoned Plan Program who are attempting to locate missing plan participants and beneficiaries. 2012-37 I.R.B. 341
Notice 2012-29 (normal retirement age)
The IRS and Treasury announce their intent to issue guidance on the applicability of Treas. Reg. section 1.401(a)-1(b) (the 2007 Normal Retirement Age regulations) to IRC section 414(d) governmental plans.
