Legislative updates

Department of Labor guidance titled “Adoption of Amended and Restated Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program” has left the Office of Management and Budget.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has released a final rule updating the table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination to reflect valuation dates falling in 2025.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) has released draft legislation titled Protecting Proper Life Insurance from Abuse Act.

These regulations address a payor’s obligation to withhold income taxes when those payments or distributions are made to payees outside of the United States.

The Internal Revenue Service recently issued Notice 2024-77, providing interim guidance on the treatment of “inadvertent benefit overpayments” from defined benefit and defined contribution plans as provided by Section 301 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

The IRS has posted final regulations regarding income tax withholding on certain periodic payments and nonperiodic distributions from employer deferred compensation plans, individual retirement plans, and commercial annuities that are not eligible rollover distributions.

The Social Security Administration has issued the 2025 adjustments for benefits and certain other limitations that are subject to annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) indices.

Representative Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) has introduced HR 9820 – the Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act.

Representative Brittany Pettersen (D-Co), and co-sponsor Maria Salazar (R-FL), have introduced H.R. 9764, the Catching Up Family Caregivers Act. According to a press release, the bill would allow family caregivers to make catch-up contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans, an option typically reserved for those over age 50. For every year they are out of the workforce, caregivers could be eligible for an additional year of catch-up contributions, up to a maximum of five years.

The IRS has issued Notice 2024-73, providing question-and-answer guidance on long-term, part-time employees in 403(b) plans. Guidance is applicable for plan years beginning after December 31, 2024.