Regulatory and Legislative

Sequel to SECURE Act Introduced

FuturePlan ERISA Team October 27 2020

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) and GOP Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-TX) have introduced the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020, legislation that is described as building on major retirement legislation enacted in December 2019. The new legislation is being referred to as “SECURE 2.0,” a reference to the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 that preceded it.

It is not generally expected that this legislation will be acted upon before the November 3 elections, or necessarily even during the “lame duck” period between November 3 and the seating of the 117th Congress in January. Instead, it could represent the first attempt at bipartisan retirement legislation to be considered in 2021.

The following provisions are included in the proposed legislation. 

  • Require automatic enrollment of eligible employees in 401(k), 403(b) and SIMPLE IRA plans with certain exceptions and grandfathering provisions
  • Further enhance the small retirement plan start-up credit, with a maximum credit of 100% (vs. the current 50%) for employers with no more than 50 employees
  • Increase the amount of, and eligibility for, the “saver’s credit” for taxpayers making IRA contributions or deferral contributions to employer-sponsored retirement plans
  • Exempt up to $100 of accumulated retirement account balances from required minimum distribution (RMD) requirements
  • Reduce the penalty for failure to satisfy RMD requirements from 50% to 25%; if an IRA RMD failure is timely corrected, the penalty would be further reduced to 10%
  • Permit 403(b) plans to invest in collective investment trusts
  • Increase the RMD age to 75 from 72 (increased from 70½ to 72 by the SECURE Act)
  • Align ESOP rules of S Corporations with those of C Corporations
  • Provide for indexing of IRA catch-up contributions
  • Provide a second, higher tier of catch-up deferral contributions for those age 60 and older, with indexing provision
  • Permit 403(b) plans to participate in multiple employer plan (MEP) arrangements
  • Permit certain student loan repayments to qualify for employer retirement plan matching contributions
  • Allow a small employer joining a MEP or pooled employer plan (PEP) arrangement to potentially claim a small plan start-up credit during the first three years of the MEP/PEP arrangement’s existence
  • Provide a new small employer tax credit for enhanced plan eligibility for military spouses
  • Enhance options for correcting employee salary deferral errors
  • Increase the qualifying longevity annuity contract (QLAC) RMD exemption
  • Permit increasing payments in IRA and defined contribution plan life annuity benefits
  • Allow retirement plan fiduciaries additional discretion in whether to seek recoupment of accidental overpayments
  • Simplify retirement plan disclosures to non-participating employees
  • Create a national online “lost and found” database to connect individuals with unclaimed retirement account benefits
  • Expand the IRS retirement plan correction program to permit self-correction of certain inadvertent IRA errors
  • Permit tax-free qualified charitable contributions to be made from employer-sponsored retirement plans (now permitted only from IRAs)
  • Make certain technical corrections to SECURE Act provisions
Defined Contribution Plan IRA SECURE Act Legislative updates

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