The IRS has released its semiannual regulatory agenda for Spring 2015, which includes pension and benefit regulations that are currently under development or review.
• Guidance relating to governmental plans and Indian tribal government plans.
• Additional guidance regarding the determination of plan assets and benefit liabilities for purposes of the funding requirements that apply to single-employer defined benefit plans, the use of certain funding balances maintained for those plans, and the benefit restrictions for certain underfunded defined benefit pension plans.
• Guidance on eligible combined plans under Code Sec. 414(x).
• Modification of the minimum present value requirements applicable to certain defined benefit pension plans.
• Guidance relating to individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).
• Guidance on the requirement for plan administrators or employers to furnish an individual statement to participants who separate from service with a deferred vested benefit.
• Rules under Code sections relating to employee stock ownership plans.
• Modification of the nondiscrimination requirements applicable to certain defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans that provide additional benefits to a grandfathered group of employees.
• Rules needed to implement changes to the Code made by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, Division O of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113-235), concerning multiemployer defined benefit plans in critical and declining status.
• Guidance on the application of the accrual rules for defined benefit plans in cases where plan benefits are determined on the basis of the greater of two or more separate formulas.
• Guidance on the determination of minimum required contributions for the purpose of the funding requirements that apply to single-employer defined benefit plans.
• Final rules providing guidance to a participant of his or her right, if any, to defer receipt of an immediately distributable benefit and a description of the consequences of failing to defer receipt of the distribution.
• Modification to the rules regarding the minimum present value requirements that apply to certain distributions from qualified defined benefit plans in order to facilitate certain annuity distributions and to reflect statutory changes to the applicable requirements.
• Amendment to designated Roth regulations eliminating the rule that provides that if a portion of a distribution is directly rolled over and another portion is paid to the participant, each portion must be treated as a separate distribution for purposes of Code Sec. 402(c).
Source: The IRS Agenda for Spring 2015 is available at www.reginfo.gov.