Retirement, Managing Cash Flow and Helping Participants During COVID-19

Q: Has Congress passed new legislation impacting retirement plans?
A: Yes. The CARES Act passed the U.S. Senate on March 25, and the U.S. House of Representatives on March 27. The President signed the bill into law on March 27, 2020.

Q: Are plan sponsors liable for investment losses associated with the COVID-19 virus?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: What can 401k plan sponsors do now to free up cash?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: How can retirement plan sponsors help participants?
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Q: Have participants’ rights to distributions changed?
A: No. There have been no changes to the current rules requiring separation from service, death, disability or certain in-service distributions in order to receive a distribution.  However, plans could be amended to allow distribution of rollover accounts without such requirement. 

A key issue with the potential for businesses being impact is whether individuals are being furloughed, laid off, terminated or any other employment action which must be evaluated on the ability to make plan distributions and the possible impact on the vesting of participant accounts.

Q: What are the major retirement plan changes that impact plan sponsors and participants?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: What changes impact “hardship” distributions? Are there different rules for Coronavirus related "hardship" distributions?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: What changes impact retirement plan loans?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: What changes impact required minimum distributions for 2020?
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Q: What changes impact single-employer defined benefit plans?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: Will there be a DOL deadline extension for meeting certain filing requirements?
A: Please visit this page for a detailed answer to this question

Q: Have the IRS or DOL issued any other guidance impacting retirement plans?
A: Separate from the CARES Act, on March 27, 2020, the IRS announced that the March 31, 2020 deadline for adopting a 403(b) plan document has been extended to June 30, 2020.

In addition, the IRS has also announced that the April 30, 2020 deadline for adopting a pre-approved defined benefit plan document has been extended to July 31, 2020.

Plan Sponsor Takeaway:  This extension provides an additional 3 months to finalize documents that have not otherwise been adopted. 

Q: Next steps?
A: Signing the CARES Act into law is an important step; however, there could very well be others in the days and weeks ahead, including:

• Given the authority granted to them under the CARES Act, it is possible that DOL will issue further guidance regarding filing deadlines;

• IRS may issue additional guidance impacting plans and IRAs;

• The American Retirement Association (ARA) has indicated that they will continue “to push for defined contribution funding relief”; and,

• As mentioned earlier in the brief, it is possible that Congress could issue technical corrections and/or additional bills to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will continue to monitor developments and update you as we know more.