Read this if you are an employee benefit plan fiduciary.
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged individuals and organizations to continue operating during a time where face-to-face interaction may not be plausible, and access to organizational resources may be restricted. However, life has not stopped, and participants in your employee benefit plan may continue to make important decisions based on their financial needs. This article looks at distributions from your plan, specifically focusing on required minimum distributions (RMD) and coronavirus-related distributions.
Required minimum distributions
If an employee benefit plan is subject to the RMD rules of Code Section 401(a)(9), then distributions of a participant’s accrued benefits must commence April 1 of the calendar year following the later of 1) the participant attaining age 70½, or 2) the participant’s severance from employment. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, RMDs have been temporarily waived for retirement plans for 2020. This change applies to direct contribution plans, such as 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) plans, and IRAs. In addition, RMDs were waived for IRA owners who turned 70½ in 2019 and were required to take an RMD by April 1, 2020 and have not yet done so. Note: the waiver will not alter a participant’s required beginning date for purposes of applying the minimum distribution rules in future periods.
Coronavirus-related distributions
Under section 2202 of the CARES Act, qualified participants who are diagnosed with coronavirus, whose spouse or dependent is diagnosed with coronavirus, or who experience adverse financial consequences due to certain virus-related events including quarantine, furlough, layoff, having hours reduced, or losing child care are eligible to receive a coronavirus-related distribution.
These distributions are considered coronavirus-related distributions if the participant or his/her spouse or dependent has experienced adverse effects noted above due to the coronavirus, the distributions do not exceed $100,000 in the aggregate, and the distributions were taken on or after January 1, 2020 and on or before December 30, 2020.
Such distributions are not subject to the 10% penalty tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) § 72(t), and participants have the option of including their distributions in income ratably over a three year period, or the entire amount, starting in the year the distribution was received. Such distributions are exempt from the IRC § 402(f) notice requirement, which explains rollover rules, as well as the effects of rolling a distribution to a qualifying IRA and the effects of not rolling it over. Also, participants can be exempt from owing federal taxes by repaying the coronavirus-related distribution.
Participants receiving this distribution have a three-year window, starting on the distribution date, to contribute up to the full amount of the distribution to an eligible retirement plan as if the contribution were a timely rollover of an eligible rollover distribution. So, if a participant were to include the distribution amount ratably over the three-year period (2020-2022), and the full amount of the distribution was repaid to an eligible retirement plan in 2022, the participant may file amended federal income tax returns for 2020 and 2021 to claim a refund for taxes paid on the income included from the distributions. The participant will not be required to include any amount in income in 2022. We recommend the plan sponsor maintain documentation supporting the participant was eligible to receive the coronavirus-related distribution.
There is much uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A result of this uncertainty has been changes to guidance and treatment of plan transactions, which has forced many of our clients to review and alter their control environments. We have provided our current understanding of the guidance the IRS has provided for the treatment surrounding distributions, specifically RMDs and coronavirus-related distributions. If you and your team have any additional questions specific to your organization or plan, please contact us.