DOL Testifies About Employer-Sponsored IRAs

The Department of Labor announced in a June 26 press release that it testified before the House Ways and Means subcommittee about employer-sponsored IRAs:

Washington – Bradford P. Campbell, assistant secretary of labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), today testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures about the department's programs to protect and promote retirement security for employer-sponsored individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).

In his testimony, Campbell discussed the department's regulatory, enforcement, compliance assistance and outreach activities carried out for employer-sponsor IRAs governed by Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. These plans were created by Congress to give small employers an affordable and easy retirement plan option for their employees, including Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA and Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs).

He noted that the Labor Department's oversight role employs a comprehensive approach of compliance assistance, interpretive guidance, prohibited transaction exemptions, education and outreach, and enforcement. However, Campbell emphasized that oversight over individual and payroll deduction IRAs is under the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service.

"Employer-sponsored IRAs are important retirement savings vehicles for millions of employees of small businesses nationwide," said Campbell. "In the past three years alone, our oversight of employer-sponsored IRAs has yielded $1.2 million in direct enforcement results and an additional $1 million in results for workers through informal resolution of complaints."

The testimony can be found here: DOL Testifies About Employer-Sponsored IRAs, and contains the following:

• Introductory Remarks
• Background
  
  • Types of Employer-sponsored IRAs
  • Payroll-deduction IRAs
• Oversight Of IRAs By the Department Of Labor And the IRS
• EBSA Compliance Assistance, Education And Outreach Activities
• EBSA's Enforcement Efforts
• Conclusion
• Footnotes

Related Links

• IRC Section 408(p) – Individual retirement accounts
• JCX-53-08 - Present Law and Analysis Relating to Individual Retirement Arrangements
• GAO-08-590 - Individual Retirement Accounts - Government Actions Could Encourage More Employers to Offer IRAs to Employees
• Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures - Hearing on Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and their role in our retirement system

• Ways and Means Committee to Discuss IRAs
• Ways and Means Discussess How to Encourage Small Business Owners To Offer Retirement Savings Vehicles