Chronological list of legislation affecting employee benefit plans
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA): Signed into law by president on February 17, 2009, otherwise known simply as stimulus package. This act makes several changes to COBRA provisions but also increases the combined maximum reimbursement amounts for section 132 transit passes and transportation in a commuter highway vehicle.
Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008: Enacted by Congress on December 11, 2008, suspends RMDs for 2009, provides pension plan funding relief and includes technical corrections to the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).
Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 (HEART Act): Signed into law in June, 2008, requires employer to provide certain benefits to employees who are reservists called to active duty and are killed or disabled while performing their military obligations.
Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA): Signed into law on August 17, 2006. The most comprehensive pension legislation since ERISA. Among its many provisions, the changes contained in EGTRRA 2001 have been made permanent. Other changes affect minimum funding rules, reporting and disclosure, PBGC, investment of plan assets, prohibited transactions, fiduciary rules, plan contributions and benefits, plan distributions, rollovers, plan qualification, plan administration, and IRAs and Roth IRAs.
Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act (HERO): Enacted on May 29, 2006. For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2004, members of the armed forces may treat combat pay as compensation for purposes of the IRA contribution and deduction rules.
Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA): Enacted on May 17, 2006. This act contains a provision repealing the income limits on conversions of traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs, starting in 2010. TIPRA also imposes an excise tax on any entity manager of a tax-exempt entity who knowingly approves a prohibited tax-shelter transaction.
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005: Enacted on February 8, 2006. This act increased the single-employer flat rate premium to $30 per participant and the multiemployer plan flat-rate premium to $8. For each plan year beginning in a calendar year after 2006, the flat rate premiums will be indexed to the national average wage index. This act also contained a new premium for certain single-employer plans that are terminated (generally, situations where PBGC takes over as trustee of the terminated plan).
Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005: Enacted on December 21, 2005. This act codified and expanded the pension-related relief provided by KETRA to include victims of Hurricanes Rita and Wilma.
Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 (KETRA): On September 23, 2005, the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 was signed into law. KETRA modified existing rules governing retirement plan withdrawals and loans in order to free up additional funds for Hurricane Katrina victims.
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005: Enacted on April 20, 2005. This act, which took effect on October 17, 2005, protects all retirement plan assets from creditors during bankruptcy proceedings by exempting those assets from the debtor's bankruptcy estate. An individual's bankruptcy estate will not include retirement funds to the extent that those funds are in a qualified retirement plan, SEP, SIMPLE plan, TSA, IRA, Roth IRA, or Section 457 plan. Generally, the amount of IRA assets that is protected during bankruptcy proceedings is limited to $1 million, but amounts attributable to rollovers from protected plans do not count toward the $1 million limit.
Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004: Enacted on October 4, 2004. Among other changes and technical corrections affecting qualified retirement plans, the act reflected the modified treatment of elective deferrals for purposes of the employer deduction limits, by removing elective deferrals from consideration in the application of the exception to the 10 percent excise tax on nondeductible contributions.
Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004 (PFEA): Enacted on April 10, 2004. This Act makes significant changes to the way in which a defined benefit plan computes its funding obligations. Specifically, the Act replaces use of the 30-year Treasury bond interest rate used in determining required plan funding contributions. In its place, defined benefit plans may now use a rate based on long-term investment grade corporate bonds, as specified by IRS.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: This act (the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002) was signed into law on July 30, 2002. The act bars company directors and executive officers from trading in employer securities during a blackout period imposed on participants in individual account plans of the employer, requires plan administrators to provide at least 30 days advance notice of blackout periods to participants and beneficiaries under individual account plans, and increases criminal penalties for willful violations of ERISA's requirements. In addition, the act contains a prohibition on loans to company officers, which may be interpreted as preventing company officers from taking loans from 401(k) plans maintained by the company.
Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 (JCWAA 2002): Enacted on March 9, 2002. This act contains changes to the funding rules for defined benefit plans and makes a number of technical corrections to provisions relating to qualified retirement plans that were enacted by EGTRRA 2001.
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA 2001): Enacted on June 7, 2001. This act raised contribution limits on IRAs and qualified retirement plans, liberalized portability and vesting rules, and made a host of changes affecting qualified retirement plans.
Tax Technical Corrections Act of 1998 (TTC '98): Enacted on July 22, 1998 as Title IV of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. This act made significant changes to the Roth IRA.
IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (IRRA): Act containing technical corrections to TRA '97 and SBJPA, many of which deal with Roth IRAs.
Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA '97): Enacted on August 5, 1997. This act contained many provisions affecting qualified retirement plans and IRAs and also created the Roth IRA.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA '96): Enacted on August 21, 1996. This act provided that distributions from IRAs made after 1996 will not be subject to the 10 percent penalty tax on early withdrawals if the amounts are used to pay medical expenses in excess of 71/2 percent of adjusted gross income. In addition, the 10 percent penalty tax will not apply to IRA distributions that are used by certain unemployed, formerly unemployed, or self-employed individuals to pay health insurance premiums.
Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (SBA '96): Enacted on August 20, 1996. This act adopted many pension simplification provisions.
State Income Taxation of Pension Income Act of 1995: Enacted on January 10, 1996. This act prohibits states from taxing the retirement income payments of their former residents.
Pension Simplification Act of 1996: Contained in the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996.
Retirement Protection Act of 1994 (RPA '94): Part of GATT enacted on December 8, 1994. The primary purpose of this act was to strengthen PBGC. Among its provisions: removed impediments to funding certain plans; phased out the PBGC variable-rate premium cap; rounded down cost-of-living adjustments; and extended IRS user fee program.
Pension Annuitants Protection Act (PPA '94): Enacted on October 22, 1994. This act permits a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary to bring an action if the purchase of an insurance or annuity contract in connection with the termination of a person's status as a plan participant would violate fiduciary standards.
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994(USERRA): Enacted on October 13, 1994. This act prohibits discrimination against employees because of membership in the uniformed services.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, (GATT): part of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1994. Far reaching benefit changes affecting among other things distributions and funding limitations.
Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988.(TAMRA):Contained many corrections to and clarification of OBRA '87 and TRA '86.
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987. (OBRA ’87) Among other things, this act contained a number of funding provisions for defined benefit plans.
Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA '86): Enacted on October 22, 1986. This act made such major changes to the Code that it resulted in the Code being renamed the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986." Was responsible for redrafting the Internal Revenue Code as well as redefining the rules with respect to coverage and nondiscrimination.
Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA '86): The first wholesale revision of the tax code since 1954. The Code is now named the "Internal Revenue Code of 1986."
Single Employer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1986 (SEPPAA): The Act that changed the single-employer defined benefit plan termination rules of Title IV of ERISA.
Tax Reform Act of 1984 (TRA '84): Enacted on July 18, 1984. This act, among other things, delayed, until 1988, cost-of-living increases in contributions and benefits; repealed the estate tax exclusion for death benefits from a pension plan or an IRA; allowed partial distributions from a pension plan to be rolled over to an IRA; and applied restrictive distribution rules to 5 percent owners only.
Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 (DEFRA): An act of Congress passed to reduce the budget deficit. A portion of this bill contained the Tax Reform Act of 1984.
Retirement Equity Act of 1984.(REA): This act, among other things, reduced the age requirement for participation in a plan; increased the period of service considered for vesting purposes; broadened the survivor-benefit requirements; and allowed the assignment or alienation of benefits in divorce proceedings.
Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.(TEFRA): Lowered limits on contributions and benefits for corporate plans; certain loans from plans to be treated as distributions; reduced estate tax exclusion for retirement plan death benefits to maximum of $100,000; repealed special Keogh plan and S corporation restrictions; added "top-heavy" plan requirements.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA): Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. The basic law covering qualified retirement plans and incorporates both the pertinent Internal Revenue Code provisions and labor law provisions. ERISA is designed to protect the rights of beneficiaries of employee benefit plans offered by employers, unions, and the like. Additionally, ERISA imposes various qualification standards and fiduciary responsibilities on both welfare benefit and retirement plans, and provides enforcement procedures as well. In the retirement area, it also provides standards for tax qualification.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA): It protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. The ADEA’s protections apply to both employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his/her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training. The ADEA permits employers to favor older workers based on age even when doing so adversely affects a younger worker who is 40 or older.
Federal Insurance Contributions Act of 1935 (FICA): An act of Congress requiring employers and employees to pay into a federal fund that provides for retirement and welfare benefits.
Federal Unemployment Tax Act of 1935 (FUTA): An act of Congress that imposes a tax on employers to fund cash benefits to former employees undergoing temporary periods of unemployment.
