Suggestions Sought for Retirement Plan Reporting, Disclosure

The Employee Benefits Security Administration, IRS and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation issued a request for information on Friday, seeking advice on how to improve the reporting and disclosure regime for retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Section 319 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 requires the three agencies to publish a report by December 29, 2025, on improvements that can be made to retirement disclosures by plan sponsors and fiduciaries acting on their behalf. This RFI, with a 90-day comment period that commences when it is entered into the Federal Register, will be used to inform that report.

The final report “will include recommendations on consolidating, simplifying, standardizing, and improving” the current disclosure regime. The regulators will aim to both reduce compliance burdens for plan sponsors and ensure plan participants’ receipt and understanding of the information “they need to monitor their plans, prepare for retirement, and get the benefits they have earned.”

According to the RFI, commenters should not make recommendations on how to improve Form 5500 because it already has an annual review and comment process. Instead, commenters should focus on areas related to participant comprehension and overall regulatory burden on sponsors. Those areas include:

• The number, timing and content of participant disclosures, all factors that influence participant understanding;
• Issues related to foreign languages, physical access and physical retention of disclosure documents and participant engagement with disclosures; and
• Feedback on how to collect participant contact information and how to most effectively deliver documents.

On the compliance side, the RFI asks for feedback on the cost of reporting and disclosure; timing and frequency of reports; the clarity of reporting requirements; the necessity of reporting certain material; and improving agency assistance with filing.

The agencies included instructions on how to submit comments, which will be received by all agencies, according to the alert, so commenters should avoid sending duplicates.