On December 7, 2022, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) published a final rule amending the allocation of assets in single-employer plans. PBGC administers the pension plan termination insurance program that ERISA provides to defined benefit plans. The amended rule provides methods for valuing plan benefits when pension plans undergo distress or involuntary termination.

On December 8, 2022, the DOL released informational copies of the 2022 Form 5500 Series Annual Return/Report. While the forms have not been finalized, they provide insight into the changes for plan year 2022.

On December 8, 2022, the IRS released Revenue Ruling 2022-24, which provides covered compensation tables for the 2023 plan year. The tables can be used in determining benefits for qualified plans that use a permitted disparity formula for employer-provided contributions or benefits.

On December 1, 2022, the DOL published a final rule entitled “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights.” The final rule clarifies that retirement plan fiduciaries may consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions and exercising shareholder voting rights.

On November 21, 2022, the IRS issued Notice 2022-62, which is the 2022 Required Amendments List (RA List) for qualified retirement plans. The yearly RA Lists provide changes in retirement plan qualification requirements that could result in disqualifying provisions and require a remedial amendment. A disqualifying provision is a required provision that isn’t listed in the plan document, a provision in the document that doesn’t comply with the qualification requirements or a provision that the IRS defines as such.

On November 21, 2022, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the DOL proposed changes to the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). The VFCP has been around since the early 2000s and allows plan sponsors to apply to the DOL to correct enumerated violations of ERISA. This allows the plan sponsor to avoid further enforcement by the DOL on the corrected issues. The proposed rule introduces a new self-correction feature and clarifies, expands and simplifies existing transactions.

On November 7, 2022, the IRS announced the expansion of one of their programs for approving retirement plans. As a result, §403(b) retirement plans, which are used by certain public schools, churches and charities, are now permitted to use the same individually designed retirement plan determination letter program that is currently used by qualified retirement plans, such as §401(k) plans. Revenue Procedure 2022-40 explains this expansion and other program changes.

On October 21, 2022, the IRS issued Notice 2022-55, which provides certain cost-of-living adjustments for a wide variety of tax-related items, including retirement plan contribution maximums and other limitations. Several key figures are highlighted below. These cost-of-living adjustments are effective January 1, 2023.

On October 14, 2022, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) proposed a rule to provide interest rate assumptions that may be used by a plan actuary to determine a withdrawing employer’s liability under a multiemployer defined benefit pension plan. Generally, a multiemployer plan is a collectively bargained plan involving two or more unrelated employers.

On October 7, 2022, the IRS issued Notice 2022-53 (the notice), which provided clarification and transitional relief regarding changes to Code section 401(a)(9) required minimum distributions (RMDs) under the SECURE Act. The notice addressed compliance with respect to 2021 and 2022 post-death RMDs under defined contribution plans and IRAs.