SECURE Act BIG Retirement Plan Changes: Major Take-Aways Read More Here!

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I started blogging about taxes in 2013 because I wanted to share what I knew about taxes. In the process of getting word out about my writing, I have learnt a thing or two about social media and marketing my blog. The engagement with fellow Enrolled Agents and other professionals in the Tax field has been an amazing experience and in the process of educating others about taxes, I have learnt a lot myself both about Social Media marketing, about blogging and my online tax colleagues as well. 

As twenty-nineteen comes to a close, every tax professional agrees that the time since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act {TCJA} was passed in December 2017 has been a very stressful. There has been a lot of new rules and regulations, both proposed and final to process and understand applications. Just as we thought we had it all ready for the 2020 Tax Season, the Government pushed through a bunch of last minute laws. The most important of those and the one to have many far-reaching consequences was the SECURE Act, an acronym for Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019. 

The SECURE Act is a major act of retirement legislation to be passed in a decade. There is a LOT in this legislation that will not only effect some taxpayers getting close to the earlier retirement age of 70.5 years immediately but there are also other important provisions in the new Act that will effect taxpayers who plan on leaving their retirement plans to their heirs or those taxpayers who will inherit retirement plans. 

Here is a synopsis of some of the most important provisions from the Act:

• Required Minimum Distribution {RMD} Now At 72: If you have not reached an "RMD Age" of 70.5 by December 31st, 2019 your new required minimum distributions are now due on April 1st of the year after you turn 72. The RMD for any year is the balance in your retirement plan as of December 31st of the previous year divided by the distribution period in the IRS' Uniform Lifetime Table. 

• No Age Limit On Traditional IRA Contributions: Since a lot of Americans continue to live longer and work into their seventies, this Act repeals an earlier provision prohibiting an individual from making contributions into a Traditional IRA after the age of 70.5 years. 

• 529 Education Savings Plan Can Be Used To Pay Off Student Loans: One can use up to $10,000 of their 529 Plan to pay off their student loans. This legislation also expanded the 529 Plans to cover costs associated with registered apprenticeship programs, homeschooling and private elementary, secondary or religious schools.  

• Taxable Non-Tuition Fellowship and Stipend Eligible as Compensation for IRA Contributions: Before the legislation, those who had stipends and non-tuition fellowship payments were not allowed to use those earnings as a basis for contributing to Individual Retirement Accounts. After this legislation, graduate and post-doctoral students can begin using these earnings to put money away in retirement plans.

• Long-time Part-time workers eligible for 401K Plans: Except in the case of collectively bargained plans, the bill will require employers maintaining a 401(k) plan to have a dual eligibility requirement under which an employee must complete either a one year of service requirement (with the 1,000-hour rule) or three consecutive years of service where the employee completes at least 500 hours of service.

• Penalty-Free Distribution Allowed for Birth/ Adoption: Any "qualified birth/ adoption" expenses can be paid for with retirement plan distributions penalty free.

• 401K Safe Harbor Rules Simplified: The legislation simplifies the employer non elective contribution safe harbor rules so that there is more "flexibility, improve employee protection and facilitate plan adoption."

• Increase in Penalty For Failure to File: Penalty for failure to file a return has been increased to the lesser of $400 or 100% of the tax due.

• Stretch IRA Is No LOnger Applicable for Most Taxpayers: The goal of a "Stretch IRA" is really a strategy used by those who have inherited IRA's and do not need the money and want to be able to take as little as possible by way of annual distributions. These "Stretch IRA's" can be used by a beneficiary to fund his/ her own retirement eventually. The premise of this type of strategy is that the Return on Investment on the remaining balance in the plan are greater than the annual distributions. 

        Under the SECURE Act, for beneficiaries who inherit after 2019, an inherited IRA has to be completely drawn out by the 10th year after year of death of the original account holder. {This is called a 10-year Distribution Cap} There are no required minimum distributions for beneficiaries in the 1st 9 years of inheritance. This rule is not applicable to the spouse of the deceased account holder, to a beneficiary who is disabled, is chronically ill, not more than 10 years younger than the account holder or is a minor child. 

The change in the "Stretch IRA" rules will definitely require a rehaul of Estate Plans that are using this strategy. And there is not much time left in order to put this in place! 

•  Increase in Penalty in Failure to File Retirement Plan Returns {Forms 5500}: Per Section 403 of the SECURE Act, 

1. Form 5500 penalty would be modified to $105 per day, not to exceed $50,000.  
2. Failure to file a registration statement would incur a penalty of $2 per participant per day, not to exceed $10,000.  
3. Failure to file a required notification of change would result in a penalty of $2 per day, not to exceed $5,000 for any failure.
4. Failure to provide a required withholding notice results in a penalty of $100 for each failure, not to exceed $50,000 for all failures during any calendar year.

If any of the above applies to you and you find all this very last minute and overwhelming, I would not blame you at all. This would be a great time for you to contact both your Enrolled Agent and your Financial Planner and if you do not work with one or the other, it would be the perfect time to get one or both these professionals into your lives. 

If you need an Enrolled Agent with extensive experience in retirement matters, please contact us at www.mntaxbiz.com. 

Bibligraphy: The SECURE Act; Jeff Levine @CPAPlanner In-Depth Article 

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I am an Enrolled Agent and owner of MN Tax and Business Services PLLC (www.mntaxbiz.com), based in the Metro Detroit area in Michigan. The firm provides Tax Preparation, Planning services to Individuals, Small Businesses, Trusts and Non-Profit Organizations. Get my latest posts by subscribing to my blog. 

You can also find me tweeting @ManasaSogNadig where I have been @Forbes Top 100 Tax Tweeters for 2018 and 2019. 

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