Legislation is apparently gaining stream in Washington that would mean new reporting and disclosure requirements for defined contribution plans. The bills are intended to help employees select the most cost-effective retirement plan options,by requiring more extensive disclosures about plan costs and fees.
Plan service providers would be required to provide more disclosures to plan sponsors, and plan sponsors would have more extensive disclosures to plan participants and beneficiaries. Plan sponsors are concerned, of course, about the potential for added liability due to inadvertent errors.
The Department of Labor issued proposed regulations about sponsor-level disclosures back in 2007, and hopefully, any new legislation would consider these regs to avoid overlapping or conflicting disclosure requirements, but that remains to be seen.
Timing for passage of new disclosure requirements remains unclear, but we will keep you posted on developments.
