ERISA News

The Office of Management and Budget has completed review of two proposed rules from the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service pursuant to the implementation of Trump accounts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. One rule is titled “Trump accounts under section 530A”, and the other is titled “Election for Trump accounts contribution pilot program”. Release of the guidance is expected soon. 

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Announcement 2026-7, further delaying the anticipated applicability date for certain portions of future final regulations relating to required minimum distributions (RMDs) under IRC Sec. 401(a)(9) pursuant to SECURE 2.0. 

Representatives Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) have introduced H.R. 7393, the Save for Success Act, to allow distributions from qualified tuition programs to be used for qualified housing expenses for first-time homebuyers.

Representative Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and several co-sponsors have introduced H.R. 7556, the Pensions for All Act. According to a press release, the bill would require corporations to do one of the following.

• Provide a traditional pension plan for their workers that is at least equivalent to the plan provided to new members of Congress under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), or
• Pay into the federal retirement system at a level that ensures all of their workers receive the same amount of retirement benefits as members of Congress 

The legislation would also offer reduced contribution requirements for self-employed workers and small businesses. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the bill in the Senate last year. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a Major Disaster Declaration on February 18, 2026, for Louisiana severe winter storms, for the incident period of January 23 - January 27, 2026.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2026-14, which contains updated guidance on factors used in certain defined benefit (DB) pension plan minimum funding and present value calculations.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the 2025 Form 5500-EZ and Instructions for Form 5500-EZ, Annual Return of a One-Participant (Owners/Partners and Their Spouses) Retirement Plan or A Foreign Plan.

The Internal Revenue Service has posted a draft 2026 tax year Publication 1099, General Instructions for Certain Information Returns (Forms 1096, 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, and W-2G).

The Internal Revenue Service has issued Revenue Ruling 2026-06 which contains the applicable federal rates (AFR) for March 2026. These rates are used for such purposes as calculating distributions from retirement savings arrangements that meet the requirements for substantially equal periodic payments (a 10 percent early distribution penalty tax exception), also referred to as “72(t) payments”.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the postponement of certain tax-related deadlines for severe winter storms in the state of Louisiana until March 31, 2026.