The IRS has released guidance providing that when a check for a fully taxable distribution from a qualified plan is mailed to a plan participant, but not cashed, it is considered to have been “actually distributed” from the plan and is taxable to the participant in the year of distribution. Further, the failure to cash the check did not change the plan administrator’s withholding obligations with respect to the distribution and did not change the obligation to report the distribution on Form 1099-R (assuming the distribution exceeds the applicable reporting threshold). Despite these findings, the IRS was careful to note that it continues to consider the issue of uncashed distribution checks in situations involving missing participants. For more information on the withholding requirements that may apply to qualified plan distributions, visit Tax Facts Online. Read More

Investors who are considering an opportunity zone investment should be advised that now is the time to take advantage of the new rules in order to maximize the potential for deferral. December 31, 2019 is the final day that investors can elect to roll their gains into opportunity zone funds in order to obtain the full 15% reduction in the amount of the deferred gain. Generally, taxpayers can defer capital gains tax by rolling gains into a qualified opportunity fund (gains may be deferred until December 31, 2026). If the investment is held for at least seven years, the taxpayer will receive a 15% reduction in the amount of the deferred gain (so that the funds are invested for a full seven years). In turn, the fund has 180 days to acquire qualified property once the taxpayer invests the gain. Because gain on the sale of Section 1231 property is not determined until year-end, taxpayers wishing to roll over Section 1231 gain should be advised to track 1231 sales carefully to determine whether such sales will result in gain (treated as long-term capital gain) or loss (treated as ordinary loss). For more information on the opportunity zone rules, visit Tax Facts Online. Read More

Many employers who have closed defined benefit plans to new participants have continued to allow groups of “grandfathered” employees to earn benefits under the closed defined benefit plans. Because of this, many of these plans have had difficulties meeting the applicable nondiscrimination requirements as more of these grandfathered employees become “highly compensated” over time. Proposed regulations published in 2016 contain special rules to make it easier for these plans to satisfy the nondiscrimination requirements and Notice 2014-5 was released to provide temporary relief if certain conditions are satisfied. The proposed regulations modify the rules applicable to defined benefit replacement allocations (DBRAs) that allow some allocations to be disregarded when determining whether a defined contribution plan has a broadly available allocation rate in order to allow more allocations to satisfy the rules. Further, the regulations provide a special nondiscrimination testing rule that can apply if a benefit or plan feature is only made available to grandfathered employees in a closed plan. In anticipation of the finalization of these regulations, Notice 2019-49 expands the nondiscrimination relief to plan years beginning before 2021, so long as the conditions in Notice 2014-5 are satisfied. For more information the nondiscrimination rules, visit Tax Facts Online. Read More