PRC Recommendations to IRS on Agenda Items for the 2022-2023 IRS Priority Guidance Plan
The Pension Rights Center submitted comments to the IRS requesting the agency to include in its Priority Guidance Plan several items to better protect consumers, including: (a) directing plans to provide former employees who leave before retirement with a single complete statement of their earned benefits ; (b) asking the agency to rethink its position on allowing plans […]
PRC letter to the Committee on Ways and Means in support of specific provisions of the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022
PRC sent a letter to Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady of the House Ways and Means Committee in support of specific provisions of the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022, including those related to recoupment and the Retirement Savings Lost and Found.
PRC and Covington & Burling LLP comments to IRS on Rev. Proc. 2021-30
PRC submitted comments with Covington & Burling LLP to the IRS on Rev. Proc. 2021-30, which updated selected correction procedures for benefit overpayments under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”).
Congress considers provisions that would limit when retirement plans can recover overpayments
By Emily Gilbert In my last blog post, I talked about how often we hear from people who cannot locate their retirement plans, and how Congress is taking steps to address this issue. Provisions related to lost retirement plans are included in legislation now pending in the Senate and House of Representatives. Two of these bills also […]
Congressional proposal would limit when retirees must return pension overpayments
For some retirees, getting a large pension payment can become a big problem. Let’s say a pension plan mistakenly has been paying a participant too much and requires the person to pay back the money, typically through reduced future payments.
Wall Street Journal article highlights “harsh” pension practice
By Karen Friedman This weekend’s edition of the Wall Street Journal features a front page article by Theo Francis highlighting pension plans’ practice of trying to recover money they have mistakenly paid their retirees, often years later when the retiree cannot afford to pay back the money. Although this practice, often called “recoupment,” has gone […]
This is what we do: help people
My colleague Kyle often brings to my attention news articles that might merit a response from us. Sometimes the article contains a factual error. Sometimes we disagree with a statement in the article and write an opposing view in a letter to the editor. Sometimes we have additional information to add. Back in March, Kyle […]
PRC comments to IRS on revenue procedures related to recoupment (July 20, 2015)
The Pension Rights Center submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service regarding Revenue Procedure 2015-27 and Revenue Procedure 2013-12, both of which address corrective action that pension plans should take when they overpay retirees. The Center discusses the financial hardships caused by “recoupment” — when a plan overpays a retiree and demands repayment — and offers […]
As Pension Recoupment Grows, Advocates For Pensioners Offer Advice to Agencies
Pension plans have been ratcheting up demands that retirees reimburse them for benefit overpayments, and a lack of government guidance has pushed those efforts even further, advocates for pensioners told Bloomberg BNA.
Glimmers of hope for victims of unfair pension takebacks
In a recent article, “Can They Grab Your Pension?”, AARP Bulletin highlights the problem of recoupment – when a pension plan overpays a retiree and then demands that the retiree pay back the overpayment. To recoup the money, the plan usually reduces the retiree’s benefit. It might also demand that the retiree pay a lump […]
Accounting mistakes can squeeze pension benefits
An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette details the problem of recoupment — when a pension plan demand repayment of money that it overpaid to a retiree — and highlights the work of the Mid-America Pension Rights Project.
