The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S Department of Treasury have announced town hall and consultation listening meetings across the country to discuss proposed guidance on possible standards for determining if a retirement plan is a governmental plan under Internal Revenue Code section 414(d).
Town hall meetings on governmental plans will be held on March 15 in Oakland, CA, and May 3 in Cleveland, OH. A free phone forum will be held on May 15.
Consultation listening meetings on Indian tribal governments will be held on February 15 in Arlington, VA, and on a date to be announced in spring. There will also be a free phone forum on April 24.
(update 2/23/12)
The IRS and Treasury Department announced a public hearing on standards for governmental plan and Indian tribal plan determination under section 414(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. Statutory rules applicable to governmental plans are different from nongovernmental plans.
The public hearing for governmental plans is scheduled for Monday, July 9, 2012 and the public hearing for the Indian tribal governmental plans is scheduled for Tuesday, July 10, 2012. The IRS must receive outlines of the topics to be discussed at the public hearings by June 18, 2012.
Corrections issued 2/29/2012 clarifying submissions for the Indian tribal plans and on 3/1/2012 for the governmental plan submissions. Written comments and electronic submissions as well as outlines must be received by June 18, 2012.
Further corrections issued 3/8/2012 for Indian tribal plans and governmental plans proposed rules.
This notice supersedes the notice of public hearing previously published in the January 23, 2012 Federal Register and extends the comment submission period.
(update 2/3/2012)
In November, the IRS and U.S. Department of Treasury announced they are seeking comments on the standards.
Comments are being solicited in advance of releasing two proposed rules, one for governmental plans, generally and the other for Indian tribal government plans. The proposed rules contain drafts of possible approaches to guidance and are requesting input for other possible approaches and other issues that should be taken into account. The main focus of the proposed rules is defining terms such as governmental plans, state, political subdivision of a state, and agency or instrumentality of a state or political subdivision of a state. In addition, comments are requested for transition rules.
The IRS and Department of Treasury plan to schedule a public hearing on the proposed rules. In addition, the IRS intends to conduct outreach, or town hall, meetings with interested taxpayers in different geographic locations.
Comments are due February 6, 2012.
Background
Governmental plans - provides additional information on meetings (when scheduled).