The U.S. Governement Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report on the use of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Although Congress created IRAs to allow individuals to build and preserve their retirement savings, IRAs are primarily used to preserve savings through rollovers rather than build savings through contributions. Over 80 percent of assets that flow into IRAs come from assets rolled over, or transferred, from other accounts and not from direct contributions. Payroll-deduction IRA programs, which allow employees to contribute to IRAs through deductions from their paychecks, and employer-sponsored IRAs, in which an employer establishes and contributes to IRAs for employees, were established to provide more options for retirement savings in the workplace. Experts GAO interviewed said that several factors may discourage employers from offering these IRAs to employees, including administrative costs and concerns about employer fiduciary responsibilities. Earlier this month, GAO reported on the role that federal agencies can have in helping employers provide IRAs to employees and in improving oversight of these savings vehicles. GAO made several recommendations to the Department of Labor (Labor) and the Internal Revenue Service to provide better information and oversight, but in the course of the review, GAO found that Labor does not have jurisdiction over payroll-deduction IRAs. Consequently, GAO also suggested that Congress may wish to consider whether payroll-deduction IRAs should have some direct oversight. A clear oversight structure could be critical if payroll-deduction IRAs become a more important means to provide a retirement savings vehicle for workers who lack an employer-sponsored retirement plan.