Legislation Pending to Permit 401(k) Rollovers to Roths

A new Senate proposal would allow certain employees to roll over amounts from their (401)k retirement plans to a Roth savings account.

According to a draft copy of the bill obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, it would allow the rollover of amounts in a 401(k) retirement plan of otherwise permissible distributions to a Roth-type account in the same plan. Dow Jones noted the provision would help employees who are 59 1/2 years old or older, and who want to keep their savings in their current retirement plan but would like to convert it to a Roth-type account.   

The Senate expects the provision to raise $5.1 billion to help pay for roughly $12 billion in tax incentives aimed at spurring small business growth, because people taking advantage of the rollover will owe taxes on tax-deferred amounts that had been accumulating in their 401(k) plans.   

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The provision is part of a package of small business and savings incentives that will likely face a Senate procedural vote this week, according to the news report.

Fiduciary Breach Case Filed Too Late

A federal appellate court has ruled that a woman who sued over allegations of a fiduciary breach in connection with her deceased husband’s individual retirement account filed the case too late. 

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the case against Chase Investment Services Inc. was governed by the three-year statute of limitations in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and not the state of Oklahoma’s five-year limit for breach of contract cases. 

Plaintiff Suzanne Russell charged in the suit that Chase committed the ERISA breach by allowing her husband’s lawyer to drain the IRA of funds.  Russell knew about the attorney’s actions in July 2005, so the June 2009 lawsuit was filed after the legal deadline in ERISA, the appellate court said.  

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The case is Russell vs. Chase Investment Services, 10th Circ., No. 10-5016. 

 

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