On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, which includes the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (the “SECURE” Act). The SECURE Act represents the most significant retirement legislation in more than a decade (i.e., since the Pension Protection Act of 2006).
This is the third in a series of articles describing key provisions of the SECURE Act. Our focus in this article is on the provisions that are unique to Section 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plans, governmental Section 457(b) plans, and Individual Retirement Accounts/Annuities (IRAs). Many of the SECURE Act provisions that are broadly applicable to retirement plans (such as the increase in the age at which required minimum distributions must begin, and the new rules curtailing the ability to “stretch” post-death minimum distributions under defined contribution plans over the life expectancy of the participant’s designated beneficiary) also apply to 403(b) plans, 457(b) plans, and IRAs. Because we addressed those provisions in the second article in this series, we will not do so again here.