Fee Disclosure Rules Get Postponed Effective Date

On Wednesday, the Employee Benefits Security Security Administration (EBSA) of the Department of Labor (DOL) published a proposed rule (it's really kind of silly that this has to be a proposed rule as nobody is going to object to an extension) to delay the effective date of the 408(b)(2) (fiduciary-level fee disclosure) and 404(a)(5) (participant-level fee disclosure) regulations. For those who are not sure, those sections are parts of ERISA, not the Internal Revenue Code.

Under the proposal, calendar year plans will have until April 30, 2012 to issue their initial disclosures. The first quarterly disclosures of fees deducted will be due not later than May 15, 2012 for calendar year plans.

We shall see if there is further extension later in the year. It would not surprise me.