The Weekly Highlights for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Retirement Plans
Week of August 21, 2026
— § —
8 items · ~3 min read
Top of the Brief
Mind the Gap: When Your Retirement Plan Document, Plan Operations, and Participant Communications Do Not Match“Most compliance problems announce themselves. This one does not. Your plan has been operating under the CARES Act, SECURE 1.0, and SECURE 2.0 for years, your participants have received communications describing those features, and your recordkeeper has administered them faithfully.”
In this issue
Regulatory Action and Guidance (5) · Retirement Plans (2) · Litigation (1)
Regulatory Action and Guidance
5 items“I.R.S. Notice 2026-49, August 12, 2026 In an ongoing effort to modernize and streamline the administration of retirement assets, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have issued Notice 2026-49. Published in response to a congressional mandate, this notice marks a significant step toward standardizing the administrative processes that govern the movement of retirement savings. Specifically, Section 324 of Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4459 (2022), known as the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0 Act), directs the Secretary of the Treasury to “develop and issue guidance, in the form of sample forms (including” MORE >>
Source: currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com
“Groom principal Lisa Campbell was quoted on how the proposal builds on the DOL’s 2020 e-delivery framework for retirement plans and could bring similar efficiencies to group health plans. “It seems like a good step forward for electronic disclosure,” Campbell told Law360. She noted that there was “a lot of disappointment” when the 2020 rules did not apply to group health plans and that stakeholders had hoped the new proposal would closely mirror the retirement plan framework.” MORE >>
Source: Groom Law Group
“For Trump Accounts, an eligible investment generally is a mutual fund or exchange traded fund that tracks an equity index of primarily U.S. companies, such as the S&P 500 index, does not use leverage, and has annual fees and expenses of no more than 0.1 percent of the balance of the investment in the fund. If an account beneficiary does not select an eligible investment offered by the trustee, funds in a Trump Account automatically will be invested during the growth period in an eligible investment selected by the trustee.” MORE >>
Source: 401(k) Specialist
“In the News Alexander MacDonald says model legislation from Harvard Law School's Center for Labor and a Just Economy is about getting more people into unions. Law360 Employment Authority View (Subscription required) Learn how we can help you confidently address your unique workplace legal challenges.” MORE >>
Source: Littler
“The proposal would create a new CPO registration exemption for SEC-registered investment advisers (RIAs) operating commodity pools limited to sophisticated investors (Proposed Regulation 4.13(a)(4)); restore a related CTA registration exemption; and double the small pool exemption’s gross capital contributions threshold from $400,000 to $800,000. Comments are due 45 days after Federal Register publication. ... The proposal would codify that no-action position as a formal regulation, providing greater durability and legal certainty. Only CPOs that are SEC-registered investment advisers are eligible. State-registered and exempt reporting advisers do not qualify.” MORE >>
Source: Faegre Drinker
Retirement Plans
2 items“Because the apparent diversification can be partly an artifact of how private assets are valued. Public stocks are marked every trading day. Private-equity holdings may be valued periodically using estimates, models and manager judgments. Market movements therefore don’t necessarily appear immediately in reported NAV. The result can be: Smoothed NAV → artificially low measured volatility → artificially low measured correlation → artificially attractive Sharpe ratio → apparent diversification benefit. The economic risk hasn’t necessarily disappeared. The ruler changed.” MORE >>
Source: The Commonsense 401(k) Project
“Most compliance problems announce themselves. This one does not. Your plan has been operating under the CARES Act, SECURE 1.0, and SECURE 2.0 for years, your participants have received communications describing those features, and your recordkeeper has administered them faithfully.” MORE >>
Source: Foley & Lardner
Litigation
1 item“According to the appellate court’s ruling, ERISA plaintiffs do not always need an ‘apples-to-apples’ investment benchmark to demonstrate imprudence.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR