Empower Retirement is joining industry leaders in asking the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service for regulatory guidance and relief packages that would allow American workers to access their savings as needed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Denver-based Empower is the nation’s second-largest retirement services provider by plan participants. It serves the retirement needs of about 9.4 million Americans through 39,000 retirement plans.
Empower is requesting that plan participants be allowed to withdraw retirement savings early without the 10% tax penalty. The organization also is asking that qualified disaster distributions in income over three years be allowed. Additionally, it is requesting that participants be allowed to withdraw up to $100,000 from their qualified retirement plans with the income tax for the withdrawal spread out over three years.
“During this extraordinary time, the ability for Americans to have access to cash is essential,” Empower Retirement President and CEO Edmund F. Murphy III said in a news release. “Empower stands ready to join industry leaders, lawmakers and government regulators to work out a solution that provides relief to American retirement savers.”
Also requesting a similar relief package is the Washington, D.C., area-based American Retirement Association. The organization is asking that individuals who are unable to repay loans be allowed to pay the income tax associated with a loan default over three years rather than all in the year of default. It also called for a delay of loan repayment for up to a year for individuals who borrowed from their plan and have a repayment due.
Further, the ARA is requesting a wage credit for employee retention for employers impacted by the virus outbreak; and an automatic 60-day extension of tax-filing deadlines.