While rumors are flying that the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration plans to push back the April 1 deadline for compliance with DOL's 408(b)2 and 404(a) fee disclosure regulations, a Labor Department spokesman told AdvisorOne on Thursday that DOL "has not signaled" that the deadline will be extended.
"We have high degree of confidence that the final rule mandating service provider-to-employer/plan sponsor fee disclosure will be published by the end of this month," a DOL spokesperson told AdvisorOne in an email message. "The department is sympathetic to the concerns expressed by the industry regarding the applicability dates, but has not signaled that the applicability dates will be extended."
Like other industry officials, Craig Hoffman, general counsel and director of regulatory affairs for the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries, told DOL in a Dec. 19 letter that while ASPPA supports DOL's efforts to improve fee disclosure for individual retirement plans, "unfortunately the application of both the interim 408(b)(2) and 404(a) regulations is only three months away and the DOL has not issued the final guidance needed to create systems to comply with the regulations."
Hoffman urged DOL to extend the deadline for complying with 408(b)2 and 404(a) fee disclosure regulations as the department had yet to issue final guidance on either. As the DOL spokesperson stated, that final guidance should be out by the end of January.
Fred Reish (left), partner and chair of the Financial Services ERISA Team at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Los Angeles, says that "at this point, though, I think the DOL has to delay the effective date because it is too late for providers to adjust their disclosure procedures and materials by April 1 to take into account any change; it's just impossible." An extension of at least six months, he says, "would allow the work to be completed in an orderly and thoughtful manner."
