The Office and Management Budget received a proposed regulation from the Department of Labor (DOL) , that will be released in 3 months. The assumption is that this regulation will be further clarification under Section 408(b)(2) fee disclosure regulations. This will add further work and headaches to plan providers.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the process and impact of fee disclosures was going to take time. Everything in the retirement plan business of often trial and error and the DOL has had a year to reflect on fee disclosures.
It should be no surprise that absent a model form of plan provider fee disclosures in a language that plan sponsors would understand, that plan fiduciaries would find the disclosure to be confusing.
That is why the proposed regulation may have to do with creating a guide to fee disclosure that could further explain the fees. As I call it: a guide to the guide of plan expenses.
If you are a plan sponsor, consider reviewing your disclosures to make sure they are easier to understand and easy to adapt to a summary or guide for plan sponsors to easily decipher. As always, I know a good, inexpensive ERISA attorney (cheap plug here).