II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4911 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers to contribute to 

ABLE accounts in lieu of retirement plan contributions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2024 

Mr. CASEY (for himself, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. VAN

HOLLEN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. SANDERS, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow employers 

to contribute to ABLE accounts in lieu of retirement 

plan contributions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ABLE Employment 

5 Flexibility Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROTECTING WORKING ABLE INDIVIDUALS FROM 

2 LOSING BENEFITS BECAUSE OF RETIREMENT 

3 PLAN RULES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 414 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(dd) ABLE ACCOUNT CONTRIBUTIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An applicable employer 

9 plan (as defined in subsection (v)(6)(A)) which is a 

10 defined contribution plan shall not be treated as fail11 ing to meet any requirement of this title solely be12 cause the plan provides that an eligible ABLE indi13 vidual may elect for a plan year that employer con14 tributions which would otherwise be made under the 

15 terms of the plan for such plan year shall (in lieu 

16 of contribution to the plan) be contributed by the 

17 employer to a qualified ABLE program described in 

18 section 529A on behalf of such eligible ABLE indi19 vidual. 

20 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) NO DEDUCTION FOR AMOUNTS CON22 TRIBUTED TO ABLE ACCOUNT.—Except as pro23 vided in subparagraph (B), a contribution to a 

24 qualified ABLE program pursuant to an elec25 tion under paragraph (1) shall not be treated as 

26 a contribution to an applicable employer plan. 


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1 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF NONDISCRIMINA2 TION RULES.—Under rules prescribed by the 

3 Secretary, for purposes of applying sections 

4 401(a)(4), 401(k)(3), 401(k)(12), 401(k)(13), 

5 401(m)(2), 403(b)(12), 408(k)(3), 

6 408(p)(2)(iii), 408(p)(2)(B), 410, and 416, con7 tributions made to a qualified ABLE program 

8 pursuant to an election under paragraph (1) 

9 shall be treated as if such contributions were 

10 made to the plan. 

11 ‘‘(3) UNIVERSAL AVAILABILITY.—Paragraph 

12 (1) shall not apply unless the plan provides that the 

13 election described therein is available to all eligible 

14 ABLE individuals who are eligible to participate in 

15 the plan. 

16 ‘‘(4) CASH OR DEFERRED ARRANGEMENT.—A 

17 plan shall not fail to be treated as including a quali18 fied cash or deferred arrangement described in sec19 tion 401(k)(1) solely because such plan provides for 

20 the election described in paragraph (1). 

21 ‘‘(5) ELIGIBLE ABLE INDIVIDUAL.—For pur22 poses of this subsection, the term ‘eligible ABLE in23 dividual’ means an employee who, as of the first day 

24 of a plan year, is an eligible individual within the 


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1 meaning of section 529A(e)(1) for the taxable year 

2 containing such first day of the plan year. 

3 ‘‘(6) TREATMENT OF PERMISSIVE WITH4 DRAWALS.—An eligible ABLE individual may direct 

5 amounts eligible for withdrawal from an eligible con6 tribution arrangement pursuant to section 414(w) to 

7 be contributed to a qualified ABLE program de8 scribed in section 529A on behalf of such eligible 

9 ABLE individual.’’. 

10 (b) TREATMENT AS BENEFICIARY CONTRIBUTION.— 

11 Section 529A(b)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

12 is amended by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub13 paragraph (C) and by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

14 the following new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(B) EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS.—Con16 tributions made to a qualified ABLE program 

17 by an employer on behalf of a designated bene18 ficiary described in this paragraph pursuant to 

19 paragraph (1) or (6) of section 414(a)(a) shall 

20 be treated as made by the designated bene21 ficiary.’’. 

22 (c) CLARIFICATION OF AVAILABILITY OF EMPLOYER

23 CONTRIBUTIONS.—Section 529A(e) of the Internal Rev24 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

25 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(7) EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS.—An em2 ployer of an eligible individual may contribute to any 

3 qualified ABLE program for which the eligible indi4 vidual is the designated beneficiary, including 

5 through a contribution matching a contribution 

6 made by such eligible individual to the qualified 

7 ABLE program.’’. 

8 (d) DEDUCTION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS REMITTED BY

9 EMPLOYER TO A QUALIFIED ABLE PROGRAM.—Not later 

10 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

11 the Secretary of the Treasury shall— 

12 (1) amend the regulations under section 162 of 

13 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to confirm that 

14 contributions made by an employer to a qualified 

15 ABLE program described in section 529A of such 

16 Code on behalf of an eligible ABLE individual de17 scribed in section 414(dd)(5) of such Code who is an 

18 employee of such employer shall be considered a rea19 sonable allowance for salaries or other compensation 

20 for personal service if such contribution for a year, 

21 taking into account all other contributions to such 

22 qualified ABLE program, does not exceed the max23 imum contribution described in section 

24 529A(b)(2)(B) of such Code with respect to such in25 dividual; and 


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1 (2) update the publications issued for employers 

2 to encourage employers offering a retirement plan 

3 with automatic enrollment to notify employees who 

4 elect not to contribute to the plan and who may be 

5 eligible to contribute to a qualified ABLE program 

6 to notify such employees of the possibility of a con7 tribution under section 529A(b)(2)(B)(ii) of such 

8 Code. 

9 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para11 graph (2), the amendments made by this section 

12 shall apply to plan and taxable years beginning after 

13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

14 (2) CLARIFICATIONS.—The amendment made 

15 by subsection (c) and the amendments made pursu16 ant to subsection (d)(1) shall apply to plan and tax17 able years beginning before, on, or after the date of 

18 the enactment of this Act. 

19 (f) MODEL AMENDMENT AUTHORITY.—The Sec20 retary of the Treasury (or such Secretary’s delegate) shall 

21 promulgate model amendments which plans may adopt to 

22 implement contributions to qualified ABLE programs pur23 suant to the amendments made by this section. 

Æ 


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