II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 157 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand the temporary 

waiver of required minimum distribution rules for certain retirement 

plans and accounts. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand 

the temporary waiver of required minimum distribution 

rules for certain retirement plans and accounts. 

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 ‘‘Retirement Account 

5 Distribution Improvement Act of 2009’’. 


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•S 157 IS

1 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF WAIVER OF REQUIRED MINIMUM 

2 DISTRIBUTION RULES FROM CERTAIN RE3 TIREMENT PLANS AND ACCOUNTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (H) of section 

5 401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added 

6 by the Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 

7 2008, is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘for calendar year 2009’’ in 

9 clause (i) and inserting ‘‘for calendar years 2008, 

10 2009 or 2010’’, 

11 (2) by striking ‘‘2009’’ in clause (ii)(I) and in12 serting ‘‘2010’’, and 

13 (3) by striking ‘‘to calendar year 2009’’ in 

14 clause (ii)(II) and inserting ‘‘to calendar years 2008, 

15 2009, or 2010’’. 

16 (b) ELIGIBLE ROLLOVER DISTRIBUTIONS.—The last 

17 sentence of section 402(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue 

18 Code of 1986, as added by the Worker, Retiree, and Em19 ployer Recovery Act of 2008, is amended by striking 

20 ‘‘2009’’ and inserting ‘‘2008, 2009, or 2010’’. 

21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning 

24 after December 31, 2007. 

25 (2) RECONTRIBUTIONS OF DISTRIBUTIONS IN

26 2008 OR EARLY 2009.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—If a person receives 1 

2 or more eligible distributions, the person may, 

3 on or before July 1, 2009, make one or more 

4 contributions (in an aggregate amount not ex5 ceeding all eligible distributions) to an eligible 

6 retirement plan and to which a rollover con7 tribution of such distribution could be made 

8 under section 402(c), 403(a)(4), 403(b)(8), 

9 408(d)(3), or 457(e)(16) of the Internal Rev10 enue Code of 1986, as the case may be. For 

11 purposes of the preceding sentence, rules simi12 lar to the rules of clauses (ii) and (iii) of sec13 tion 402(c)(11)(A) of such Code shall apply in 

14 the case of a beneficiary who is not the sur15 viving spouse of the employee or of the owner 

16 of the individual retirement plan. 

17 (B) ELIGIBLE DISTRIBUTION.—For pur18 poses of this paragraph— 

19 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

20 in clause (ii), the term ‘‘eligible distribu21 tion’’ means an applicable distribution to a 

22 person from an individual account or annu23 ity— 

24 (I) under a plan which is de25 scribed in clause (iv), and 


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1 (II) from which a distribution 

2 would, but for the application of sec3 tion 401(a)(9)(H) of such Code, have 

4 been required to have been made to 

5 the individual for 2008 or 2009, 

6 whichever is applicable, in order to 

7 satisfy the requirements of sections 

8 401(a)(9), 404(a)(2), 403(b)(10), 

9 408(a)(6), 408(b)(3), and 457(d)(2) 

10 of such Code. 

11 (ii) ELIGIBLE DISTRIBUTIONS LIM12 ITED TO REQUIRED DISTRIBUTIONS.—The 

13 aggregate amount of applicable distribu14 tions which may be treated as eligible dis15 tributions for purposes of this paragraph 

16 shall not exceed— 

17 (I) for purposes of applying sub18 paragraph (A) to distributions made 

19 in 2008, the amount which would, but 

20 for the application of section 

21 401(a)(9)(H) of such Code, have been 

22 required to have been made to the in23 dividual in order to satisfy the re24 quirements of sections 401(a)(9), 

25 404(a)(2), 403(b)(10), 408(a)(6), 


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1 408(b)(3), and 457(d)(2) of such 

2 Code for 2008, and 

3 (II) for purposes of applying sub4 paragraph (A) to distributions made 

5 in 2009, the sum of the amount which 

6 would, but for the application of such 

7 section 401(a)(9)(H), have been re8 quired to have been made to the indi9 vidual in order to satisfy such require10 ments for 2009, plus the excess (if 

11 any) of the amount described in sub12 clause (I) which may be distributed in 

13 2009 to meet such requirements for 

14 2008 over the portion of such amount 

15 taken into account under subclause 

16 (I) for distributions made in 2008. 

17 (iii) APPLICABLE DISTRIBUTION.— 

18 (I) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘ap19 plicable distribution’’ means a pay20 ment or distribution which is made 

21 during the period beginning on Janu22 ary 1, 2008, and ending on June 30, 

23 2009. 

24 (II) EXCEPTION FOR MINIMUM

25 REQUIRED DISTRIBUTIONS FOR


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1 OTHER YEARS.—Such term shall not 

2 include a payment or distribution 

3 which is required to be made in order 

4 to satisfy the requirements of section 

5 401(a)(9), 404(a)(2), 403(b)(10), 

6 408(a)(6), 408(b)(3), or 457(d)(2) of 

7 such Code for a calendar year other 

8 than 2008 or 2009. 

9 (III) EXCEPTION FOR PAYMENTS

10 IN A SERIES.—In the case of any plan 

11 described in clause (iv)(I), such term 

12 shall not include any payment or dis13 tribution made in 2009 which is a 

14 payment or distribution described in 

15 section 402(c)(4)(A). 

16 (iv) PLANS DESCRIBED.—A plan is 

17 described in this clause if the plan is— 

18 (I) a defined contribution plan 

19 (within the meaning of section 414(i) 

20 of such Code) which is described in 

21 section 401, 403(a), or 403(b) of such 

22 Code or which is an eligible deferred 

23 compensation plan described in sec24 tion 457(b) of such Code maintained 


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1 by an eligible employer described in 

2 section 457(e)(1)(A)) of such Code, or 

3 (II) an individual retirement plan 

4 (as defined in section 7701(a)(37) of 

5 such Code). 

6 (C) TREATMENT OF REPAYMENTS OF DIS7 TRIBUTIONS FROM ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT

8 PLANS OTHER THAN IRAS.—For purposes of 

9 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, if a con10 tribution is made pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

11 with respect to a payment or distribution from 

12 a plan other than an individual retirement plan, 

13 then the taxpayer shall, to the extent of the 

14 amount of the contribution, be treated as hav15 ing received the payment or distribution in an 

16 eligible rollover distribution (as defined in sec17 tion 402(c)(4) of such Code) and as having 

18 transferred the amount to the plan in a direct 

19 trustee to trustee transfer. 

20 (D) TREATMENT OF REPAYMENTS FOR

21 DISTRIBUTIONS FROM IRAS.—For purposes of 

22 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, if a con23 tribution is made pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

24 with respect to a payment or distribution from 

25 an individual retirement plan (as defined by 


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1 section 7701(a)(37) of such Code), then, to the 

2 extent of the amount of the contribution, such 

3 payments or distributions shall be treated as a 

4 distribution that satisfies subparagraphs (A) 

5 and (B) of section 408(d)(3) of such Code and 

6 as having been transferred to the individual re7 tirement plan in a direct trustee to trustee 

8 transfer. 

9 (3) PROVISIONS RELATING TO PLAN OR CON10 TRACT AMENDMENTS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—If this paragraph ap12 plies to any pension plan or contract amend13 ment, such pension plan or contract shall be 

14 treated as being operated in accordance with 

15 the terms of the plan during the period de16 scribed in subparagraph (B)(ii)(I). 

17 (B) AMENDMENTS TO WHICH PARAGRAPH

18 APPLIES.— 

19 (i) IN GENERAL.—This paragraph 

20 shall apply to any amendment to any pen21 sion plan or annuity contract which— 

22 (I) is made by pursuant to the 

23 amendments made by this section, 

24 and 


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1 (II) is made on or before the last 

2 day of the first plan year beginning 

3 on or after January 1, 2011. 

4 In the case of a governmental plan, sub5 clause (II) shall be applied by substituting 

6 ‘‘2012’’ for ‘‘2011’’. 

7 (ii) CONDITIONS.—This paragraph 

8 shall not apply to any amendment unless 

9 during the period beginning on January 1, 

10 2009, and ending on December 31, 2010 

11 (or, if earlier, the date the plan or contract 

12 amendment is adopted), the plan or con13 tract is operated as if such plan or con14 tract amendment were in effect. 

Æ 


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