I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2082

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore pension limits

to equitable levels, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 8, 1999

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore

pension limits to equitable levels, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.

4 Whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal is ex5 pressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a sec6 tion or other provision, the reference shall be considered

7 to be made to a section or other provision of the Internal

8 Revenue Code.

9 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN RETIREMENT PLAN LIMITS.

10 (a) DEFINED BENEFIT PLANS.—
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1 (1) DOLLAR LIMIT.—

2 (A) Subparagraph (A) of section 415(b)(1)

3 (relating to limitation for defined benefit plans)

4 is amended by striking ‘‘$90,000’’ and inserting

5 ‘‘$180,000’’.

6 (B) Subparagraphs (C) and (D) of section

7 415(b)(2) are each amended by striking

8 ‘‘$90,000’’ each place it appears in the head9 ings and the text and inserting ‘‘$180,000’’.

10 (2) LIMIT REDUCED WHEN BENEFIT BEGINS

11 BEFORE AGE 62.—Subparagraph (C) of section

12 415(b)(2) is amended by striking ‘‘the social security

13 retirement age’’ each place it appears in the heading

14 and text and inserting ‘‘age 62’’.

15 (3) LIMIT INCREASED WHEN BENEFIT BEGINS

16 AFTER AGE 65.—Subparagraph (D) of section

17 415(b)(2) is amended by striking ‘‘the social security

18 retirement age’’ each place it appears in the heading

19 and text and inserting ‘‘age 65’’.

20 (4) MULTIEMPLOYER PLANS AND PLANS MAIN21 TAINED BY GOVERNMENTS AND TAX EXEMPT ORGA22 NIZATIONS.—Subparagraph (F) of section 415(b)(2)

23 is amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘(F) MULTIEMPLOYER PLANS AND PLANS

2 MAINTAINED BY GOVERNMENTS AND TAX-EX3 EMPT ORGANIZATIONS.—

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a

5 governmental plan (within the meaning of

6 section 414(d)), a plan maintained by a

7 tax-exempt organization, a multiemployer

8 plan (as defined in section 414(f)), or a

9 qualified merchant marine plan, subpara10 graph (C) shall be applied as if the last

11 sentence thereof read as follows: ‘The re12 duction under this subparagraph shall not

13 reduce the limitation of paragraph (1)(A)

14 below (i) $130,000 if the benefit begins at

15 or after age 55, or (ii) if the benefit begins

16 before age 55, the equivalent of the

17 $130,000 limitation for age 55.’

18 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL

19 RULE.—For purposes of this

20 subparagraph—

21 ‘‘(I) QUALIFIED MERCHANT MA22 RINE PLAN.—The term ‘qualified mer23 chant marine plan’ means a plan in

24 existence on January 1, 1986, the

25 participants in which are merchant
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1 marine officers holding licenses issued

2 by the Secretary of Transportation

3 under title 46, United States Code.

4 ‘‘(II) TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZA5 TION.—The term ‘tax-exempt organi6 zation’ means any organization (other

7 than a governmental unit) exempt

8 from tax under this subtitle.

9 ‘‘(III) TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZA10 TION PLAN COVERING 50 PERCENT OF

11 ITS EMPLOYEES.—A plan shall be

12 treated as a plan maintained by a tax13 exempt organization if at least 50 per14 cent of the employees benefiting under

15 the plan are employees of a tax-ex16 empt organization. If less than 50

17 percent of the employees benefiting

18 under a plan are employees of a tax19 exempt organization, the plan shall be

20 treated as a plan maintained by a tax21 exempt organization only with respect

22 to employees of such an organiza23 tion.’’.
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1 (5) COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENTS.—Sub2 section (d) of section 415 (related to cost-of-living

3 adjustments) is amended—

4 (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking

5 ‘‘$90,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$180,000’’, and

6 (B) in paragraph (3)(A)—

7 (i) by striking ‘‘$90,000’’ in the head8 ing and inserting ‘‘$180,000’’, and

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘October 1, 1986’’ and

10 inserting ‘‘July 1, 1999’’.

11 (b) DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLANS.—Subpara12 graph (B) of section 415(c)(1) (relating to limitation for

13 defined contribution plans) is amended to read as follows:

14 ‘‘(B) the participant’s compensation.’’.

15 (c) COST-OF-LIVING ADJUSTMENTS.—

16 (1) PLANS MAINTAINED BY GOVERNMENTS AND

17 TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS.—Paragraph (1) of

18 section 415(d) is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

19 end of subparagraph (B), by redesignating subpara20 graph (C) as subparagraph (D), and by inserting

21 after subparagraph (B) the following new subpara22 graph:

23 ‘‘(C) the $130,000 amount in subsection

24 (b)(2)(F), and’’.
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1 (2) BASE PERIOD.—Paragraph (3) of section

2 415(d) is amended by redesignating subparagraph

3 (D) as subparagraph (E) and by inserting after sub4 paragraph (C) the following new subparagraph:

5 ‘‘(D) $130,000 AMOUNT.—The base period

6 taken into account for purposes of paragraph

7 (1)(C) is the calendar quarter beginning July 1,

8 1999.’’.

9 (3) ROUNDING RULE RELATING TO DEFINED

10 BENEFIT PLANS.—Paragraph (4) of section 415(d)

11 is amended to read as follows:

12 ‘‘(4) ROUNDING.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any increase under

14 subparagraphs (A) and (D) of paragraph (1)

15 which is not a multiple of $5,000 shall be

16 rounded to the next lowest multiple of $5,000.

17 ‘‘(B) $130,000 AMOUNT.—Any increase

18 under subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) which

19 is not a multiple of $1,000 shall be rounded to

20 the next lowest multiple of $1,000.’’.

21 (4) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subparagraph

22 (E) of section 415(d)(3) (as redesignated by para23 graph (2)) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph

24 (1)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)(D)’’.
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1 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF MULTIEMPLOYER PLANS UNDER

2 SECTION 415.

3 (a) COMPENSATION LIMIT.—Paragraph (11) of sec4 tion 415(b) (relating to limitation for defined benefit

5 plans) is amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(11) SPECIAL LIMITATION RULE FOR GOVERN7 MENTAL AND MULTIEMPLOYER PLANS.—In the case

8 of a governmental plan (as defined in section

9 414(d)) or a multiemployer plan (as defined in sec10 tion 414(f)), subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1)

11 shall not apply.’’.

12 (b) COMBINING AND AGGREGATION OF PLANS.—

13 (1) COMBINING OF PLANS.—Subsection (f) of

14 section 415 (relating to combining of plans) is

15 amended by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR MULTIEMPLOYER

17 PLANS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and sub18 section (g), a multiemployer plan (as defined in sec19 tion 414(f)) shall not be combined or aggregated

20 with any other plan maintained by an employer for

21 purposes of applying the limitations established in

22 this section.’’.

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT FOR AGGREGA24 TION OF PLANS.—Subsection (g) of section 415 (re25 lating to aggregation of plans) is amended by strik-
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1 ing ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as pro2 vided in subsection (f)(3), the Secretary’’.

3 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

4 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to

5 years beginning after December 31, 1999.

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