II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4087 

To require pension plans that offer participants and beneficiaries the option 

of receiving lifetime annuity payments as lump sum payments, to meet 

certain notice and disclosure requirements. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2022 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Ms. SMITH, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To require pension plans that offer participants and beneficiaries the option of receiving lifetime annuity payments 

as lump sum payments, to meet certain notice and disclosure requirements. 

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 ‘‘Information Needed 

5 for Financial Options Risk Mitigation Act’’ or the ‘‘IN6 FORM Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NOTICE AND DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS WITH 

2 RESPECT TO LUMP SUM WINDOWS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part 1 of subtitle B of title I of 

4 the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

5 (29 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 112. NOTICE AND DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS WITH 

8 RESPECT TO LUMP SUM WINDOWS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A plan sponsor of a pension plan 

10 that amends the plan to provide a period of time during 

11 which a participant or beneficiary may elect to receive a 

12 lump sum under clause (i) of section 401(a)(9)(A)(i) of 

13 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, instead of future 

14 monthly payments under clause (ii) of such section, shall 

15 provide notice— 

16 ‘‘(1) to each participant or beneficiary offered 

17 such lump sum amount, in the manner in which the 

18 participant and beneficiary receives the lump sum 

19 offer from the plan sponsor, not later than 90 days 

20 prior to the first day on which the participant or 

21 beneficiary may make an election with respect to 

22 such lump sum; and 

23 ‘‘(2) to the Secretary and the Pension Benefit 

24 Guaranty Corporation, not later than 30 days prior 

25 to the first day on which participants and beneVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:25 Apr 27, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4087.IS S4087

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1 ficiaries may make an election with respect to such 

2 lump sum. 

3 ‘‘(b) NOTICE TO PARTICIPANTS AND BENE4 FICIARIES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) CONTENT.—The notice required under 

6 subsection (a)(1) shall include the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) Available benefit options, including 

8 the estimated monthly benefit that the partici9 pant or beneficiary would receive at normal re10 tirement age, whether there is a subsidized 

11 early retirement option or qualified joint and 

12 survivor annuity that is fully subsidized (in ac13 cordance with section 417(a)(5) of the Internal 

14 Revenue Code of 1986), the monthly benefit 

15 amount if payments begin immediately, and the 

16 lump sum amount available if the participant or 

17 beneficiary takes the option. 

18 ‘‘(B) An explanation of how the lump sum 

19 was calculated, including the interest rate, mor20 tality assumptions, and whether any additional 

21 plan benefits were included in the lump sum, 

22 such as early retirement subsidies. 

23 ‘‘(C) In a manner consistent with the man24 ner in which a written explanation is required 

25 to be given under 417(a)(3) of the Internal 


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1 Revenue Code of 1986, the relative value of the 

2 lump sum option for a terminated vested partic3 ipant compared to the value of— 

4 ‘‘(i) the single life annuity, (or other 

5 standard form of benefit); and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the qualified joint and survivor 

7 annuity (as defined in section 205(d)(1)); 

8 ‘‘(D) Whether it would be possible to rep9 licate the plan’s stream of payments by pur10 chasing a comparable retail annuity using the 

11 lump sum. 

12 ‘‘(E) The potential ramifications of accept13 ing the lump sum, including longevity risks, loss 

14 of protections guaranteed by the Pension Ben15 efit Guaranty Corporation (with an explanation 

16 of the monthly benefit amount that would be 

17 protected by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Cor18 poration if the plan is terminated with insuffi19 cient assets to pay benefits), loss of protection 

20 from creditors, loss of spousal protections, and 

21 other protections under this Act that would be 

22 lost. 

23 ‘‘(F) General tax rules related to accepting 

24 a lump sum, including rollover options and 

25 early distribution penalties with a disclaimer 


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1 that the plan does not provide tax, legal, or ac2 counting advice, and a suggestion that partici3 pants and beneficiaries consult with their own 

4 tax, legal, and accounting advisors before deter5 mining whether to accept the offer. 

6 ‘‘(G) How to accept or reject the offer, the 

7 deadline for response, and whether a spouse is 

8 required to consent to the election. 

9 ‘‘(H) Contact information for the point of 

10 contact at the plan sponsor for participants and 

11 beneficiaries to get more information or ask 

12 questions about the options. 

13 ‘‘(2) PLAIN LANGUAGE.—The notice under this 

14 subsection shall be written in a manner calculated to 

15 be understood by the average plan participant. 

16 ‘‘(3) MODEL NOTICE.—The Secretary shall 

17 issue a model notice for purposes of the notice under 

18 subsection (a)(1), including for information required 

19 under subparagraphs (C) through (F) of paragraph 

20 (2). 

21 ‘‘(c) NOTICE TO THE SECRETARY AND PENSION

22 BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION.—The notice required 

23 under subsection (a)(2) shall include the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) The total number of participants and 

25 beneficiaries eligible for such lump sum option. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The length of the limited period during 

2 which the lump sum is offered. 

3 ‘‘(3) An explanation of how the lump sum was 

4 calculated, including the interest rate, mortality as5 sumptions, and whether any additional plan benefits 

6 were included in the lump sum, such as early retire7 ment subsidies. 

8 ‘‘(4) A sample of the notice provided to partici9 pants and beneficiaries under subsection (b). 

10 ‘‘(d) POST-OFFER REPORT TO THE SECRETARY AND

11 PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION.—Not later 

12 than 90 days after the conclusion of the limited period 

13 during which participants and beneficiaries in a plan may 

14 accept a plan’s offer to convert their annuity into a lump 

15 sum as generally permitted under section 401(a)(9) of the 

16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a plan sponsor shall sub17 mit a report to the Secretary and the Director of the Pen18 sion Benefit Guaranty Corporation that includes the num19 ber of participants and beneficiaries who accepted the 

20 lump sum offer and such other information as the Sec21 retary may require. 

22 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary shall 

23 make the information provided in the notice to the Sec24 retary required under subsection (a)(2) and in the post25 offer reports submitted under subsection (d)(1) publicly 


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1 available in a form that protects the confidentiality of the 

2 information provided. 

3 ‘‘(f) GUIDANCE AND REGULATIONS.—The Sec4 retary— 

5 ‘‘(1) not later than 180 days after the date of 

6 enactment of this section, shall issue guidance and 

7 model notices for plan sponsors to use in providing 

8 the notice described in subsection (b); and 

9 ‘‘(2) may promulgate such other regulations as 

10 may be necessary to carry out this section. 

11 ‘‘(g) BIANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 6 months 

12 after the date of enactment of this section and every 6 

13 months thereafter, so long as the Secretary has received 

14 notices and post-offer reports under subsections (c) and 

15 (d), the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that 

16 summarizes such notices and post-offer reports during the 

17 applicable reporting period.’’. 

18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

19 in section 1 of the Employee Retirement Income Security 

20 Act of 1974 is amended by inserting after the item relat21 ing to section 111 the following new item: 

Sec. 112. Notice and disclosure requirements with respect to lump sum windows. 

22 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 502 of the Employee 

23 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) 

24 is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘or section 

2 105(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘, section 105(a), or section 

3 112(a)’’; and 

4 (2) in subsection (a)(4), by striking ‘‘105(c)’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘section 105(c) or 112(a)’’. 

6 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 subsections (a), (b), and (c) shall take effect on the date 

8 of enactment of this Act. 

9 (e) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—Not later than 1 

10 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

11 of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor shall jointly 

12 issue regulations to implement section 112 of the Em13 ployee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as added 

14 by subsection (a). Such regulations shall require plan 

15 sponsors to comply in good faith with the regulations be16 ginning not later than 1 year after issuance of a final rule 

17 with respect to subsections (a)(1) and (b) of such section 

18 112, and beginning not later than 6 months after issuance 

19 of a final rule with respect to subsections (a)(2), (c), (d), 

20 and (e) of such section 112. 

Æ 


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