Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect employees in the building and construction industry who are participants in multiemployer plans, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act 2. Minimum age for distributions during working retirement (a) Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Section 401(a)(36) (36) Distributions during working retirement (A) In general A trust forming part of a pension plan shall not be treated as failing to constitute a qualified trust under this section solely because the plan provides that a distribution may be made from such trust to an employee who has attained age 62 and who is not separated from employment at the time of such distribution. (B) Certain employees in the building and construction industry (i) In general In order to allow for unique conditions of employment in the building and construction industry, subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting age 55 age 62 (I) the trust to which subparagraph (A) applies was in existence before January 1, 1970, (II) before December 31, 2011, at a time when the plan provided that distributions may be made to an employee who has attained age 55 and who is not separated from employment at the time of such distribution, the plan received at least 1 written determination from the Internal Revenue Service that the trust to which subparagraph (A) applies constituted a qualified trust under this section, and (III) the plan provides that the benefit accrued on account of service performed after distributions begin under subparagraph (A) (as modified by subparagraph (B) without regard to this subclause) shall be treated and paid as a pension separate from the pension earned before such distributions begin, and that payment of such separate benefit shall not commence until the employee attains the plan’s normal retirement age. (ii) Suspension of payments if plan in endangered or critical status Clause (i) shall not apply to a multiemployer plan during the period for which the multiemployer plan is in endangered or critical status (as defined under section 432) beginning after the first year the plan is in either of such statuses and ending with the first plan year for which the plan is not in either of such statuses. . (b) Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 Section 3(2)(A) of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( 29 U.S.C. 1002(2)(A) (age 55 in the case of a plan to which section 401(a)(36)(B) (c) Effective date The amendments made by this section shall apply to distributions made before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

Summary: Vested Employee Pension Benefit Protection Act Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow employees in the building and construction industry to make distributions from their tax-exempt multi-employer pension plan at age 55 if they are not separated from employment at the time of such distributions and were participants in such plan on or before April 30, 2013, and the plan provides for payment of separate accrued benefits when the employee attains the plan's normal retirement age. Suspends payment of distributions for such building and construction industry employees if their multi-employer plan is in endangered or critical status.