IB 
Union Calendar No. 392 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4294 
[Report No. 114–512, Parts I and II] 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure that retirement 
investors receive advice in their best interests, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 18, 2015 
Mr. ROSKAM (for himself, Mr. NEAL, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. LARSON of 
Connecticut, Mr. REED, and Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New 
Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Edu-
cation and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
APRIL 20, 2016 
Additional sponsors: Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. CARTER of Georgia, 
Mr. YOUNG of Indiana, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, Mr. CLAY, Mr. HOLDING, Mr. RENACCI, Ms. JENKINS 
of Kansas, Mr. MACARTHUR, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. 
ASHFORD, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. MEE-
HAN, Mr. NUNES, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. BISHOP of Michigan, Mr. MARCHANT, 
Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. OLSON, Mr. LATTA, Mr. 
SESSIONS, Mr. AMODEI, and Mr. GOHMERT 
APRIL 20, 2016 
Reported from the Committee on Ways and Means with an amendment 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
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APRIL 20, 2016 
Reported from the Committee on Education and the Workforce with an 
amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in boldface roman] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 18, 2015] 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to ensure 
that retirement investors receive advice in their best in-
terests, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening Access 
to Valuable Education and Retirement Support Act of 
2015’’ or the ‘‘SAVERS Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to provide that advisors 
who— 
(1) provide advice that is impermissible under 
the prohibited transaction provisions under section 
4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or 
(2) breach the best interest standard for the pro-
vision of investment advice, 
are subject to liability under the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986. 
SEC. 3. RULES RELATING TO THE PROVISION OF INVEST-
MENT ADVICE. 
(a) AMENDMENTS TO THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE 
OF 1986.— 
(1) EXEMPTION FOR INVESTMENT ADVICE WHICH 
IS
BEST
INTEREST
RECOMMENDATION.—Section 
4975(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph 
(22), by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
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(23) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by inserting after 
paragraph (23) the following: 
‘‘(24) provision of investment advice by a fidu-
ciary to a plan, plan participant, or beneficiary with 
respect to the plan, which is a best interest rec-
ommendation or a transaction connected to such ad-
vice.’’. 
(2) INVESTMENT ADVICE; BEST INTEREST REC-
OMMENDATION.—Section 4975(e) of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(10) INVESTMENT ADVICE.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—For purposes of this 
section, the term ‘investment advice’ means a 
recommendation that— 
‘‘(i) relates to— 
‘‘(I) the advisability of acquiring, 
holding, disposing, or exchanging any 
moneys or other property of a plan by 
the plan, plan participants, or plan 
beneficiaries, 
including 
any 
rec-
ommendation whether to take a dis-
tribution of benefits from such plan or 
any recommendation relating to the 
investment of any moneys or other 
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property of such plan to be distributed 
from such plan; 
‘‘(II) the management of moneys 
or other property of such plan, includ-
ing recommendations relating to the 
management of moneys or other prop-
erty to be distributed from such plan; 
or 
‘‘(III) the advisability of retain-
ing or ceasing to retain a person who 
would receive a fee or other compensa-
tion for providing any of the types of 
advice described in this subclause; and 
‘‘(ii) is rendered pursuant to— 
‘‘(I) a written acknowledgment 
that the person is a fiduciary with re-
spect to the provision of such rec-
ommendation; or 
‘‘(II) a mutual agreement, ar-
rangement, or understanding which 
may include limitations on scope, tim-
ing, and responsibility to provide on-
going monitoring or advice services, be-
tween the person making such rec-
ommendation and the plan, plan par-
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ticipant, or beneficiary that such rec-
ommendation is individualized to the 
plan, plan participant, or beneficiary 
and such plan, plan participant, or 
beneficiary intends to materially rely 
on such recommendation in making in-
vestment or management decisions 
with respect to any moneys or other 
property of such plan. 
‘‘(B) DISCLAIMER
OF
A
MUTUAL
AGREE-
MENT, ARRANGEMENT, OR
UNDERSTANDING.— 
For purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii)(II), any 
disclaimer of a mutual agreement, arrangement, 
or understanding shall only state the following: 
‘This information is not individualized to you, 
and you are not intended to materially rely on 
this information in making investment or man-
agement decisions.’. Such disclaimer shall not be 
effective unless such disclaimer is in writing and 
is communicated in a clear and prominent man-
ner and an objective person would reasonably 
conclude that, based on all the facts and cir-
cumstances, there was not a mutual agreement, 
arrangement, or understanding. 
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‘‘(C) WHEN RECOMMENDATION TREATED AS 
MADE PURSUANT TO A MUTUAL AGREEMENT, AR-
RANGEMENT, 
OR
UNDERSTANDING.—For pur-
poses of subparagraph (A)(ii)(II), information 
shall not be treated as a recommendation made 
pursuant to a mutual agreement, arrangement, 
or understanding, and such information shall 
contain the disclaimer required by subparagraph 
(B), if— 
‘‘(i) SELLER’S EXCEPTION.—The infor-
mation is provided in conjunction with full 
and fair disclosure in writing to a plan, 
plan participant, or beneficiary that the 
person providing the information is doing 
so in its marketing or sales capacity, in-
cluding any information regarding the 
terms and conditions of the engagement of 
the person providing the information, and 
that the person is not intending to provide 
investment advice within the meaning of 
this subparagraph or to otherwise act as a 
fiduciary to the plan or under the obliga-
tions of a best interest recommendation. 
‘‘(ii) SWAP AND SECURITY-BASED SWAP 
TRANSACTION.—The person providing the 
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information is a counterparty or service 
provider to the plan in connection with any 
transaction based on the information (in-
cluding a service arrangement, sale, pur-
chase, loan, bilateral contract, swap (as de-
fined in section 1a of the Commodity Ex-
change Act (7 U.S.C. 1a)), or security-based 
swap (as defined in section 3(a) of the Se-
curities Exchange Act (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)))), 
but only if— 
‘‘(I) the plan is represented, in 
connection with such transaction, by a 
plan fiduciary that is independent of 
the person providing the information, 
and, except in the case of a swap or se-
curity-based swap, independent of the 
plan sponsor; and 
‘‘(II) prior to entering into such 
transaction, the independent plan fidu-
ciary represents in writing to the per-
son providing the information that it 
is aware that the person has a finan-
cial interest in the transaction and 
that it has determined that the person 
is not intending to provide investment 
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advice within the meaning of this sub-
paragraph or to otherwise act as a fi-
duciary to the plan, plan participants, 
or plan beneficiaries. 
‘‘(iii) EMPLOYEES OF A PLAN SPON-
SOR.—The person providing the informa-
tion is an employee of any sponsoring em-
ployer or employee organization who pro-
vides the information to the plan for no fee 
or other compensation other than the em-
ployee’s normal compensation. 
‘‘(iv) PLATFORM
PROVIDERS
SELEC-
TION
AND
MONITORING
ASSISTANCE.—The 
person providing the information discloses 
in writing to the plan fiduciary that the 
person is not undertaking to provide invest-
ment advice as a fiduciary (within the 
meaning of this paragraph) or under the 
obligations of a best interest recommenda-
tion and the information consists solely 
of— 
‘‘(I) making available to the plan, 
plan 
participants, 
or 
plan 
bene-
ficiaries, without regard to the individ-
ualized needs of the plan, plan partici-
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pants, or plan beneficiaries, securities 
or other property through a platform 
or similar mechanism from which a 
plan fiduciary may select or monitor 
investment 
alternatives, 
including 
qualified 
default 
investment 
alter-
natives, into which plan participants 
or beneficiaries may direct the invest-
ment of assets held in, or contributed 
to, their individual accounts, or 
‘‘(II) in connection with a plat-
form or similar mechanism described 
in subclause (I)— 
‘‘(aa) identifying investment 
alternatives that meet objective 
criteria specified by the plan, such 
as criteria concerning expense ra-
tios, fund sizes, types of asset, or 
credit quality, or 
‘‘(bb) providing objective fi-
nancial data and comparisons 
with independent benchmarks to 
the plan. 
‘‘(v) 
VALUATION.—The 
information 
consists solely of valuation information. 
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‘‘(vi) FINANCIAL EDUCATION.—The in-
formation consists solely of— 
‘‘(I) information described in De-
partment of Labor Interpretive Bul-
letin 96–1 (29 C.F.R. 2509.96–1, as in 
effect on January 1, 2015), regardless 
of whether such education is provided 
to a plan or plan fiduciary or a par-
ticipant or beneficiary, 
‘‘(II) information provided to 
participants or beneficiaries regarding 
the factors to consider in deciding 
whether to elect to receive a distribu-
tion from a plan and whether to roll 
over such distribution to a plan, so 
long as any examples of different dis-
tribution alternatives are accompanied 
by all material facts and assumptions 
on which the examples are based, or 
‘‘(III) any additional information 
treated as education by the Secretary. 
‘‘(11) BEST INTEREST RECOMMENDATION.—For 
purposes of this subsection— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘best interest 
recommendation’ means a recommendation— 
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‘‘(i) for which no more than reasonable 
compensation is paid (as determined under 
subsection (d)(2)), 
‘‘(ii) provided by a person acting with 
the care, skill, prudence, and diligence 
under the circumstances then prevailing 
that a prudent person would exercise based 
on— 
‘‘(I) the information obtained 
through the reasonable diligence of the 
person regarding factors such as the 
advice recipient’s age, and 
‘‘(II) any other information that 
the advice recipient discloses to the 
person in connection with receiving 
such recommendation, and 
‘‘(iii) where the person places the inter-
ests of the plan or advice recipient above its 
own. 
‘‘(B) INVESTMENT OPTIONS; VARIABLE COM-
PENSATION.—A best interest recommendation 
may include a recommendation that— 
‘‘(i) is based on a limited range of in-
vestment options (which may consist, in 
whole or in part, of proprietary products), 
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STANDING.—For purposes of subpara-
graph (A)(ii)(II), any disclaimer of a 
mutual agreement, arrangement, or 
understanding shall only state the fol-
lowing: ‘This information is not indi-
vidualized to you, and there is no in-
tent for you to materially rely on this 
information in making investment or 
management decisions.’. Such dis-
claimer shall not be effective unless 
such disclaimer is in writing and is 
communicated in a clear and promi-
nent manner and an objective person 
would 
reasonably 
conclude 
that, 
based on all the facts and cir-
cumstances, there was not a mutual 
agreement, arrangement, or under-
standing. 
‘‘(C) 
WHEN
RECOMMENDATION 
TREATED AS MADE PURSUANT TO A MU-
TUAL
AGREEMENT, 
ARRANGEMENT, 
OR 
UNDERSTANDING.—For 
purposes 
of 
subparagraph (A)(ii)(II), information 
shall not be treated as a recommenda-
tion made pursuant to a mutual 
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