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EBSA News Release: [06/26/2008]
Contact Name: Gloria Della or Richard Manning
Phone Number: (202) 693-8664 or x4676
Release Number: 08-0882-NAT

U.S. Labor Department testifies before House Ways and Means subcommittee about employer-sponsored individual retirement arrangements

WASHINGTON — Bradford P. Campbell, assistant secretary of labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), today testified before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures about the department's programs to protect and promote retirement security for employer-sponsored individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).

In his testimony, Campbell discussed the department's regulatory, enforcement, compliance assistance and outreach activities carried out for employer-sponsor IRAs governed by Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. These plans were created by Congress to give small employers an affordable and easy retirement plan option for their employees, including Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA and Simplified Employee Pensions (SEPs).

He noted that the Labor Department's oversight role employs a comprehensive approach of compliance assistance, interpretive guidance, prohibited transaction exemptions, education and outreach, and enforcement. However, Campbell emphasized that oversight over individual and payroll deduction IRAs is under the jurisdiction of the Internal Revenue Service.

"Employer-sponsored IRAs are important retirement savings vehicles for millions of employees of small businesses nationwide," said Campbell. "In the past three years alone, our oversight of employer-sponsored IRAs has yielded $1.2 million in direct enforcement results and an additional $1 million in results for workers through informal resolution of complaints."

The full text of today's testimony is available on the Labor Department's Web site at www.dol.gov/ebsa under "Speeches and Testimony."

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