NAIFA recently joined other trade associations in expressing support for making the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Notice 2020-42 permanent. The notice provides temporary relief from physical presence requirements for spousal consent for certain retirement distributions and beneficiary elections. This consent must be witnessed by a notary or plan representative.

Notice 2020-42 provided relief to any participant election witnessed by a notary public of a state permitting remote electronic notarization or witnessed by a plan representative electronically meeting certain requirements. The relief in this Notice is due to end on December 31, 2020. Making this relief permanent makes sense.

Notice 2020-42 was necessary due to the COVD-19 pandemic and NAIFA believes that, due to the uncertain and prolonged nature of the pandemic, and to better protect participants, the government should make this guidance permanent. Remote notarization has proven successful and popular with participants and is enjoying increased popularity and acceptance among the states.

Read the full letter HERE.