Center Employee Stock Ownership Plans; Section 411(d)(6) Protected Benefits (Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997); Qualified Retirement Plan Benefits

This document contains final and temporary regulations providing for changes to the rules regarding qualified retirement plan benefits that are protected from reduction by plan amendment, that have been made necessary by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA '97). The temporary regulations change the existing regulations to conform with the TRA '97 rules regarding in-kind distribution requirements for certain employee stock ownership plans, and specify the time period during which certain plan amendments for which relief has been granted by TRA '97 may be made without violating the prohibition against plan amendments that reduce accrued benefits. These temporary regulations affect sponsors of qualified retirement plans, employers that maintain qualified retirement plans, and qualified retirement plan participants. The final regulations amend the existing final regulations to cross- reference the temporary regulations. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.