ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 222
(By Senator Foster)
____________
[Passed March 10, 2011; in effect ninety days from passage.]
____________
AN ACT to amend and reenact §8-22A-12 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the West Virginia Municipal
Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System; and
ensuring the continued qualification of the system under
federal tax laws by adopting an amendment to the system
required by Section 824 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006
(P.L. 109-280) permitting direct rollovers to Roth IRAs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-22A-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 22A. WEST VIRGINIA MUNICIPAL POLICE OFFICERS AND
FIREFIGHTERS RETIREMENT SYSTEM.
§8-22A-12. Direct rollovers.
Notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary that would otherwise limit a distributee's election under this
plan, a distributee may elect, at the time and in the manner
prescribed by the board, to have any portion of an eligible
rollover distribution paid directly to an eligible retirement plan
specified by the distributee in a direct rollover. For purposes of
this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Eligible rollover distribution" means any distribution of
all or any portion of the balance to the credit of the distributee,
except that an eligible rollover distribution does not include any
of the following: (A) Any distribution that is one of a series of
substantially equal periodic payments not less frequently than
annually made for the life or life expectancy of the distributee or
the joint lives or the joint life expectancies of the distributee
and the distributee's designated beneficiary, or for a specified
period of ten years or more; (B) any distribution to the extent the
distribution is required under Section 401(a)(9) of the Internal
Revenue Code; and (C) any hardship distribution described in
Section 401(k)(2)(B)(i(iv) of the Internal Revenue Code. A portion
of a distribution shall not fail to be an eligible rollover
distribution merely because the portion consists of after-tax
employee contributions which are not includable in gross income.
However, this portion may be paid only to an individual retirement
account or annuity described in Section 408(a) or (b) of the
Internal Revenue Code, or to a qualified trust described in Section 401(a) or to an annuity contract described in Section 403(a) or
403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code that agrees to separately
account for amounts transferred (including interest or earnings
thereon), including separately accounting for the portion of the
distribution which is includable in gross income and the portion of
the distribution which is not includable, or to a Roth IRA
described in Section 408A of the Internal Revenue Code.
(2) "Eligible retirement plan" means an eligible plan under
Section 457(b) of the Internal Revenue Code which is maintained by
a state, political subdivision of a state, or any agency or
instrumentality of a state or political subdivision of a state and
which agrees to separately account for amounts transferred into the
plan from this plan, an individual retirement account described in
Section 408(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, an individual
retirement annuity described in Section 408(b) of the Internal
Revenue Code, an annuity plan described in Section 403(a) of the
Internal Revenue Code, an annuity contract described in Section
403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, a qualified plan described in
Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code that accepts the
distributee's eligible rollover distribution, or a Roth IRA
described in Section 408A of the Internal Revenue Code: Provided,
That in the case of an eligible rollover distribution to a
designated beneficiary (other than a surviving spouse) as the term
is defined in Section 402(c)(11) of the Internal Revenue Code, an eligible retirement plan is limited to an individual retirement
account or individual retirement annuity which meets the conditions
of Section 402(c)(11) of the Internal Revenue Code.
(3) "Distributee" means an employee or former employee. In
addition, the employee's or former employee's surviving spouse and
the employee's or former employee's spouse or former spouse who is
the alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order, as
defined in Section 414(p) of the Internal Revenue Code with respect
to governmental plans, are distributees with regard to the interest
of the spouse or former spouse. The term "distributee" also
includes a designated beneficiary (other than a surviving spouse)
as the term is defined in Section 402(c)(11) of the Internal
Revenue Code.
(4) "Direct rollover" means a payment by the plan to the
eligible retirement plan.