A Break in the CloudsA Break in the Clouds

The year 2012 will be remembered as one during which the economy teetered between recovery and a second recessionary dip; there were continued reports of grossly underfunded defined benefit plans; we had to deal with the “fiscal cliff” (and what, if anything would be done about it—we don’t know the answer at the moment); and the east coast suffered from Sandy’s unthinkable devastation (hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts were authorized in Internal Revenue Service Announcement 2012-44). 

Yet, things seemed to be looking up as the year closed. For retirement account owners and plan participants, Ponzi schemes that surfaced in 2011’s IRS private letter rulings were absent from this year’s PLR crop. And, proposed regulations move...