REIT Paperwork Refresh: Labor Seeks Comments, Snooze
Published Date: 3/28/2025
Notice
Summary
The Department of Labor is asking for public feedback on a paperwork update about how individual retirement plans can buy and sell shares in certain real estate trusts. This affects retirement plans linked to real estate investment trusts (REITs) and aims to keep investors informed with up-to-date reports. Comments are due by April 28, 2025, and the changes help protect investors while keeping paperwork clear and organized.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
REIT shares allowed in certain retirement plans
If your individual account pension plan is sponsored by a Trust REIT, the class exemption permits the plan to purchase, hold, and sell publicly traded shares of that Trust REIT, and to accept contributions in kind of REIT shares, at the direction of the participant or an independent fiduciary. These transactions are allowed even though they would otherwise be prohibited under ERISA section 406 and Code section 4975.
Required investor reports for directing persons
The Trust REIT (or its agent) must give the person who has authority to direct acquisitions or sales the most recent prospectus, quarterly report, and annual report prior to or immediately after an initial investment, and must provide updated versions of those reports as they are published.
Six-year recordkeeping and access rights
Plans must maintain records about investments in a Trust REIT for a period of six years and make those records available to interested persons, including the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, the fiduciary or authorized representative of the plan, and participants and beneficiaries.
Confidentiality rules to prevent employer influence
The exemption requires confidentiality procedures designed to protect against employer undue influence on participants regarding share-related transactions, and participants and beneficiaries must receive a statement describing those confidentiality procedures and the fiduciary responsible for monitoring them.
Estimated paperwork burden and costs for filers
The Department of Labor estimates this information collection (OMB Control Number 1210-0124) will involve 57 respondents, 2,695 total responses, 144 annual hours of time burden, and $10,214 in annual other costs.
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