There are many in the retirement plan industry desparately trying to delay fee disclosure, indefinitely if possible. This will not happen because the DOL understands how critical this information is to all Americans looking to retire someday. Ideally retire without the aid of the government.

The Labor Department has refuted claims that it plans to move the April 1 compliance deadline for new 401(k) fee disclosure rules to later in the year to give service providers time to make changes based on the final regulation.The 408(b)(2) regulation will require service providers to detail any fees they are charging plan sponsors. The final regulation could be issued before the end of January.

“The department is sympathetic to concerns by industry, but we haven’t signaled that applicability deadlines will be extended,” said a DOL spokesman. “We’re sympathetic to concerns, so we are aware of them. I’m not going to speculate where the current information is coming from.”

Reuters released a story on Wednesday stating that the department was thinking about moving the compliance deadline.

Whether the deadline is extended or not fee disclosure will happen. Plan sponsors should be aware of all the cost paid by their plan regardless. This benefit is far too important the future of all American workers.

Please comment or call to discuss how this affects you and your organization.