You don't have to show difficulties withdrawing funds from your 401 (k) plan. That is, you are not required to provide your employer with documentation that proves your financial difficulties. A retirement plan can provide for distributions for economic difficulties, although it is not required to do so. Many plans that provide for elective deferments provide for distributions due to economic difficulties.
Therefore, 401 (k), 403 (b), and 457 (b) plans can allow distributions for economic hardship. Given the current economic climate, more participants may be requesting hardship distributions in their retirement plans. To avoid jeopardizing the plan's qualification, employers and plan administrators must comply with both the plan document and the legal requirements before making distributions for economic hardship. You must submit appropriate documentation as proof of your retirement due to economic difficulties.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include funeral or university bills, insurance or hospital bills, bank statements, and escrow payments. They're necessary for tax purposes and you generally don't have to disclose them to your employer or plan sponsor. Hardship withdrawals are an optional provision that may or may not be included in 401 (k) or 403 (b) plan documents. If they are offered in the plan, the plan administrator, or the employer, is responsible for making sure that the rules governing the guidelines for people with economic difficulties are met, just like any other fiduciary responsibility.
The new IRS guidelines clarify the documentation requirements that all plan administrators should be aware of. Generally, if a 401 (k) plan provides for distributions for economic hardship, the plan will specify what information must be provided to the employer to prove the existence of economic hardship. According to IRS rules, hardship withdrawals allow you to withdraw money from your account without having to pay the usual 10% early withdrawal penalty that applies to people under 59 and a half years of age. The rules applicable to hardship distributions in 403 (b) plans are similar to those applicable to hardship distributions in 401 (k) plans.
If your 401 (k) plan included hardship distributions that didn't follow the plan's language, or if your plan doesn't include language about economic hardship, find out how you can correct this error. An economic hardship retirement is an urgent withdrawal of funds from a retirement plan, which is requested in response to what the IRS calls an immediate and serious financial need. If you have left your employer, the IRS allows you to receive substantially equal periodic payments (SEPP) without penalty, although technically these are not distributions due to economic difficulties. Recently, it was alleged before the IRS that a participant's self-certification that they were eligible for a difficult economic situation was sufficient documentation.
The IRS establishes general guidelines for 401 (k) plan withdrawals due to economic difficulties, but the specific limits and conditions are determined by the provisions of each individual 401 (k) plan. If a 401 (k) plan provides for hardship distributions, it must include the specific criteria used to determine economic hardship. You may also be subject to an early retirement penalty if the retirement due to economic difficulties is found not to meet the requirements, or if you withdraw more than is necessary to cover exactly the specific difficulties. The safeguard guidelines established in the IRS regulations require that withdrawals due to economic hardship come only from elective deferment sources, and not from employer contributions or profit sharing.
