ERISA Simplification Act of 1983

ERISA Simplification Act of 1983 - Title I: Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Subtitle A: Amendments to Definitions - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to authorize the Secretary of labor to exempt by regulation any severance pay or supplemental income arrangement from provisions applicable to welfare plans and to provide alternative methods of compliance with any such provision. Conforms the definitions of "party in interest" and "governmental plan" with the Internal Revenue Code. Revises the definitions of "normal retirement age" and "relative."

Subtitle B: Amendments to Reporting and Disclosure Provisions - Eliminates requirements regarding the filing of a plan description with the Secretary of Labor. Requires qualified public accountants and actuaries to rely on the correctness of actuarial or accounting matters certified by an enrolled actuary or with respect to which a qualified public accountant has expressed an opinion for purposes of the preparation of annual reports. Eliminates certain automatic filing requirements.

Revises requirements regarding simplified annual reports for pension plans with less than 100 active participants and not more than 200 participants.

Exempts from reporting and disclosure requirements welfare plans providing exclusively apprenticeship and other training benefits.

Eliminates the requirement of a summary annual report. Limits to $10 the fee for obtaining a plan's lastest annual report.

Revises requirements regarding the disclosure to a participant or beneficiary of benefit rights and account information. Directs administrators to issue reports to certain plan participants who have separated from service stating the nature, amount, and form of the deferred vested benefit to which they are entitled. Requires employers to maintain records regarding each employee sufficient to determine the benefits due to the employee.

Requires, rather than allows, the Secretary to prescribe an alternative method of compliance with reporting requirements under certain circumstances. Specifies circumstances in which the administrator of a multiemployer plan may use an alternative method of information distribution.

Revises requirements of notice to interested parties before issuance of determination letters.

Requires the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, to conduct a study of the means by which the reporting of information pursuant to ERISA may be approved. Specifies matters to be analyzed by such study.

Subtitle C: Amendments to Participation and Vesting Provisions - Permits the determination of pension plan eligibility on a plan year basis. Specifies that the notification and election requirement triggered by a change in vesting schedules shall be applicable only to employees who would be adversely affected by the change. Makes 125 days of service in any maritime industry equivalent to 1,000 hours of service for purposes of satisfying benefit accrual requirements.

Requires a plan offering an optional benefit form, in order not to be treated as having altered a participant's accrued benefit by reason of a change in actuarial assumptions, to set forth such assumptions in a separate document.

Requires plans in which a majority of employees are seasonal employees to use 500 hours, rather than 1000 hours, for purposes of defining a year of service.

Revises joint and survivor annuity requirements.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to prescribe methods of measuring services based upon the elasped time of an employee's service.

Subtitle D: Amendments for Funding Provisions - Makes certain revisions with respect to funding, including a requirement that changes in funding method or plan year need be approved only when made more than once in a three-year period, and a requirement that a funding method take into account future benefit changes.

Subtitle E: Amendments to Fiduciary Responsibility Provisions - Permits the return to an employer of an overpayment of withdrawal liability: (1) in the case of a multiemployer plan; and (2) in the case of a multiemployer plan maintained pursuant to collective bargaining agreements where it is determined that a contribution was made by a mistake of fact or law.

Requires the definition of "qualifying employer real property" for purposes of the limitation on the acquisition and holding of real property by a plan. Provides for allocation of prohibited transaction enforcement responsibilities. Conforms certain provisions regarding transactions by parties in interest with provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. Extends the prohibited transaction exemption procedure to owner-employees.

Subtitle F: Amendments to Administration and Enforcement Provisions - Creates a civil cause of action for collection by a fiduciary of a multiemployer plan of delinquent employer contributions, subject to a six-year statute of limitations (three years after the date of actual knowledge of the cause of action).

Makes available to the Department of Labor for purposes of administering ERISA any amounts which become available through the public request of information.

Revises the composition of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans to require that one of the employer members be a representative of employers maintaining small plans.

Directs the Secretary of Labor to publish at least annually reports showing the number of plans and participants; amounts of assets, income, and expenses; and certain other information categorized by plan size and type.

Deems as preempted by ERISA certain provisions of State law: (1) regarding benefits provided by an insurance policy issued to an employee benefit plan; and (2) which treat a participant's interest in a plan as a security or similar right. Deems as not preempted by ERISA certain provisions of State law: (1) which require an insurance policy issued to a plan to permit a participant to convert or continue protection after the termination of the insurance coverage under the plan; and (2) which prohibit such an insurance policy from classifying health care services as ineligible for coverage solely because the provider is licensed as a provider of services other than those rendered by a medical doctor.

Allows the assignment of pension plan benefits pursuant to a specific State or foreign decree of divorce, annulment, legal separation, or family support or a court order relating marital property rights. Prescribes notification and administrative requirements with respect to any such assignment.

Subtitle G: Clarifying and Technical Amendments - Makes certain technical changes and corrections.

Title II: Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 - Subtitle A: Amendments Related to Title Amendments - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make conforming changes in accordance with the provisions of title I of this Act.