Trump to sign executive order aimed at helping small businesses offer retirement plans

President Trump on Friday will sign an executive order aimed at making it more affordable for small businesses to offer retirement plans to their workers, administration officials said Thursday.

The president will sign the order during a trip to North Carolina, ahead of Monday’s Labor Day holiday.

The order will direct the Treasury and Labor Departments to consider issuing rules designed to make it easier for small businesses to join together to offer multiple employer plans (MEPs), allowing the businesses to share the costs of administering retirement plans.

The administration said small businesses are less likely than large businesses to offer retirement plans such as 401(k)s because it’s relatively more expensive for them to operate the plans.

“Expanding access to work-based retirement plans will help many small-business employees enjoy secure retirements,” said James Sherk, a White House domestic policy adviser.

Preston Rutledge, an assistant secretary at the Labor Department, said the department will examine whether it can change the criteria for the types of businesses that can band together to join an MEP.

Dan Kowalski, a counselor in the Treasury Department, said the department will look at three ways to modernize rules concerning MEPs.

The first, he said, is to explore easing the consequences for a plan if one of its participating employers fails to meet requirements under the tax code. The second is to look at updating disclosures required under the tax code. The third is to consider updating life expectancy and distribution tables used to determine required minimum distributions.