More than three and a half years after the SECURE 2.0 Act became law, the Department of the Treasury and the IRS have issued guidance to simplify and standardize the rollover process by issuing sample forms for direct rollovers to or from a retirement plan. SECURE 2.0 became law on December 29, 2022, when President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328).

The new guidance, which was published as Notice 2026-49, offers four sample forms and a common five-step process for moving retirement savings between employer plans, or between an employer plan and an IRA. The forms are optional for now, and the IRS is not yet offering a safe harbor for using them. Here’s what you need to know.

A rollover is a way to move money from one tax-advantaged retirement account to another without triggering an immediate tax bill. You’d commonly use a rollover when you leave a job and want to move your old employer’s 401(k) or other workplace retirement plan into a new plan or an IRA. You might also use it to consolidate retirement accounts.

When you take a distribution from a retirement account, the amount may be taxable unless an exception applies. A rollover allows you to move eligible retirement savings to another retirement account while generally preserving their tax-deferred status. With a direct rollover, the money moves from your old plan directly to the receiving plan or IRA rather than being paid to you first. That not only makes things simpler, it can also help avoid some of the........

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