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Abstract
Section 411(d)(6) of the Code generally provides among the most important participant protections under ERISA and the Code, prohibiting plan amendments that have the effect of eliminating an optional form of benefit, or eliminating or reducing an early retirement benefit or a retirement type subsidy. In response to a judicial determination that a plan's suspension of benefits provisions are protected by the anti-cutback rule of ERISA and the Code, so that a plan sponsor could not amend the plan to add or expand a suspension of benefits provision in a way that limited the distribution of benefits already accrued, the IRS proposed regulations concerning the application of Section 411(d)(6) to changes in a plan's vesting provisions. Although four justices concurred in the unanimous decision on the assumption that the ruling does not preclude the IRS from issuing regulations explicitly allowing such plan amendments, the proposed regulations maintain the analysis of the decision, though prior guidance permits reforming amendments in order to maintain a plan's qualified status.