The board shall promulgate rules to implement the New Mexico work and save IRA program that:

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

A. establish the processes by which a covered employer may choose to voluntarily enroll in the New Mexico work and save IRA program and become a participating employer;

B. establish the processes for program participants to enroll in and contribute to New Mexico work and save IRA program payroll deduction individual retirement accounts, including elections by covered employees, withholding by participating employers of program participants’ payroll deduction contributions from wages and remittance for deposit to the program participants’ individual retirement accounts and voluntary enrollment and contributions by self-employed persons;

C. establish the processes for withdrawals, rollovers, conversions and direct transfers from individual retirement accounts in the interest of facilitating portability and maximization of benefits;

D. establish processes governing the distribution of funds from the New Mexico work and save IRA program; and

E. require education of and outreach to covered employers, covered employees and the public regarding the New Mexico work and save IRA program. The rules shall specify the content, frequency, timing and means of required disclosures from the New Mexico work and save IRA program to covered employees, covered employers, program participants and participating employers and other interested parties. These disclosures shall include:

(1)     the benefits associated with tax-favored retirement saving;

(2)     the potential advantages and disadvantages associated with contributing to individual retirement accounts through the New Mexico work and save IRA program;

(3)     the eligibility rules for individual retirement accounts;

(4)     that the program participant is solely responsible for determining whether and, if so, how much the program participant is eligible to contribute on a tax-favored basis to an individual retirement account;

(5)     the penalty for excess contributions to individual retirement accounts and the method of correcting excess contributions;

(6)     instructions for enrolling, making elections to contribute or to decline to contribute and making elections regarding contribution rates, types of individual retirement accounts and investments;

(7)     instructions for implementing and for changing the elections;

(8)     the potential availability of a program participant’s tax credit, including the eligibility conditions for the credit and instructions on how to claim it;

(9)     statements that the New Mexico work and save IRA program, the board, board members or board employees, a covered employer or the state does not offer tax, investment or other financial advice, and that the program participant should contact appropriate professional advisors, and that only the program participant is liable for decisions the program participant makes in relation to the New Mexico work and save IRA program;

(10)    statements that payroll deduction individual retirement accounts are not intended to be employer-sponsored retirement plans and that the New Mexico work and save IRA program is not an employer-sponsored retirement plan;

(11)    the potential implications of account balances in the New Mexico work and save IRA program for the application of asset limits under certain public assistance programs;

(12)    that the program participant is solely responsible for investment performance, including market gains and losses, and that individual retirement accounts and rates of return are not guaranteed by the New Mexico work and save IRA program, the board, individual board members, board employees, covered employers or the state or any of its officers or employees;

(13)    additional information and tools designed to promote financial literacy and capability, which may take the form of links to or explanations of how to obtain such information; and

(14)    how to obtain additional information about the New Mexico work and save IRA program.