THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA
PRUDENTIAL DISCOVERY PREMIER GROUP VARIABLE CONTRACT ACCOUNT
Discovery Premier Group Retirement Annuity II
Supplement to Prospectus Dated May 1, 2019
Supplement dated March 13, 2020
This Supplement should be read and retained with the current Prospectus for your Annuity. This Supplement is intended to update certain information in the Prospectus for your Annuity. If you would like another copy of the current Prospectus, please contact us at 1-877-778-2100.
This supplement is being issued based on changes prompted by the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 (“FCAA”), which includes the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (“SECURE Act”), that was enacted on December 20, 2019.
Certain distributions from qualified plans, which are not directly rolled over or transferred to another eligible qualified plan, are subject to a mandatory 20% withholding for federal income tax. Qualified birth or adoption distributions may now be made available to participants, if permitted under the terms of the Contract, but are not subject to the mandatory 20% withholding requirement.
For qualified annuity contract owners, qualified employer plan participants, and IRA owners attaining age 70 ½ on or after January 1, 2020, the age at which you must begin taking Required Minimum Distributions is increased to age 72. This change does not impact contract owners, participants, or IRA owners who attained age 70 ½ before January 1, 2020.
For defined contribution plans and IRAs (including Individual Retirement Accounts and Individual Retirement Annuities), under the new law, if you die after 2019, and you have a designated beneficiary, any remaining interest must be distributed by December 31st of the year that includes the 10 year anniversary of your death, unless the designated beneficiary is an “eligible designated beneficiary” (“EDB”) or some other exception applies. A designated beneficiary is any individual designated as a beneficiary by the employee or IRA owner. An EDB is any designated beneficiary who is (1) your surviving spouse, (2) your minor child, (3) disabled, (4) chronically ill, or (5) an individual not more than 10 years younger than you. An individual’s status as an EDB is determined on the date of your death.
This 10-year post-death distribution period applies regardless of whether you die before your required beginning date, or you die on or after that date (including after distributions have commenced in the form of an annuity). However, if the beneficiary is an EDB and the EDB dies before the entire interest is distributed under this 10-year rule, the remaining interest must be distributed within 10 years after the EDB’s death (i.e., a new 10-year distribution period begins).
Instead of taking distributions under the new 10-year rule, an EDB can stretch distributions over life, or over a period not extending beyond life expectancy, provided that such distributions commence within one year of your death, subject to certain special rules. In particular, if the EDB dies before the remaining interest is distributed under this stretch rule, the remaining interest must be distributed within 10 years after the EDB’s death (regardless of whether the remaining distribution period under the stretch rule was more or less than 10 years). In addition, if your minor child is an EDB, the child will cease to be an EDB on the date the child reaches the age of majority, and any remaining interest must be distributed with 10 years after that date.
The new law applies if you die after 2019, subject to several exceptions. In particular, if you are an employee under a governmental plan, such as a section 403(b) plan of a public school or a governmental 457(b) plan, the new law applies if you die after 2021. In addition, if your plan is maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements, the new law generally applies if you die after 2021 (unless the collective bargaining agreements terminate earlier).
It is important to note that under prior law, annuity payments that commenced under a method that satisfied the distribution requirements while the employee or IRA owner was alive could continue to be made under that method after the death of the employee or IRA owner. However, under the new law, if you commence taking distributions in the form of an annuity
that can continue after your death, such as in the form of a joint and survivor annuity or an annuity with a guaranteed period of more than 10 years, any distributions after your death that are scheduled to be made beyond the applicable distribution period imposed under the new law might need to be commuted at the end of that period (or otherwise modified after your death if permitted under federal tax law and by Prudential) in order to comply with the new post-death distribution requirements.
The new post-death distribution requirements do not apply if annuity payments that comply with prior law commenced prior to December 20, 2019. Also, even if annuity payments have not commenced prior to December 20, 2019, the new requirements generally do not apply to an immediate annuity contract or a deferred income annuity contract (including a qualifying lifetime annuity contract, or “QLAC”) purchased prior to that date, if you have made an irrevocable election before that date as to the method and amount of the annuity.
If your beneficiary is not an individual, such as a charity, your estate, or a trust, any remaining interest after your death generally must be distributed under prior law in accordance with the 5-year rule or the at-least-as-rapidly rule, as applicable (but not the lifetime payout rule). However, if your beneficiary is a trust and all the beneficiaries of the trust are individuals, the new law can apply pursuant to special rules that treat the beneficiaries of the trust as designated beneficiaries, including special rules allowing a beneficiary of a trust who is disabled or chronically ill to stretch the distribution of their interest over their life or life expectancy in some cases. You may wish to consult a professional tax advisor about the federal income tax consequences of your beneficiary designations.
In addition, the new post-death distribution requirements generally do not apply if the employee or IRA owner died prior to January 1, 2020. However, if the designated beneficiary of the deceased employee or IRA owner dies after January 1, 2020, any remaining interest must be distributed within 10 years of the designated beneficiary’s death. Hence, this 10-year rule will apply to (1) a contract issued prior to 2020 which continues to be held by a designated beneficiary of an employee or IRA owner who died prior to 2020, and (2) an inherited IRA issued after 2019 to the designated beneficiary of an employee or IRA owner who died prior to 2020.
Spousal continuation. Under the new law, as under prior law, if your beneficiary is your spouse, your surviving spouse can delay the application of the post-death distribution requirements until after your surviving spouse reaches age 70 ½ (or age 72, for distributions required to be made after December 31, 2019, with respect to individuals who attain age 70 ½ after such date) by transferring the remaining interest tax-free to your surviving spouse’s own IRA, or by treating your IRA as your surviving spouse’s own IRA.
The post-death distribution requirements are complex and unclear in numerous respects. In addition, the manner in which these requirements will apply will depend on your particular facts and circumstances. You may wish to consult a professional tax adviser for tax advice as to your particular situation.
The limit prohibiting individuals who have attained age 70 ½ from making non-rollover contributions to traditional IRAs is repealed for tax years after December 31, 2019.
Additionally, certain qualified IRA distributions used for charitable purposes are eligible for an exclusion from gross income, up to $100,000, for otherwise taxable IRA distributions from a traditional or Roth IRA. A qualified charitable distribution is a distribution that is made (1) directly by the IRA trustee to certain qualified charitable organizations and (2) on or after the date the IRA owner attains age 70 ½ (or age 72, for distributions required to be made after December 31, 2019, with respect to individuals who attain age 70 ½ after such date). Distributions that are excluded from income under this provision are not taken into account in determining the individual’s deductions, if any, for charitable contributions. For tax years after December 31, 2019, the exclusion for qualified charitable distributions may be reduced (but not below zero) by an amount equal to the excess of: (1) your IRA deductions for all tax years on or after the date you attain age 70 ½; over (2) all reductions to the exclusion based on post-70 ½ IRA deductions for all tax years before the current tax year.
The IRS has indicated that an IRA trustee is not responsible for determining whether a distribution to a charity is one that satisfies the requirements of the charitable giving incentive. Consistent with the applicable IRS instructions, we report these distributions as normal IRA distributions on Form 1099-R. Individuals are responsible for reflecting the distributions as charitable IRA distributions on their personal tax returns.
The FCAA also reduces the age for allowable in-service distributions for pension and governmental 457(b) plans to age
59 ½.
You should consult with your financial professional or tax advisor if you believe you are affected by these changes.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT WITH YOUR PROSPECTUS