Refunds. When students transfer or withdraw their enrollments, educational institutions may owe refunds of tuition and fees paid from those students’ college savings accounts. Under the current state administrative rule, such refunds must be paid “directly to the program manager for credit to the applicable designated beneficiary’s account.” DFI-CSP 1.12.
That rule is more restrictive than federal law, which permits a refund to be paid to any qualified college savings account for the beneficiary. 26 U.S.C. s. 529(c)(3)(D). For that reason, the College Savings Program Board proposes replacing the above-quoted language with language authorizing the payment of refunds in any manner permitted by Section 529.
4. Detailed explanation of statutory authority for the rule (including the statutory citation and language):
Section 224.50 of the Wisconsin Statutes establishes the state’s college savings program, which is to be administered by the College Savings Program Board. Wis. Stat. s. 224.50(2)(a). The Board is authorized to “[p]romulgate rules to implement and administer” the program. Wis. Stat. s. 224.50(2)(e). At a duly noticed meeting of the Board on August 28, 2019, it voted unanimously to proceed with the proposed revisions to the administrative rules described herein. 5. Estimate of amount of time that state employees will spend developing the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule:
75 hours.
6. List with description of all entities that may be affected by the proposed rule:
The proposed revisions affect participants in the state’s college savings program and the program vendor responsible for managing participant accounts (presently TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing).
7. Summary and preliminary comparison with any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the proposed rule:
Each of the three revisions is intended to ensure the present and future conformity of state administrative rules with federal law governing college savings programs, 26 U.S.C. s. 529. Each proposed revision would authorize participants to take certain actions (regarding account ownership, rollovers, and refund processing) to the full extent permitted by 26 U.S.C. s. 529.
8. Anticipated economic impact of implementing the rule (note if the rule is likely to have a significant economic impact on small businesses):
None.
Contact Person: Matthew Lynch
Chief Legal Counsel, Department of Financial Institutions
