2019-06-25

Authorization Pursuant to the Idaho Trust Institutions Act

Mary Hughes, Acting Director of the Idaho Department of Finance, issued this memorandum to clarify regulatory requirements for state-chartered banks and credit unions. The document asserts that tax-advantaged savings plans, such as IRAs and health savings accounts, function similarly to standard deposit accounts with minimal trustee discretion. Consequently, the Director interprets the Idaho Trust Institutions Act as not intending to subject these specific accounts to the Act's trust institution regulations.

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# AUTHORIZATION PURSUANT TO THE IDAHO TRUST INSTITUTIONS ACT

BRAD LITTLE  
Governor  

MARY HUGHES  
Acting Director  

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TO: Idaho State-Chartered Banks and Credit Unions  
FROM: Mary Hughes, Acting Director  
Idaho Department of Finance  
DATE: May 30, 2019  
SUBJECT: Authorization Regarding Tax-Advantaged Savings Plans  
Idaho State-Chartered Banks and Credit Unions  

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Some Idaho state-chartered banks and credit unions engage in the business of serving as custodian or trustee of certain tax-advantaged savings plans offered to their customers and members. These tax-advantaged savings plans qualify for specific tax treatment under the Internal Revenue Code and Idaho Income Tax Act, and include accounts established pursuant to qualified pension, profit-sharing, and stock bonus plans, IRA accounts, Roth IRA accounts, health savings accounts, and education savings accounts.

Although depository institutions may be denominated as “trustees” under many of the laws creating tax-advantaged savings plans, their functions do not differ significantly from those involved in deposit account relationships that do not have tax-advantaged status. In the case of tax-advantaged deposit accounts, generally, “trustees” have little discretion with respect to the qualified pension, profit-sharing, and stock bonus plans, IRA accounts, Roth IRA accounts, health savings accounts, and education savings accounts.

The Director believes that the intent of the Idaho Trust Institutions Act was not to subject tax-advantaged deposit accounts held by Idaho state-chartered banks and only if the document contains a main title, use that as the # heading. Please output ONLY the Authorization Pursuant to the Based on the document, extract and extract only the authorization. The only text in Idaho Some Idaho state-chartered banks