The Department of Labor’s 2024 Retirement Security Rule, often called the DOL fiduciary rule, was vacated by federal courts and formally removed from the Code of Federal Regulations on March 18, 2026.1U.S. Department of Labor. US Department of Labor Restores Long-Standing Investment Advice Regulations The 1975 five-part test is back in effect for deciding when someone giving investment advice to a retirement saver becomes a fiduciary. ERISA’s statutory duties, SEC Regulation Best Interest, and the Investment Advisers Act fiduciary duty all still apply on their own terms, so the protections covering your retirement account did not disappear—they shifted.
What the Vacatur Actually Changed
The 2024 rule would have treated almost any paid investment recommendation to a retirement saver as fiduciary advice, including a single rollover recommendation.2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet: Retirement Security Rule and Amendments to Class Prohibited Transaction Exemptions for Investment Advice Fiduciaries It also tightened the conditions on two prohibited transaction exemptions that let advisors collect commissions and similar compensation.
Federal district courts in the Eastern and Northern Districts of Texas stayed the rule before it ever took effect, then entered final judgments vacating it in March 2026.3Federal Register. Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary – Notice of Court Vacatur Because the stays stopped the rule from displacing the prior regulation, the DOL’s removal of the vacated text from the CFR was an administrative cleanup. The 1975 regulation never actually went away.
The 1975 Five-Part Test Now in Effect
Under the restored regulation, a person is a fiduciary for giving investment advice only if all five of these conditions are met at once:3Federal Register. Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary – Notice of Court Vacatur
- They give advice about the value of securities or other property, or recommend buying or selling investments.
- The advice is provided on a regular basis, not as a one-time event.
- Both parties understand that an advice relationship exists and that the advice will guide investment decisions.
- The advice serves as a primary basis for investment decisions.
- The advice is individualized to the particular needs of the plan or participant.
Miss any one element and the person is not an ERISA investment advice fiduciary. That is a much narrower definition than the 2024 rule would have used.
The Rollover Gap This Leaves Open
The practical gap is specific. If someone advises you once to roll your 401(k) into an IRA, earns a commission on what they sell you in that IRA, and does not establish an ongoing advisory relationship, the “regular basis” element is usually missing. That person likely is not an ERISA fiduciary for the recommendation, even though it may involve your entire life savings. This is the exact scenario the vacated rule was built to reach, and it is now unreached by the DOL regulation.
That does not mean the recommendation is unregulated. It means the regulation covering it is coming from somewhere other than the DOL’s fiduciary definition.
Protections That Still Apply to Your Retirement Account
ERISA itself continues to set minimum standards for most private-sector retirement plans.4U.S. Department of Labor. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) If you have a 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored plan, the plan’s fiduciaries—sponsors, trustees, and investment managers who exercise discretion over plan assets—still owe you duties of prudence and loyalty. Those duties come from the statute, not from the vacated regulation.
For recommendations made by broker-dealers to retail customers, including recommendations about retirement accounts and IRA rollovers, the SEC’s Regulation Best Interest still applies.5Securities and Exchange Commission. Regulation Best Interest: The Broker-Dealer Standard of Conduct Reg BI requires the broker to act in the customer’s best interest at the time of the recommendation and imposes care, disclosure, conflict-of-interest, and compliance obligations. The SEC deliberately chose not to label it a fiduciary standard, and it applies at the moment of recommendation rather than across an ongoing relationship. Within those limits it does require the broker to consider reasonable alternatives, weigh costs and benefits, and not place their own financial interests ahead of the customer’s.
Registered investment advisers already owe a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. That duty covers the full advisory relationship and was not affected by the court vacatur.
What Happened to PTE 2020-02 and PTE 84-24
ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code prohibit certain self-interested transactions between retirement plans and parties who have a financial stake in the outcome.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 1106 – Prohibited Transactions Those prohibitions are statutory and were not touched by the vacatur. Because common compensation structures like commissions would otherwise violate them, the DOL grants exemptions under specific conditions.
PTE 2020-02 lets investment advice fiduciaries receive commissions, 12b-1 fees, revenue sharing, and similar compensation when recommending investments to retirement savers.7U.S. Department of Labor. New Fiduciary Advice Exemption: PTE 2020-02 Improving Investment Advice for Workers and Retirees Frequently Asked Questions The 2024 amendments to this exemption were vacated with the rule, so PTE 2020-02 is back in its original form. It still requires fiduciaries relying on it to follow Impartial Conduct Standards: recommendations must be prudent, loyal, and come with reasonable compensation, with no misleading statements about fees, conflicts, or risks.
PTE 84-24, which lets insurance agents and companies receive commissions on insurance and annuity contracts sold to plans and IRAs, was also restored to its pre-2024 form.8Federal Register. Proposed Amendment to Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-24 The added disclosure and best-interest requirements the 2024 rule would have imposed on independent insurance agents selling annuities are gone.
How to Tell What Standard Your Advisor Owes You
Ask directly. The question that cuts through the most confusion right now is whether the person is a registered investment adviser, a broker-dealer, or an insurance agent. A registered investment adviser owes you a fiduciary duty under the Advisers Act for the whole relationship. A broker-dealer making a recommendation to you as a retail customer owes you the Reg BI best-interest standard at the point of recommendation. An insurance agent selling you an annuity inside an IRA under PTE 84-24 is operating under the Impartial Conduct Standards attached to that exemption, in its pre-2024 form.
If you believe a plan fiduciary has violated their duties, ERISA lets participants and beneficiaries sue in federal court to recover benefits, obtain equitable relief, or enforce plan terms.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 1132 – Civil Enforcement Short of a lawsuit, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration takes complaints at 1-866-444-3272 or through its online intake.10U.S. Department of Labor. Ask EBSA Complaints about broker-dealer conduct go to FINRA or the SEC; complaints about registered investment advisers go to the SEC or state securities regulators.
What the Next Rule Could Change
The current administration’s regulatory agenda lists a new investment advice fiduciary rule with a target date of May 2026. The agenda describes it only as being based on “the best reading of the statute” and responsive to executive orders on deregulation. No draft text or substantive detail has been released, so what the definition will look like, and how it will treat one-time rollover recommendations, is not yet known.
Until that rule is issued and takes effect, the 1975 five-part test is the operative DOL definition, PTE 2020-02 and PTE 84-24 apply in their original forms, and the SEC’s framework continues to run alongside the DOL’s.