ROTH INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ANNUITY ("ROTH IRA") ENDORSEMENT
The provisions in this Roth IRA Endorsement (the "Endorsement") are effective as
of the issue date for the attached annuity contract (the "Contract") as a Roth
IRA (or the date it has been converted to a Roth IRA), unless a later date is
specified under the federal tax law with respect to a provision hereunder.
The provisions below this paragraph, through Article VIII, of this Endorsement
are word-for-word identical to the operative provisions in Articles I through
VIII of IRS Form 5305-RB (dated March 2002) and are deemed to meet the statutory
requirements for a Roth IRA. These provisions are clarified in accordance with
more recent IRS guidance in Article IX below.
This Endorsement is made a part of the annuity contract to which it is attached,
and the following provisions apply in lieu of any provisions in the contract to
the contrary.
The annuitant is establishing a Roth Individual Retirement Annuity (Roth IRA)
under section 408A of the Internal Revenue Code, to provide for his or her
retirement and for the support of his or her beneficiaries after death.
ARTICLE I
Except in the case of a rollover contribution described in section 408A(e), a
re-characterized contribution described in section 408A(d)(6), or an IRA
Conversion Contribution, the issuer will accept only cash contributions up to
$3,000 per year for tax years 2002 through 2004. That contribution limit is
increased to $4,000 for tax years 2005 through 2007 and $5,000 for 2008 and
thereafter. For individuals who have reached the age of 50 before the close of
the tax year, the contribution limit is increased to $3,500 per year for tax
years 2002 through 2004, $4,500 for 2005, $5,000 for 2006 and 2007, and $6,000
for 2008 and thereafter. For tax years after 2008, the above limits will be
increased to reflect a cost-of-living adjustment, if any.
ARTICLE II
1. The contribution limit described in Article I is gradually reduced to $0 for
higher income annuitants. For a single annuitant, the annual contribution is
phased out between adjusted gross income (AGI) of $95,000 and $110,000; for a
married annuitant filing jointly, between AGI of $150,000 and $160,000; and for
a married annuitant filing separately, between AGI of $0 and $10,000. In the
case of a conversion, the issuer will not accept IRA Conversion Contributions in
a tax year if the annuitant's AGI for the tax year the funds were distributed
from the other IRA exceeds $100,000 or if the annuitant is married and files a
separate return. Adjusted gross income is defined in section 408A(c)(3) and does
not include IRA Conversion Contributions.
2. In the case of a joint return, the AGI limits in the preceding paragraph
apply to the combined AGI of the annuitant and his or her spouse.
ARTICLE III
The annuitant's interest in the contract is nonforfeitable and nontransferable.
ARTICLE IV
1. The contract does not require fixed contributions.
2. Any dividends (refund of contributions other than those attributable to
excess contributions) arising under the contract will be applied (before the
close of the calendar year following the year of the dividend) as contributions
toward the contract.
ARTICLE V
1. If the annuitant dies before his or her entire interest in the contract is
distributed to him or her and the annuitant's surviving spouse is not the
designated beneficiary, the remaining interest in the contract will be
distributed in accordance with (a) below or, if elected or there is no
designated beneficiary, in accordance with (b) below:
(a) The remaining interest in the contract will be distributed, starting by
the end of the calendar year following the year of the annuitant's death, over
the designated beneficiary's remaining life expectancy, or a period no longer
than such remaining life expectancy, as determined in the year following the
death of the annuitant. Life expectancy is determined using the single life
table in Regulations section 1.401(a)(9)-9.
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(b) The remaining interest in the contract will be distributed by the end
of the calendar year containing the fifth anniversary of the annuitant's death.
2. If the annuitant's surviving spouse is the designated beneficiary, such
spouse will then be treated as the annuitant.
ARTICLE VI
1. The annuitant agrees to provide the issuer with all information necessary to
prepare any reports required by sections 408(i) and 408A(d)(3)(E), Regulations
sections 1.408-5 and 1.408-6, or other guidance published by the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
2. The issuer agrees to submit to the IRS and annuitant the reports prescribed
by the IRS.
ARTICLE VII
Notwithstanding any other articles which may be added or incorporated, the
provisions of Articles I through IV and this sentence will be controlling. Any
additional articles inconsistent with section 408A, the related regulations, or
other published guidance will be invalid.
ARTICLE VIII
This Endorsement will be amended as necessary to comply with the provisions
of the Code, the related regulations, and other published guidance. Other
amendments may be made with the consent of the persons whose signatures appear
on the contract.
ARTICLE IX
A. Clarifications of Terms Used in This Endorsement
1. The term "issuer," "we" or "us" means MetLife Insurance Company of
Connecticut.
2. The term "annuitant," "you" or "your" refers to the individual who is the
measuring life, as well as the individual owner (or "owner"), under this
Contract. The term "Contract" also may refer to a certificate issued under a
group annuity contract. No joint owner or contingent annuitant may be named
under this Contract.
3. The term "article" as used in Article VII may include any provision of the
Contract (including any rider or endorsement).
B. Clarifications of Articles I-VIII and Other Contract Provisions
1. The Contract as modified by this Endorsement is intended to qualify as part
of a tax-qualified retirement arrangement, plan or contract that meets the
requirements of section 408A and any applicable Treasury Regulations, i.e., to
qualify as a Roth IRA. To achieve these purposes, the provisions of this
Endorsement shall control if they are in conflict with those of the Contract,
and the provisions of this Endorsement and the Contract (including any other
rider or endorsement that does not specifically override this provision) shall
be interpreted to ensure or maintain such tax qualification, despite any other
provision to the contrary. Payments and distributions under this Contract shall
be made in a time and manner necessary to maintain such a tax qualification
under the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Code"). We
reserve the right to amend this Endorsement or the Contract to comply with any
applicable changes in the Code or any regulations or other published guidance
relating thereto, or to reflect any clarifications that may be needed or are
appropriate to maintain such tax qualification. We will send you a copy of any
such amendment, and when required by law, we will obtain the approval of the
appropriate regulatory authority or of the annuitant.
2. No benefits under the Contract may be transferred, sold, assigned, borrowed,
or pledged as collateral for a loan, or as security for the performance of an
obligation, or for any other purpose, to any person, except that the Contract
may be transferred under a divorce or separation instrument described in section
408(d)(6).
3. (a) Maximum Permissible Amount. Except in the case of a qualified rollover
contribution or a recharacterization (as defined in (f) below), no contribution
shall be allowed into this Contract unless it is in cash and the total of such
contributions to all the individual owner's Roth IRAs for a taxable year does
not exceed the applicable amount (as defined in (b) below), or the individual
owner's compensation (as defined in (h) below), if less, for that taxable year.
Any contribution described in the previous sentence that may not exceed the
lesser of the applicable amount or the individual owner's compensation is
referred to as a "regular contribution." However, notwithstanding the dollar
limits on contributions, an individual may make a repayment of a qualified
reservist distribution described in section 72(t)(2)(G) during the 2-year period
beginning on the day after the end of the active duty period or by August 17,
2008, if later. A "qualified rollover contribution" is a rollover contribution
of a distribution
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from an IRA that meets the requirements of section 408(d)(3), except the
one-rollover-per-year rule of section 408(d)(3)(B) does not apply if the
rollover contribution is from an IRA other than a Roth IRA (a "nonRoth IRA").
For taxable years beginning after 2005, a qualified rollover contribution
includes a rollover from a designated Roth account described in section 402A;
and for taxable years beginning after 2007, a qualified rollover contribution
also includes a rollover from an eligible retirement plan described in section
402(c)(8)(B). Contributions may be limited under (c) through (e) below.
(b) Applicable Amount. The applicable amount is determined below:
(i) If the individual owner is under age 50, the applicable amount is
$3,000 for any taxable year beginning in 2002 through 2004, $4,000 for any
taxable year beginning in 2005 through 2007 and $5,000 for any taxable year
beginning in 2008 and years thereafter. After 2008, the $5,000 amount will be
adjusted by the Secretary of the Treasury for cost-of-living increases under
section 219(b)(5)(D). Such adjustments will be in multiples of $500.
(ii) If the individual owner is 50 or older, the applicable amount
under paragraph (i) above is increased by $500 for any taxable year beginning in
2002 through 2005 and by $1,000 for any taxable year beginning in 2006 and years
thereafter.
(c) Regular Contribution Limit. The maximum regular contribution that can
be made to all the individual owner's Roth IRAs for a taxable year is the
smaller amount determined under (i) or (ii) below.
(i) The maximum regular contribution is phased out ratably between
certain levels of modified adjusted gross income ("modified AGI," defined in (g)
below) in accordance with the following table:
Full Phase-Out No
Filing Status Contribution Range Contribution
- -------------- ---------------- ---------------- ------------
Modified AGI
Single or Head $95,000 or less Between $95,000 $110,000
of Household and $110,000 or more
Joint Return $150,000 or less Between $150,000 $160,000
or Qualifying and $160,000 or more
Widow(er)
Married - $0 Between $0 $10,000
Separate Return and $10,000 or more
If the individual owner's modified AGI for a taxable year is in the phase-out
range, the maximum regular contribution determined under this table for that
taxable year is rounded up to the next multiple of $10 and is not reduced below
$200. After 2006, the dollar amounts above will be adjusted by the Secretary of
the Treasury for cost-of-living increases under section 408A(c)(3). Such
adjustments will be in multiples of $1,000.
(ii) If the individual owner makes regular contributions to both Roth
and nonRoth IRAs for a taxable year, the maximum regular contribution that can
be made to all such individual's Roth IRAs for that taxable year is reduced by
the regular contributions made to such individual's nonRoth IRAs for the taxable
year.
(d) Qualified Rollover Contribution Limit. A rollover from an eligible
retirement plan other than a Roth IRA or a designated Roth account cannot be
made to this Roth IRA if, for the year the amount is distributed from the other
plan, (i) the individual owner is married and files a separate return, (ii) the
individual owner is not married and has modified AGI in excess of $100,000 or
(iii) the individual owner is married and together the individual owner and the
individual owner's spouse have modified AGI in excess of $100,000. For purposes
of the preceding sentence, a husband and wife are not treated as married for a
taxable year if they have lived apart at all times during that taxable year and
file separate returns for the taxable year. For taxable years beginning after
2009, the limits in this paragraph (d) do not apply to qualified rollover
contributions.
(e) SIMPLE IRA Limits. No contribution shall be allowed into this Contract
under a SIMPLE IRA plan established by any employer pursuant to section 408(p).
Also, no transfer or rollover of funds attributable to contributions made by a
particular employer under its SIMPLE IRA plan shall be allowed into this
Contract from a SIMPLE IRA, that is, an IRA used in conjunction with a SIMPLE
IRA plan, prior to the expiration of the 2-year period beginning on the date the
individual owner first participated in that employer's SIMPLE IRA plan.
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(f) Recharacterization. A regular contribution to a nonRoth IRA may be
recharacterized pursuant to the rules in Treas. Reg. Section 1.408A-5 as a
regular contribution to this Roth IRA, subject to the limits in (c) above.
(g) Modified AGI. For purposes of (c) and (d) above, an individual owner's
modified AGI for a taxable year is defined in section 408A(c)(3)(C)(i) and does
not include any amount included in adjusted gross income as a result of a
rollover from an eligible retirement plan other than a Roth IRA (a
"conversion").
(h) Compensation. For purposes of (a) above, compensation is defined as
wages, salaries, professional fees, or other amounts derived from or received
for personal services actually rendered (including, but not limited to
commissions paid salesmen, compensation for services on the basis of a
percentage of profits, commissions on insurance premiums, tips, and bonuses) and
includes earned income, as defined in section 401(c)(2) (reduced by the
deduction the self-employed individual owner takes for contributions made to a
self-employed retirement plan). For purposes of this definition, section
401(c)(2) shall be applied as if the term trade or business for purposes of
section 1402 included service described in subsection (c)(6). Compensation does
not include amounts derived from or received as earnings or profits from
property (including but not limited to interest and dividends) or amounts not
includible in gross income. Compensation also does not include any amount
received as a pension or annuity or as deferred compensation. The term
"compensation" shall include any amount includible in the individual owner's
gross income under section 71 with respect to a divorce or separation instrument
described in subparagraph (A) of section 71(b)(2). In the case of a married
individual filing a joint return, the greater compensation of his or her spouse
is treated as his or her own compensation, but only to the extent that such
spouse's compensation is not being used for purposes of the spouse making a
contribution to a Roth IRA or a deductible contribution to a nonRoth IRA.
(i) The owner shall have the sole responsibility for determining whether
any contribution satisfies applicable income tax requirements.
4. No amount is required to be distributed prior to the death of the individual
owner for whose benefit the Contract was originally established. However, prior
to the time you reach the Maximum Annuity Date or maturity date under this
contract (as the case may be), we will send you information about annuity
payment options so that you may consider whether to continue the deferral of
distributions under your Roth IRA contract provisions or begin to receive
annuity payments or other withdrawals from your Contract.
5. (a) Notwithstanding any provision of this Roth IRA Contract to the contrary,
the distribution of the individual owner's interest in the Roth IRA shall be
made in accordance with the requirements of section 408(b)(3), as modified by
section 408A(c)(5), and the Treasury Regulations thereunder, the provisions of
which are herein incorporated by this reference. If distributions are not made
in the form of an annuity on an irrevocable basis (except for acceleration),
then distribution of the interest in the Roth IRA (as determined under section
5(c), below) must satisfy the requirements of section 408(a)(6), as modified by
section 408A(c)(5) and the Treasury Regulations thereunder, rather than the
distribution rules in paragraphs 5(b), (c), (d) and (e) below.
(b) Upon the death of the individual owner, his or her entire interest
shall be distributed at least as rapidly as follows:
(i) If the designated beneficiary is someone other than such
individual's surviving spouse, the entire interest shall be distributed,
starting by the end of the calendar year following the calendar year of such
individual's death, over the remaining life expectancy of the designated
beneficiary, with such life expectancy determined using the age of the
beneficiary as of his or her birthday in the year following the year of such
individual's death, or, if elected, in accordance with paragraph (b)(iii) below.
(ii) If such individual's sole designated beneficiary is such
individual's surviving spouse, the entire interest shall be distributed,
starting by the end of the calendar year following the calendar year of such
individual's death (or by the end of the calendar year in which such individual
would have attained age 70 1/2, if later), over such spouse's life expectancy,
or, if elected, in accordance with paragraph (b)(iii) below. If such surviving
spouse dies before required distributions commence to him or her, the remaining
interest shall be distributed, starting by the end of the calendar year
following the calendar year of such spouse's death, over such spouse's
designated beneficiary's remaining life expectancy determined using such
beneficiary's age as of his or her birthday in the year following the death of
such spouse, or, if elected, shall be distributed in accordance with paragraph
(b)(iii) below. If such surviving spouse dies after required distributions
commence to him or her, any remaining interest shall continue to be distributed
under the contract option chosen.
(iii) If there is no designated beneficiary, or if applicable by
operation of paragraph (b)(i) or (b)(ii) above, the entire interest shall be
distributed by the end of the calendar year containing the fifth anniversary of
such individual's death (or of the spouse's death in the case of the surviving
spouse's death before distributions are required to begin under paragraph
(b)(ii) above).
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(iv) Life expectancy is determined using the Single Life Table in
Q&A-1 of Treas. Reg. Section 1.401(a)(9)-9. If distributions are being made to a
surviving spouse as the sole designated beneficiary, such spouse's remaining
life expectancy for a year is the number in the Single Life Table corresponding
to such spouse's age in the year. In all other cases, remaining life expectancy
for a year is the number in the Single Life Table corresponding to the
beneficiary's age in the year specified in paragraph (b)(i) or (ii) and reduced
by 1 for each subsequent year.
(c) The "interest" in the Roth IRA includes the amount of any outstanding
rollover, transfer and recharacterization under Q&As-7 and -8 of Treas. Reg.
Section 1.408-8 and any required amount of actuarial present value of any other
benefits provided under the Roth IRA (such as guaranteed death benefits) under
Q&A-12 of Treas. Reg. Section 1.401(a)(9)-6.
(d) For purposes of paragraph 5(b)(ii) above, required distributions are
considered to commence on the date distributions are required to begin to the
surviving spouse under such paragraph. However, if distributions start prior to
the applicable date in the preceding sentence, on an irrevocable basis (except
for acceleration) under an annuity contract meeting the requirements of Treas.
Reg. Section 1.401(a)(9)-6, then required distributions are considered to
commence on the annuity starting date.
(e) If the sole designated beneficiary is the individual owner's surviving
spouse, the spouse may elect to treat the Roth IRA as his or her own Roth IRA.
This election shall be deemed to have been made if such surviving spouse makes a
contribution to the Roth IRA or fails to take required distributions as a
beneficiary.
(f) The owner or the owner's beneficiary, as applicable, shall have the
sole responsibility for requesting or arranging for distributions that comply
with this Endorsement and applicable income tax requirements.
6. If your Contract contains any provisions relating to federal tax requirements
for any Traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA contract that do not apply to Roth IRAs,
they are hereby deleted by this Endorsement. This includes, but is not limited
to, provisions relating to required minimum distribution ("RMD") requirements
during your life that apply to any Traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA but do not
apply to your Roth IRA, such as:
(a) Automatic sending of information about income plans when you attain age
70 or starting income payments on the April 1 following the calendar year you
attain age 70 1/2, or
(b) Waiver of withdrawal charges on withdrawals required to avoid federal
income tax penalties or to satisfy such pre-death RMD income tax rules.
In addition, any references to unisex rates in the Annuity Table or the use of
such rates for SEP or SIMPLE IRAs are deleted.
7. Notwithstanding Article IV above, no dividends are paid under this Contract.
8. If (a) no premiums have been received for two full consecutive contract
years, (b) the account balance is less than $2,000, and (c) the paid-up annuity
benefit at maturity or the Maximum Annuity Date would be less than $20 per
month, we may choose either (i) to accept additional future premium payments
under the Contract, or (ii) where otherwise permitted by law and the terms of
the Contract, to terminate the Contract by a lump sum payment of the then
present value of the paid-up benefit.
All other terms and conditions of the Contract remain unchanged.
METLIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF CONNECTICUT
/s/ Michael K. Farrell
President
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