"Retirement is meant to be enjoyed, but many find it difficult to give themselves permission to spend the savings they've worked so hard to build," said Terri Fiedler, the company's president of retirement services.

The Mercatus Center pundits included the exclusion in a review of federal "tax expenditures."

A federal court decision voids the fee as an unlawful tax imposed without congressional authorization, resetting compliance expectations for employers and setting up a likely appeal.