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May 6, 2003 - 13,143 subscribers
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IRS Announces Availability of Second White Paper on Future of Determination Letter Program
Excerpt: "EP has undertaken a project to consider the long-term future of the determination letter program. The question the Service is considering, and which it has asked the public to consider, is whether there might be better alternatives to the present determination letter program." (Internal Revenue Service)
Northwest Airlines President Testifies Proposed PT Exemption for Stock Contribution is Crucial
Excerpt: "As skeptical employees listened, [Northwest Airlines President Doug Steenland] urged the five-member Labor Department panel in Washington, D.C., to approve Northwest's request to cover more than $220 million in pension fund shortfalls with yet-to-be tradable stock in a subsidiary, Pinnacle Airlines." (AP via the [Minneapolis] Star Tribune)
Airlines Seek to Delay Pension Funding
Excerpt: "The financially struggling airline industry is quietly seeking legislation that will allow commercial airlines to put off making any catch-up contributions to their underfunded pension plans for almost five years, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported." (Dow Jones Business News via Yahoo! News)
House Considers Measure to Cut Billions in Pension Obligations
Excerpt: "A bill pending in the House of Representatives would allow businesses with union workers to reduce their company pension obligations by billions of dollars, because statistics show that most blue-collar workers do not live as long as other Americans.... The measure would allow companies to assume that their blue-collar workers will on average die sooner than pension plans now assume they will." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Doing Your Homework on Social Security Can Pay Off
Excerpt: "Getting the most from Social Security involves ... making accurate predictions about your lifespan, inflation and investment returns.... If you can afford it and live a long time, you do better by delaying benefits." (Washington Post)
10th Cir. Approves Retroactive QDRO Entered After Participant's Death
Patton v. Denver Post Corp. (10th Cir. 2003). Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: ... [T]his case involved a defined benefit rather than a 401(k) plan, and pre-retirement death benefits typically are not payable under a defined benefit plan unless there is a surviving spouse (or a QDRO awarding surviving spouse benefits to a former spouse). This is the reason some courts have found that the participant's interest in a defined benefit plan ceases upon death and cannot be resurrected by a post-death QDRO." (EBIA Weekly)
Pentagon Plan Would Let Retirees Return Without Sacrificing Pay
Excerpt: "Federal retirees with a hankering to go back to work-- but deterred by pay restrictions in the law-- might get their chance at the Defense Department if Congress gives the green light.... Currently, civil service retirees who go back to work in the government face a deduction in pay equal to the amount of their annuity." (Washington Post)
Brief Overview of Pension Preservation and Savings Expansion Act of 2003
Excerpt: "TIAA-CREF supports the Portman-Cardin Preservation and Savings Expansion Act of 2003 as legislation that would encourage individuals to build and preserve a secure retirement while enhancing savings and pensions systems on a national level. The recently introduced Pension Preservation and Savings Expansion Act includes provisions that would ..." (TIAA-CREF)
Overview: Final Regs Address Earnings Calculation for Returned or Recharacterized IRA Contributions
Excerpt: "The final regulations do not extend the special valuation rule to all IRA assets. The IRS and Treasury believe that, if an IRA asset is normally valued on a daily basis, these values must be used so that the calculation of the amount of net income attributable to a contribution is based on the actual earnings and losses of the IRA during the time it held the contribution." (Tax.CCHGroup.com)
Another Question is Answered in the Davis-Bacon Act Q&A Column
Are Davis-Bacon contributions to a qualified plan required to be 100% vested at all times? (BenefitsLink.com)
Opinion: Advisers Should Take a Stand on Fiduciary Liability
Excerpt: "While that is a common and understandable reaction to assuming legal liability in any form, it's shortsighted for firms to adopt a hands-off attitude toward fiduciary responsibility. A client, driven to the level of anger and frustration that produces a lawsuit, will sue everyone in sight, fiduciary status notwithstanding." (Financial-Planning.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Tax on Option Exercise Wasn't Deferred by SEC's 'Short-Swing' Recapture Rule or 'Lockup' Agreement
5/5/2003. Excerpt: "The Fifth Circuit, affirming the Tax Court, has held that tax on compensation resulting from an exercise of a nonqualified stock option wasn't deferred by the Securities Exchange Act's 'short-swing profit rule' or a 'lockup' agreement that extended the 'short-swing' period for an additional 18 months." (RIA Tax News)
Link to Online IRS Directory for Tax Practitioners
Searchable database. (Internal Revenue Service)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Director of Daily Valuation Services
for Professional Capital Services, LLC
in PA
Account Manager/Benefits Specialist
for Dickerson Employee Benefits
in CA
Mgr-Benefits
for American Express
in NY
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Investments and How to Invest
in FL
May 20, 2003
Employee Benefits Council of Central Florida
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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