Retirement Plans Edition
October 20, 2000
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DOL Regs Impose Additional Requirements on Sponsors of Small Pension Plans
Excerpt: "Under the new rules, effective for plan years beginning after April 17, 2001 (the 2002 plan year for calendar year plans), an employee benefit plan with less than 100 participants does not have to have an audit if the plan meets the following requirements ... " (Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy, L.L.P.)
Pub. EFAST-A, User's Guide for Electronic/Magnetic Media Filing of Forms 5500 and 5500-EZ (PDF)
October 6, 2000 edition. Excerpt: "This guide specifies the requirements for participating in the electronic/magnetic media filing program for Employee Benefit Plan Filings (Forms 5500 and 5500-EZ)." (U.S. Department of Labor)
Are All 414(h)(2) "Pick-Ups" Under State and Local Government Plans Subject To FICA Taxes?
"Picked up" contributions are supposed to be included in the FICA wage base only if they are pursuant to a salary reduction agreement. In some instances, IRS auditors have been taking the position that all pick-ups are necessarily pursuant to salary reduction agreements, and therefore taxable. Have you faced such positions? How have you responded. Join us for this discussion on the Governmental Plans message board. (BenefitsBoards.net)
IRA Ownership in 2000 (PDF)
Excerpt: "An estimated 41 percent, or 42.5 million, of U.S. households owned Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) as of June 2000. Nearly one-third of U.S. households (an estimated 33.1 million) held traditional IRAs, making it the most common form of IRA ownership. Ten percent of U.S. households (an estimated 10.4 million) owned Roth IRAs, and seven percent (an estimated 7.4 million) held SIMPLE IRAs, SEP-IRAs, or SAR-SEP IRAs." (Investment Company Institute)
2001 IRS Dollar Limits for Retirement Plans and 2001 Social Security Factors
Excerpt: "Dollar limits for qualified plans and other tax-favored retirement plans for 2000 and 2001 are noted in the following table." (The Segal Company)
Study Says Raising the Retirement Age Is Wrong Direction for Social Security (PDF)
Excerpt: "George W. Bush’s plan to allow a certain amount of Social Security revenue to be funneled into private retirement accounts not only fundamentally changes the nature of the current system but would be costly. Bush cedes that the private accounts might be paid for by benefit cuts or raising the retirement age, meaning that 35-year-old workers in 2002 would have to work an additional six or seven years before they could receive full retirement benefits." (Christian Weller, Economic Policy Institute)
Bush Is Hit on Social Security
Excerpt: "The Democratic National Committee released a new commercial this week attacking Gov. George W. Bush's proposal to create private investment accounts in the Social Security system. Building on criticism that Vice President Al Gore directed at the Bush plan in the final presidential debate on Tuesday night, the commercial says Mr. Bush cannot meet his promise to create investment accounts for younger workers without shortchanging retirees." (New York Times; free registration required)
Bush Pushes Social Security Plan
Excerpt: "But Gore, during a major economic speech in New York, showed no sign of shying away from a battle over the best approach for the retirement program. The vice president reiterated a theme he began pushing during the final presidential debate--that Bush's plan to divert $1 trillion over the next decade to create private accounts will hasten the program's financial instability and force benefit cuts." (Washington Post)
After Attacks, Bush Strikes Back Hard in Defense of His Social Security Proposal
(New York Times; free registration required)
2001 Social Security Factsheet
(Social Security Administration)
(Following also appears in Welfare Plans Edition)
Graef Crystal: Lucent's McGinn May Get More Than He Deserves
Excerpt: "Lucent Technologies Inc.'s chief executive, Richard McGinn, ought to go without a cash bonus or an option grant for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. Lucent's earnings per share for fiscal 2000 were 8 percent lower than the fiscal 1999 figure, based on results for the first three quarters and the company's fourth-quarter estimate. That's a terrible showing for the company, whose results are due Tuesday." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser ExpertPlan
ExpertPlan (www.expertplan.com) is a provider of online retirement plan solutions which enable financial advisors to offer high-quality, low-cost retirement plans to meet the needs of their clients. The company was founded in 1999 by core members of the information systems management team from one of the world's largest financial services corporations, and is headquartered in Trenton, NJ.
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Hay Group Inc.
The Hay Group's Pension Calculation Language(PCL) is a software program that allows your organization to use a personal computer to obtain calculations and estimates. PCL provides estimates for multiple retirement dates; prior plan provisions are taken into account in all benefit calculations; and all plan optional benefit forms(for example, joint and survivor benefits, year certain benefits, temporary Social Security supplements, and lump-sum payments) are calculated quickly and easily.
| Call Center Manager - Benefit Outsourcing | for Unifi Network/PricewaterhouseCoopers in NC |
| Retirement Plan Wholesaler/Consultant | for the ULTIMATE money manager's recruiter in IL |
| Compensation and Benefits Manager | for Leviton Manufacturing Co. a leader in the Electrical Wiring Industry in NY |
| Account Service Leader | for INVESCO in NC |
| Technical Specialist | for INVESCO in NC |
| Compensation Manager (BLink-SJCORP6922) | for Sony Electronics Inc. in CA, NJ |
| Assistant Manager of New Business/Conversion | for DailyAccess.com in AL |
| Retirement Services Specialists | for Constantin Control Associates in NJ, NY |
| Client Relationship Manager | for Benefit Recruiters in DC, GA, NC, NY, OH, PA, TX |
| Defined Contribution Guru...Aggressive compensation package! | for Richard A. Eisner & Company, LLP in NY |
| Benefits Analyst | for TriNet, the leading provider of on-line total solutions for outsourcing payroll, benefits and HR support to fast growth technology companies. in CA, NV |
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