| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Retirement Plans Edition |  |
May 15, 2001
Today's sponsor: The Plan Sales System (click)
The Plan Sales System is a comprehensive, 16-step system for growing a retirement plan sales practice. It provides detailed resources, contact names and numbers, checklists, charts, handouts, letters, extensive prospecting techniques, descriptions of current market opportunities, and tools for planning and monitoring sales activity.
Senate Finance Committee to Review Tax Bill
May 14, 2001. Excerpt: "To fit the retirement savings legislation into the framework of the overall tax package, Grassley and Baucus scaled back the cost from $81 billion over 10 years to $40 billion over ten years. The only major provisions of S. 742 dropped during the process were the increase in eligibility levels for Roth IRA contributions and conversions by joint tax filers, and the speeding up of scheduled increases in income limits for deductible IRA eligibility." (American Benefits Council)
Chairman's Mark of Tax Bill Delays Effective Date of Pension Provisions
Excerpt: "The legislation, to be considered Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee, also would postpone significantly the full impact of provisions that affect people who hope to grow tax-deferred savings for retirement ... [C]ontribution limits for individual retirement accounts would rise from $2,000 to $5,000, but not until 2011. For 401(k)-type plans, the limit would increase from $10,500 to $15,000, but not until 2010. Both contribution limits would see gradual increases until then." (Associated Press, via Excite News)
Policy Group Says Senate Finance Proposal Masks Full Cost
Excerpt: "Because the Senate bill is even more backloaded than the Bush budget, the costs in the second ten years come close to the costs of the Bush plan in these years. Those who hoped the lower target for tax cuts in the congressional budget would lead to a substantially less costly tax cut may find themselves disappointed." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Colombia Tip-Toes Into Tense Pension Reform Debate
Excerpt: "Unions, industry leaders and lawmakers sat down with President Andres Pastrana Monday to tackle a key IMF-agreed pension reform program needed to slash the government's fiscal deficit." (Reuters via Excite News)
Federal Government's Thrift Savings Plan Updates Guide to Investments, Other Publications
This page is an example of how one large employer makes literature available online for its employees. (Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board)
Prohibited Transaction Excise Tax Was Not Double Jeopardy
Originally published March 2001. Excerpt: "The Tax Court has ruled that it was proper for the IRS to levy a prohibited transaction excise tax against a taxpayer, even though the taxpayer claimed that the IRS was barred from collecting the tax because of bankruptcy and criminal court decisions against him. Geib v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2000-391." (KPMG)
IRS Holds Redemption of ESOP Stock Nondeductible
Originally published March 2001. Excerpt: "The IRS has held that payments in redemption of stock held by an employee stock option plan that are used to make distributions to terminating ESOP participants are not 'applicable dividends' that are deductible. This revenue ruling closes a deduction loophole that the district court had allowed in Boise Cascade Corporation v. United States ..." (KPMG)
IRS May Not Levy on Retirement Plan Benefits Until They Are Payable
Originally published March 2001. Excerpt: "The IRS's Office of Chief Counsel has issued a memorandum advising district counsel that the IRS cannot enforce a levy on a retirement plan benefit until payments are due under the plan. ILM 200102021." (KPMG)
When It's Time to Pick a Planner
Excerpt: "The down market has plenty of folks looking for professional help in setting up their retirement plan. Here are tips for finding it." (Business Week)
Spring 2001 Fax Survey Results: Impact of Stock Market Volatility on Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "Although investment performance did not meet expectations in 2000, most plan sponsors have decided to make relatively few investment changes in response to the volatile stock market. However, plan participants have become much more active in seeking investment information or advice." (Aon)
Retirement Planning for Do-It-Yourselfers
Excerpt: "If you don't have a financial map for your golden years, use these tips to get started." (Business Week)
PBGC to Protect Retirement Benefits of 8,000 Former Bradlees Workers
Excerpt: "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) [on May 14, 2001] announced it is taking over the underfunded pension plan of bankrupt Bradlees Stores, Inc., Braintree, Mass., which operated 105 discount department stores primarily in the northeastern U.S." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Andersen's Human Capital Alert (PDF)
May 1, 2001. Articles include: 'IRS will not approve compensation arrangements that violate HHS policy; DOL to participate in benefits outreach program; Supreme Court holds back wages subject to FICA and FUTA in year paid; Pension contributions may be excluded from debtor's bankruptcy proceeding; Entitlement to ERISA benefit governed by plan terms and procedures; Senate and House pass bankruptcy reform bills; White House on health insurance tax credit" (Andersen)
Pitfalls In Compensating Corporate Executives With Partnership Interests
May 2001. Excerpt: "Corporations seeking to provide incentive compensation to individuals based directly on an individual's efforts with respect to a particular project or projects sometimes drop the project or projects into a partnership and provide the executives employed with the corporation with an interest in that business." (Judy Alden of PricewaterhouseCoopers)
Options Exchange Plan Gets Thumbs-Up from Institutional Investors
Excerpt: "While stock option repricing plans do not typically get a warm reception from the institutional investor community, Polycom Inc. management's proposal for a six-month-and-one-day (6&1) option exchange has become an exception to the rule.... [Polycom] has the backing of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a global provider of proxy-vote recommendations, for its options exchange plan." (CFO.com)
Up From the Deep: Companies Use Option Plays to Rescue Underwater Stock Options
Excerpt: "Plenty of companies have simply repriced the options lower, but shareholders have become increasingly critical of the move. And then there's the hit to earnings that can be triggered by the accounting for the repricing to consider. Now an alternative to repricing is quickly gaining popularity. The method, called a '6&1,' offers employees the chance to exchange underwater options with new grants six months and one day later." (CFO.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Pension Administrator | for Pension Investors Corporation in FL |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Allentown | in PA on August 14, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| PSCA provides Spanish-language education materials (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America) |
| Portman-Cardin Legislation Will Benefit Workers At All Income Levels (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA)) |
| PSCA Releases Automatic Enrollment 2001 Study (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA)) |
| PSCA Commends Chairman Manzullo for Attention to Small Business Retirement Issues (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA)) |
| PSCA Applauds H.R.10 -- The Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001 (Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA)) |
| ICMA Retirement Corporation Launches i457 Internet-Based Retirement Program (ICMA Retirement Corporation) |
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