| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
March 2, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
The Country's Best 401(k) Plans Manual Questions about 401(k) plan administration or legal requirements? Need some sample forms? Look no further--EBIA is here to help! Our two-volume 401(k) Plans manual is a thorough, easy-to-use, and cost-effective solution. Written and edited by top employee benefits attorneys, our 401(k) Plans manual has over 1,700 pages packed with the information you need to answer your 401(k) plan questions. For more information, visit http://www.ebia.com
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Supreme Court Opinion Reverses Sixth Circuit on Bankrup.tcy Protection Pension Issue
Target page is the 'syllabus' prepared by the court's staff; target page includes links to the text of the opinion by Justice Ginsburg as well as the two concurring opinions. (U.S. Supreme Court via Cornell Legal Information Institute)
Supreme Court: Owner is Participant in Pension Plan
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the working owner of a business may qualify as a 'participant' in a federally protected pension plan.... The decision is important in that it helps small business owners protect pension assets from creditors, even in bankrup.tcy." (UPI via Washington Post)
Text of Proposed Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption for Certain Choices of Rollover IRA (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "The proposed exemption permits a fiduciary of a pension plan that is also the employer maintaining the plan to establish, on behalf of its separated employees, an individual retirement plan at a financial institution that is the employer or an affiliate, in connection with an automatic rollover of a mandatory distribution described in section 401(a)(31)(B) of the Code.... Relief [also] would permit a plan fiduciary to select a proprietary product as the initial investment ..." (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Text of DOL Proposed Safe Harbor for Rollover of Mandatory Distributions to IRAs (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "[T]he proposed safe harbor applies only to the automatic rollover of a mandatory distribution described in section 401(a)(31)(B) of the Code. At present, such distributions are limited to nonforfeitable accrued benefits (generally referred to as vested benefits), the present value of which is in excess of $1,000, but less than or equal to $5,000." (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Benefits of 401(k) Plans May Be Lost on New 'Millennial' Generation, CIGNA Survey Finds
Press release. Excerpt: "America's primary retirement-savings tool, the 401(k) plan, is failing to engage America's youngest workers, calling into question the 401(k)'s long-term contribution to individual wealth and its value to employers as a tool to attract and retain top talent. According to CIGNA Retirement & Investment Services' third-annual Workplace Report on Retirement Planning ..." (Yahoo! Finance)
Issue Brief: Social Adequacy and Individual Equity in Social Security (PDF)
8 pages. (American Academy of Actuaries)
Issue Brief: Means Testing for Social Security (PDF)
4 pages. (American Academy of Actuaries)
Opinion: Greenspan Retirement Proposals Jar Lethargic Congress
Excerpt: "Social Security, the untouchable third rail, is in play. All it took was a few carefully chosen words from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to give the demographic time bomb facing the U.S. a new sense of urgency." (Caroline Baum on Bloomberg.com)
Opinion: We've Been Fooled by the Social Security Shell Game Again
Excerpt: "The Social Security Shell Game has distracted voters while bringing about a significant shift in the tax burden from the rich to the middle class." (Gilbert E. Metcalf in the Boston Globe)
Overview: IRS Provides Further ESOP S Corporation Relief in Rev. Proc. 2004-14
Excerpt: " This Revenue Procedure modifies and supercedes Rev. Proc. 2003-23, 2003-11 I.R.B. 599, by extending the protection of the S election of the company not only when the company repurchases the distributed shares from the participant, but also when the ESOP repurchases them." (BNA Tax Management)
Federal Thrift Savings Plan Immune to Problems Afflicting Mutual Fund Industry, Panel Finds
Excerpt: "The Thrift Savings Plan is a great bargain. That was the consensus at a hearing yesterday chaired by Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-Ill.), who, as chairman of a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee, has been probing hidden and excessive fees in the mutual fund industry." (Washington Post)
Lawmaker Calls for Competition on Federal Thrift Savings Plan Administration Contract
Excerpt: "The Thrift Savings Plan's relationship with the National Finance Center took another hit Monday when a lawmaker called for the agency's $52 million administrative services contract to be opened for competition." (GovExec.com)
Disney Situation Shows Power of Pension Activism
Excerpt: "Public pension funds have long portrayed themselves as protectors of the little guy and enemies of companies and Wall Street institutions that seek to fleece the pensioner. But an all-out assault last week on Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Michael D. Eisner by state funds from California to Massachusetts indicates that a new aggressiveness they first demonstrated last year may be here to stay." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Opinion: President's Savings Proposals Likely To Swell Long-Term Deficits
Recently updated. Excerpt: "The President's 2005 budget includes a proposal to establish new savings tax breaks. A similar proposal was included in the Administration's budget last year. The proposal -- to establish tax-favored 'Lifetime Savings Accounts' and to replace existing Individual Retirement Accounts with 'Retirement Savings Accounts' -- is ill-advised for five reasons." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Are First-class Airfares Worth Paying For?
Excerpt: "How far must first-class airfares fall before people decide it's actually worth it to pay to sit in the front seats? In recent weeks, the nation's airlines have decided to find out." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
In Enron's Wake, Time for a Review of Nonqualified Plans
Excerpt: "Even though the plans get a bad rap in the press, it's still a good idea to review these plans and remove 'anomalies.'" (Workforce.com)
Aging and Work-- a View from the United States
Excerpt: "In this AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper, Sara Rix explores trends in the employment and retirement of older Americans over the past 50 years; highlights some of the factors behind those trends; describes where and under what circumstances older persons in the United States are employed; speculates on what the future may hold for older workers; and identifies policies and programs that do or could encourage labor force attachment at later ages." (AARP Research)
Say What? Listen on Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments
Excerpt: "The audiofiles will be posted the day after argument and will remain available on the web page for three months." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier on BenefitsBlog)
Overview: Modification of Employee Note Constitutes Payment of Wages
Excerpt: "The ruling is significant because many taxpayers and tax advisors have been advocating, particularly during the recent economic recession, that a reduction or cancellation of an employee note under these circumstances often was a non-taxable event by reason of statutory (or applicable common law) purchase price reduction or insolvency authorities." (Perkins Coie)
Grocery Workers Make Big Sacrifices
Excerpt: "Pension benefits for veteran employees will be reduced to 65 percent of current levels, maxing out at $1.92 an hour by the end of the contract. For new hires, it will max out at 80 cents, less than half of the reduced amount." (Contra Costa Times)
German Leader Vows to Stick with Pension, Welfare Reforms
Excerpt: "Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pledged Monday to press ahead with economic reforms despite a 'painful' state election defeat that exposed voters' anger about his drive to trim welfare-state programs.... Party officials cited public anger about Schroeder's drive to trim pension, health care and jobless benefits among the critical reasons for the defeat, but Schroeder insisted he would stick to his course." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
412(i) and Beyond - What the New Rules Mean for Me
Nationwide on March 3, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
How To Grow Your Retirement Plans Business Part II: Changing Business Practices
in Illinois on October 12, 2004
presented by Center for Due Diligence
Newly Posted Press Releases
PBGC Grants Leap-Year Extension to 4010 Filers
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
ICMA Retirement Corporation Develops EZLink
(ICMA Retirement Corporation)
Assistant DOL Secretary To Address 401(k) Industry At SPARK Conference
(RG Wuelfing & Associates)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Health & Welfare Consultant
for Towers Perrin
in CT, DC, NJ, NY, OH, TX
Litigation Attorney
for Slevin & Hart, P.C.
in DC
Benefits Analyst
for Apple Computer, Inc.
in CA
AVP Business Development & Analysis
for Merrill Lynch Retirement Group
in NJ
Senior Benefits Analyst
for Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP
in NY
Defined Benefit Pension Administrator
for Bruce & Bruce Company
in IL
Pension Administrator
for The Nolan Company
in KS, MO
Benefits Manager
for Milgard Manufacturing
in WA
Processing Department Manager
for Benesystems
in AZ
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2004 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.
Published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
Housekeeping: