If the headlines in this newsletter aren't clickable for you,
please use the online, clickable version at:
https://benefitslink.com/2004/2004_03_18_retirement.html
(click or copy-and-paste the above address into your web browser)

BenefitsLink
Retirement Plans
Newsletter		To BenefitsLink home page Fill your job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink

March 18, 2004 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

Software for 401(k), DB and Flexible Benefits
DATAIR BENEFIT ADMINISTRATION SOFTWARE for Pension, Profit Sharing,
401(k) and Cafeteria/Flexible Benefits plans. Designed for
administrators and consultants. Modules include proposals,
IRS-approved documents, enrollment, administration, government
reporting, distribution, tax planning, and client and task
management. Training and support included. For free demo
versions and pricing, contact sales@datair.com or call 1-888-328-2474.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Overview: Proposed Regs Clarify 401(k) Testing for 501(c)(3) Organizations
Excerpt: "After SBJPA, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization can maintain a 401(k) plan, a 403(b) plan, or both. The proposed regulations provide that employees of a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization who are eligible to make salary reduction contributions under a 403(b) plan are excludable employees for purposes of testing whether a 401(k) plan or an associated 401(m) plan satisfies the coverage requirements, provided: ..." (SunGard Corbel)

Overview: DOL Issues Proposed Reg on Fiduciary Safe Harbor for Certain Automatic Rollovers (PDF)
Excerpt: "Prior to EGTRRA, accounts valued at $5,000 or less could simply be 'cashed out' with a check sent to the participant. However, the new EGTRRA provision is not applicable until the [DOL] issues final regulations that provide a 'safe harbor' for plan sponsors in selecting an IRA provider. Absent these safe harbor regulations, there was a concern that plan fiduciaries could have potential fiduciary liability in the selection of an IRA provider and for monitoring the [IRA] investments ..." (Dechert LLP)

Overview: Retirement Savings Tax Credits
Excerpt: "In an effort to help us all save for retirement, Congress passed sweeping legislation in 2001 that increased the contribution limits for individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and employer-sponsored retirement plans. That same legislation created two tax credits--one for individuals who save for retirement and another for employers who adopt new retirement plans for their employees." (Compliance Headquarters)

ERSA Proposal Better This Time Around, But Doubts Linger
Excerpt: "As Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow in early February, the Secretary of the Treasury also unveiled, along with President Bush's budget proposal, a new version of retirement savings programs." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Mutual Fund Scandals to Increase Demand for Unbundled Services?
Excerpt: "Plan sponsors' real dilemma, however, is not whether to migrate to unbundled providers but whether to offer funds from several families versus including only proprietary funds from a single firm." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Private Pension System Full of Pitfalls
Excerpt: "It's not your father's pension any more. 'Just as the certainty of your job is more in question than it was 10 or 20 years ago, the certainty of your retirement (pension) is less clear than 10 or 20 years ago,' says Michael Canan, an attorney with GrayRobinson in Orlando, Fla., and author of an annually updated legal textbook on retirement plans." (Orlando Sentinel via Miami Herald)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Companies Offering Benefits to Same-Sex Couples
Excerpt: "While President Bush pushes a constitutional ban on g.ay marriage, change in the workplace is going full speed toward allowing same-sex couples the same work-family benefits and supports as heterose.xuals." (Wall Street Journal via MLive.com)

Hewlett Packard Shareholders Back Stop Options Expensing
Excerpt: "For the second time in two years, Hewlett-Packard shareholders voted Wednesday in favor of a proposal to require the technology giant to expense the cost of stock options." ([San Jose] Mercury News)

Newly Posted Events

412i Company to Host National Teleconference on New 412i Regulations
Nationwide on March 26, 2004
presented by The 412(i) Company

Sales and Marketing Track of the U.S. Defined Contribution Plans Overview Program
in New York on May 19, 2004
presented by Society of Professional Administrators and Recordkeepers (SPARK)

Sales and Marketing Track of the U.S. Defined Contribution Plans Overview Program
in California on June 10, 2004
presented by Society of Professional Administrators and Recordkeepers (SPARK)

Sales and Marketing Track of the U.S. Defined Contribution Plans Overview Program
in Georgia on April 21, 2004
presented by Society of Professional Administrators and Recordkeepers (SPARK)
Newly Posted Press Releases

SunGard Corbel’s Multimedia Pension Learning Now Meets NASBA CE Requirements
(SunGard Corbel)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Qualified Plan Sales Representative
for Metavante 401(k) Services
in WI

Associate Manager, Retirement Plan Administration
for Yum! Brands - Work for the best company in the country!
in KY

Manager- Trust Technology and Compliance
for Hancock Bank
in MS

Junior Administrator
for Small Daily Val Shop in Jacksonville, FL
in FL

Retirement Plan Sales Executive
for Ceridian
in TX

Sales Analyst
for Merrill Lynch (Retirement Group)
in NJ

Handy Links:
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: