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Retirement Plans
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April 16, 2004 - 13559 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Natalie Choate's Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

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

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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Text of IRS Ann. 2004-32: Staggered Remedial Amendment Periods for Individually Designed Plans (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "This system will be implemented initially to stagger the expiration of individually designed plans' remedial amendment periods for [EGTRRA].... While annual plan updates are desirable, the Service will not consider this option further at this time.... The Service intends to proceed with the development of guidance necessary to implement a staggered remedial amendment period system, essentially along the lines of the white paper." (Internal Revenue Service)

Text of IRS Ann. 2004-33: Request for Comments on Revenue Procedure for Pre-Approved Plans (PDF)
34 pages. Excerpt: "This announcement includes a draft revenue procedure that contains the Service's procedures for issuing opinion and advisory letters as to the acceptability under § 401(a) of the Code of the form of pre-approved plans (that is, master and prototype (M&P) plans and volume submitter (VS) plans). The Service seeks public input before finalizing these procedures and invites interested persons to submit comments." (Internal Revenue Service)

Overview: Handling Missing Participants
Excerpt: "When a terminated plan participant who has a vested account balance of less than $5,000 cannot be located, the plan sponsor will encounter difficulties in cashing out that individual. Locating and distributing vested benefits to missing participants can also be a problem when a retirement plan is being terminated." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Text of Rev. Rul. 2004-44: Applicable Federal Rates for May 2004 (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Table 1 contains the short-term, mid-term, and long-term applicable federal rates (AFR) for the current month for purposes of section 1274(d) of the Internal Revenue Code." (Internal Revenue Service)

Pension Fund Trustees Ask SEC To Require Global Warming Reports
Excerpt: "The officials manage combined assets of nearly $800 billion, and include Connecticut State Treasurer Denise Nappier, Maine Treasurer Dale McCormick, New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, California State Treasurer Phil Angelides and Afscme President Gerald McEntee. They were among a group of institutional investors who convened a summit on climate risk at the United Nations in November last year ..." (Dow Jones via MLive.com)

CalPERS Targets Directors Who Neglect Stockholders
Excerpt: "The nation's biggest public pension fund is escalating its campaign for better corporate governance, targeting directors it says don't act in the best interests of shareholders at 2,700 companies -- almost all of the U.S. corporations in its portfolio, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported." (Dow Jones via Quicken.com)

Big Business Demonstrating Less Opposition to Shareholder Activism
Excerpt: "While shareholder activists do not expect to win every battle this year, rarely have the signs been more hopeful for proponents of social and environmental change who see fit to take their battles to the board room. Whether the motivation comes from a shift in sentiment in the wake of the spate of accounting scandals, or a fear of reprisal for those who do not clean house, companies seem to be having a change of heart ..." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Fresno [Calif.] County Employees To Pay More For Pensions
Excerpt: "Most of Fresno County's 7,000 employees will see their retirement contributions double over the next two years to help fix the county's struggling pension system. The increases will take effect July 1 under a plan unanimously approved Thursday by the Board of Retirement." (Fresno Bee)

That's One Small Step for Funded Status, One Giant Leap for Pension Returns
Excerpt: "A survey of 100 of the nation's largest defined-benefit pension plans revealed an average return on assets of nearly 20 percent in 2003. But watch your back, Alan Greenspan. The annual survey, by consultancy Milliman, also determined that the funded status of those plans improved only slightly because the gains were offset by liability increases caused by lower interest rates." (CFO.com)

Slide Show: Social Security Reform-- Solutions Inside the Box (PDF)
30 pages. Presented 4/16/04 by Heather Jerbi, Pension Policy Analyst; a Capitol Hill briefing on Social Security reform. (American Academy of Actuaries)

An Actuarial Perspective on the 2004 Social Security Trustees Report (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This issue brief provides an actuarial perspective on the most recent report, together with sufficient background material for readers to obtain a good understanding of (1) what the trustees are saying about the future financial condition of Social Security and (2) the limitations of the trustees' assessment." (American Academy of Actuaries)

April 2004 Update: Social Security Reform-- Changes to the Benefit Formula and Taxation of Benefits (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This issue brief focuses on two other possible options for reform: changing the benefit formula while maintaining the defined benefit nature of the program; and changing the way Social Security benefits are treated for federal income tax purposes." (American Academy of Actuaries)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Eighth Circuit Applies Ten-Year Statute of Limitations to Lawsuit for Benefits Under ERISA
Shaw v. McFarland Clinic, P.C. (8th Cir. 2004). Excerpt: "The employee in this case requested pre-authorization for a medical procedure, as required by her employer's self-funded group health plan. Three years after the plan's final denial of pre-authorization, the employee sued the employer for wrongful denial of benefits under ERISA." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

Governor of Massachusetts Seeks to Delay Same-Sex Marriages
Excerpt: "With only a month before same-sex marriages are to become legal in Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney made a last-ditch effort on Thursday to keep them from taking place for at least two and a half years." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

IRS Stepping Up Tax Audits of Corporate Executives
Excerpt: "Included in the original examination was heightened scrutiny on executive benefits. Following the initial inquiry, the IRS identified eight areas that needed more oversight: ..." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Opinion: Senate Restrictions on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans Go Too Far (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Congress' interest in imposing new restrictions on deferred compensation programs is certainly understandable in view of the high-profile abuses that have been exposed in recent years. Yet legislation should not undermine performance-based pay vehicles that are in the best interest of shareholders." (HR Policy Association)

Newly Posted Events

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Minnesota on June 30, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in California on April 20, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Colorado on April 23, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Massachusetts on May 20, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Pennsylvania on May 21, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Wisconsin on May 24, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Illinois on May 25, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Florida on June 7, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Missouri on June 16, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Texas on June 23, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Iowa on June 29, 2004
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors

Qualified Retirement Plan Update Seminar - Plan Design & Current Developments - Spring 2004
in Georgia on May 5, 2005
presented by Technical Answer Group, Inc. and Global Benefit Advisors
Newly Posted Press Releases

Newkirk Announces HMO Plus — All-new Document Publishing System
(Newkirk)

Pension Agency Honors Problem Resolution Officer
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

Native Washingtonian Honored by Pension Agency
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

Budget Director Receives Distinguished Career Service Award from Pension Agency
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

"Executive Compensation" from CCH Provides Wide-Ranging Treatment
(CCH Incorporated)

The ESOP Association Outraged By American Bar Association’s Commission on Law and Aging’s Draft Recommendation to Kill Employee Ownership Through ESOPs
(ESOP Association)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

2nd Vice President, Creative Services
for New York Life Investment Management
in MA, NY

401(k) Compliance Manager
for ADP Retirement Services
in NJ

Pension Administrator
for The Weiss Group, Inc.
in IL

Pension Installation Project Manager-NBI
for Transamerica
in CA

Defined Benefit Pension Administrator
for Bruce & Bruce Company
in IL

401(k) / Pension Administrator
for Benefit Systems, Inc.
in TX

Manager, RFP's
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY

Implementation Manager
for Great-West Life & Annuity
in CO

Operations Specialist for Daily-Valued Defined Contribution Plans
for The Heintzberger Company
in OR

Director of Retirement Plans
for UnumProvident Corporation
in ME

Defined Contribution Analyst
for Jacob, Haxton & Boord, LLC.
in OH

Benefits Assistant
for Dewey Ballantine LLP
in NY

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