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May 19, 2004 - 13529 subscribers
Today's sponsor: SunGard Corbel Inc.
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Significantly Reduce Your Research Time! Don't waste your time with a 5500 manual that merely rewrites the instructions! The 5500 Filing Guide is designed to help you understand annual Form 5500 rules for pension and welfare benefit plans – covering what the DOL is asking and why they are asking it. Updated for 2003 Forms and loaded with examples, The Guide is available as an electronic reference tool built right into Relius® Government Forms 5500, or in a hardcopy, printed format.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Text of ASPA Comments to IRS on 412(i) Plan Regulations
Excerpt: "The source of the problem with §412(i) plans is the insurance vehicles being used by overly-aggressive promoters. A key element of properly regulating abusive §412(i) plans is policy valuation ... Enforcement is needed to restore an appropriate §412(i) marketplace. The final regulations should clarify when a plan is a §412(i) plan and what is required for it to be a qualified plan under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) §401(a)." (American Society of Pension Actuaries)
Houston Mayor's Plan Would Trim Pensions
Excerpt: "City employees would work longer, pay more and get less under a new retirement package proposed Tuesday by Mayor Bill White to slash the $1.9 billion shortfall in Houston's main municipal pension fund." (Houston Chronicle)
Rev. Rul. 2004-54: Applicable Federal Rates for June 2004 (PDF)
3 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Overview: Pension Relief Bill Enacted: Provides 2-Year Fix for Interest Rates
Spring 2004 issue. Excerpt: "[W]e give you a rundown on what the new law (the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004) means for your pension contributions and PBGC premiums." (HayGroup)
Overview: PBGC Proposes Participant Notice Expanded Enforcement Program and New Penalty
Excerpt: "Due to historically low interest rates and the recent bear market, many plan administrators have been forced to deal with the Participant Notice rules for the first time during the past few years. Recent PBGC audits also indicate noncompliance is on the rise. PBGC believes the reason is that many plan administrators do not know about or understand the Participant Notice rules." (Deloitte's Washington Bulletin)
Opinion: the Real Japan Social Security Scandal is What's Perfectly Legal
Excerpt: "A scandal surrounding one of Japan's most critical problems-- its drastically underfunded and byzantine public pension system--has thrown the entire government into chaos. Public outrage over lawmakers' failures to pay into the national pension system has tainted dozens of politicians ... Most tragically, however, this political circus has diverted attention from the real issue ... Japan's malfunctioning pension system ..." (Time Magazine)
Overview: New Deadlines, Notice Rules for Airlines, Steel Companies
Excerpt: "IRS has provided guidance on the notices that must be given by an airline or steel industry employer (and one union) to plan participants and their beneficiaries, and to PBGC, if the employer (or union) elects the alternative deficit reduction contribution added by the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004." (RIA Tax News)
Overview: New IRS Retroactive Benefit Payment Rules, Disclosures of Relative Value of Benefits
Spring 2004 issue. Excerpt: "[We] guide you through the steps you must take, as a defined benefit pension plan sponsor, to comply with new IRS rules on benefit elections and distributions." (HayGroup)
Spouse Who Murdered Plan Participant Forfeits Right to Survivor's Annuity from Ga. Govt. Plan
Excerpt: "An Atlanta area police officer's widow, convicted of killing him by poisoning him with anti-freeze, will no longer receive a $790 a month pension." (UPI via Washington Times)
New Guidance on Reporting Late Deposits on Form 5500
Excerpt: "While this guidance does not give any further advice about how to decide whether a contribution or loan repayment deposit is late and subject to reporting on Form 5500, it does give us a better idea of how the DOL expects these transactions to be disclosed." (Form5500Help.com)
5 States Ask SEC for Ability to Trade Speed Over Best Price
Excerpt: "Officials from Minnesota, Ohio, Louisiana, Illinois and Alabama said the SEC's so-called trade-through rule, which requires exchanges to make price the No. 1 priority, puts more than $128 billion in state-employee pension funds at a disadvantage." (Bloomberg News via L.A. Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Ex-Pension Officials in Milwaukee Want to Feel No Pain for Ethics Violations
Excerpt: "Six Milwaukee County Pension Board members who have agreed to pay thousands of dollars in civil forfeitures for dozens of ethics violations now are asking county taxpayers to pick up the cost of those fines and their legal expenses." (Cary Spivak and Dan Bice in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
DOL Publication: Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities
Excerpt: "ERISA sets standards of conduct for those who manage an employee benefit plan and its assets (called fiduciaries). [This web page] provides an overview of the basic fiduciary responsibilities applicable to retirement plans under the law." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)
Updated Check-Up for Your SEP, SIMPLE or Similar Plan
Excerpt: "'Check-Ups' are now available to help business owners who sponsor IRA-based retirement plans (SIMPLE IRA plans, SEPs or SARSEPs) develop a better understanding of the requirements for their plans. The 'Check-Ups' offer handy tools to help an owner begin a retirement plan check-up. The goal of the 'Check-Ups' is increased awareness by business owners of the need to properly operate retirement plans ..." (Internal Revenue Service)
Understanding Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses
Excerpt: "Among other duties, fiduciaries have a responsibility to ensure that the services provided to their plan are necessary and that the cost of those services is reasonable. This booklet will help you better understand and evaluate your plan's fees and expenses." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)
Opinion: Pensions For Negro Leaguers Clear Old Debt
Excerpt: "Commissioner Bud Selig said baseball will pay more than $1 million in pensions to 27 former Negro League players, who will have the option of receiving $833.33 per month for four years or $375 a month for life. Baseball previously had established a fund for 85 players who played at least one day in the majors. They receive $10,000 per year. This new money will go to players who came after Jackie Robinson but never had a chance to play in the big leagues ..." (DuluthNewsTribune.com)
Opinion: Mutual Funds Acting a Bit Too Smug
Excerpt: "When fund companies aren't recklessly promoting hot funds, they are playing tricks with performance. Funds with lousy records are regularly merged out of existence, even if it means folding huge funds with rotten results into better performers with fewer assets." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Modeling Lifetime Earnings Paths: Hypothetical versus Actual Workers (PDF)
39 pages; working paper by Andrew Au, Olivia S. Mitchell and John W. R. Phillips. Excerpt: "To assess the distributional effects of social security reform proposals, it is essential to have good information on real-world workers' lifetime earnings trajectories.... We show that the hypothetical profiles do not track earnings patterns of current retirees ... Therefore, using hypothetical profiles could misrepresent benefits paid and taxes collected under such reforms." (Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee Benefit Plans (PDF)
19 pages. (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)
Online Form 2848 Lets You Click, Fill In, and Print (PDF)
Cool! Seems to require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to work. Let me know if it doesn't work for you, and what version of Adobe Acrobat Reader you're using -- davebaker@benefitslink.com. (Internal Revenue Service)
Same-Sex Marriages Require Massachusetts Employers to Make Benefits Decisions (PDF)
2 pages; authored by a Massachusetts law firm. Excerpt: "Insured Health Plans: Check with the health insurer to determine whether, as will probably be the case, the insurer's position is that the plan must offer health benefits to same-sex spouses. If it is not, decide how broadly to offer health benefits to same-sex spouses.... Self-Insured Health Plans: Decide whether to extend health benefits to same-sex spouses." (Palmer & Dodge LLP)
G.ay Marriage's Minefield for Businesses
Excerpt: "Massachusetts' legalization will create a slew of new headaches when it comes to health care and other benefits for g.ay employees." (BusinessWeek Online)
G.ay Couples Enter Golden Years With More Risk
Excerpt: "Older g.ay couples face a much greater risk of spending the end of their lives in poverty because they're ineligible for a host of federal protections, ranging from Social Security survivor benefits to estate tax exemptions, g.ay rights advocates say." (USA Today)
Married G.ay Couples Face Other Legal Obstacles
Excerpt: "The denial of certain federal employment benefits could also provoke litigation. Benefits provided under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, such as insurance and retirement plans, are regulated by federal law, which would not require companies to offer such benefits to g.ay couples." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)
G.ay Marriage Foes Work to Reverse Ruling
Excerpt: "With g.ays and les.bians now legally wed in Massachusetts, foes of g.ay marriage vowed Tuesday to campaign hard, in state and national elections, for candidates willing to reverse the tide." (AP via Yahoo! News)
Governor Moves on Non-Massachusetts Couples
Excerpt: "One day after the start of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney demanded copies of marriage applications from four cities and towns that are defying his order not to marry out-of-state couples." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Black Pastors Assail G.ay Analogy
Excerpt: "More than 50 black pastors yesterday decried efforts to compare the battle over same-sex 'marriage' to the civil rights struggle of blacks, and called on the Congressional Black Caucus and legislators to support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman." (Washington Times)
Employee Deferrals Under Non-Qualified Deferred Comp Plans Subject To Penn. Personal Income Tax
Excerpt: "On May 12, 2004, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled, in a question of first impression, that voluntary employee contributions to an unfunded, non-qualified deferred compensation plan are constructively received for purposes of Pennsylvania personal income tax in the year earned (i.e., the year in which the services are performed, not the year in which the amounts are ultimately paid)." (Buchanan Ingersoll)
Tapes Available from ABA Tax Section Meeting (May 2004)
2 tapes available of the employee benefits committee's proceedings on Friday; 2 more available of the proceedings on Saturday. $20 for each set; order directly from the ABA's Audio Tape Store (the target web page). (Section of Taxation, American Bar Association)
Opinion: Security in Retirement? Not Longer on the Menu
Excerpt: "We've gone from a menu of jobs that have benefits and security to a menu of jobs dominated by companies that thrive on part-time workers who receive limited benefits. It's a different world." (Scott Burns in the Houston Chronicle)
Selecting An Auditor For Your Employee Benefit Plan
Excerpt: "If your employee benefit plan is required to have an audit, one of the most important duties of the plan administrator is to hire an independent qualified public accountant. The sponsor of the plan is the plan administrator under the law unless another individual or entity is specifically designated to assume this responsibility. The following material will assist you, as plan administrator, in selecting an auditor and reviewing the audit work and report." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)
Questions Linger on Stock Option Expensing
Excerpt: "After more than a year of promising to do so, the nation's accounting rulemaking body ... finally issued its long-anticipated Exposure Draft outlining the compulsory expensing of employee share-based compensation, which includes stock options. While the proposed regulations seem to settle the 'if' question of stock option expensing, and shed light on the 'when,' the 'how'-- generally, the most problematic issue for expensing opponents-- remains somewhat fluid." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Fall Forum
in Georgia on September 13, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Fall Forum
in Minnesota on October 4, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Fall Forum
in Maryland on October 18, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Fall Forum
in California on November 15, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Institute
in Virginia on June 14, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Institute
in Illinois on August 9, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Newly Posted Press Releases
SunGard Corbel Acquires SBPA Systems, Inc.
(SunGard Corbel)
Federal Pension Insurer Pays Benefits At Archibald Candy Corporation.
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
Massive Part B Premium Increase Seen by 2011 For Highest Income Medicare Beneficiaries
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
EEOC Final Rule Helps Restore Common Sense to Retiree Health Care Coverage
(American Benefits Council)
Financial Accounting Foundation Chairman Responds to House Subcommittee’s Action on “The Stock Option Accounting Reform Act”
(Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB))
U.S. Labor Department Launches National Education Campaign: “Getting It Right – Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities”
(U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.)
Aetna Expands Consumer Choice with Introduction of Aetna HealthFund Retiree Reimbursement Accounts
(Aetna)
Safety Top Priority in Drug Importation Debate
(American Medical Association (AMA))
Workplace Financial Education Expands At American Express
(American Express Retirement Services)
American Express Retirement Services To Provide BlueStar® Recordkeeping, Employee Education And Investment Services For The Flexsys America LP Retirement Plan
(American Express Retirement Services)
MyBizBenefits.com Launches Small Business Benefits Education and Quote Service
(MyBizBenefits)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Benefit Actuarial Assistant
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Operations Systems and Compliance Specialist
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC
401k Administrator
for The Vanguard Group
in PA
Communication Administrator
for The Vanguard Group
in PA
Participant Education Consultant
for The Vanguard Group
in PA
Senior Plan Service Team Specialist
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC
Plan Specialist
for Transamerica
in CA
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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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