| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
November 16, 2004
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
FREE for 2005: 5500 / PBGC / 1099-R / 5300 Software from DATAIR DATAIR is making an incredible offer: Get our Pension Reporter System now for next year’s 5500s, PBGC Forms, 1099-Rs and 5300 series forms and pay NOTHING! No license fee; no monthly support fees; no obligation. We will provide all updates and DATAIR’s excellent support, FREE until October 31, 2005. For details and to receive your free copy of Pension Reporter, click the banner above, visit www.datair.com/register or call 1-888-DATAIR4 (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 Section 403(b) Regulations Issued November 15, 2004, by Treasury Department (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The Treasury Department issued [November 15] proposed regulations under Code section 403(b). That section generally makes provision for retirement savings through annuity contracts and mutual fund custodial accounts for employees of public schools and tax-exempt organizations, and through church retirement income accounts. The proposal represents the first effort to issue comprehensive guidance under section 403(b) since 1964." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
Overview: IRS Issues 403(b) Proposed Regulations (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The 403(b) proposed rules include both clarifications of these prior rules and new guidance. For example, some issues addressed in the 403(b) proposed rules are as follows ..." (Citizens Bank & Trust)
Another Question is Answered in the Who's the Employer Q&A Column
What do you think of the new IRS proposed regulations on common control and tax-exempt entities? (BenefitsLink.com)
Comments and Insight on IRS Notice 2004-78 and PFEA's Section 415 Change
Excerpt: "The IRS has issued Notice 2004-78 (from Benefitslink.com), providing guidance with respect to a change to section 415 of the Code which was tucked away in the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004 ('PFEA'). The change affects all defined benefit plans and has to do with the actuarial assumptions that must be used to adjust a benefit payable in a form other than a straight life annuity." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via BenefitsBlog.com)
IRS Releases 2005 Covered Compensation Tables with Permitted Disparity - Revenue Ruling 2004-104
Excerpt: "The covered compensation tables under section 401 of the Code for the year 2005 are provided for use in determining contributions to defined benefit plans and permitted disparity. This revenue ruling provides tables of covered compensation under § 401(l)(5)(E) of the Internal Revenue Code (the 'Code') and the Income Tax Regulations, thereunder, for the 2005 plan year." (Internal Revenue Service)
Overview: Focus on China: Pension Legislation May Change Competitive Landscape (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The Chinese government has embarked on an initiative to develop a retirement system based on the three-pillar model employed in Europe and the Americas: (1) government-managed mandatory social security retirement benefits (i.e., National Basic Old Age Insurance in China), (2) individual private savings, and (3) employer-sponsored supplemental retirement plans. Although the first two pillars have been in China since the 1990s, the third is new." (Aon Consulting)
Give Yourself a 'Wealth Check-up' for National Retirement Planning Week
Excerpt: "Contrary to popular opinion, investing for retirement doesn't take special skill and knowledge, for the most part it means not wasting money on items that will become obsolete, not getting into debt and hanging onto one of your biggest assets: the roof over your head. Take this quiz to see if you're on track." (Retirement Solutions Foundation via 401kHelpCenter.com)
Pension Agency's Deficit Hits Record Number
Excerpt: "Struggling under a cascade of bankrup.tcy filings in the airline and steel industries, the government's pension insurance agency said yesterday that its deficit has more than doubled in the past year -- to $23.3 billion. The figure is so large that an overhaul of the way traditional pensions are funded and insured has become essential, several experts said. Pensions of about 44 million workers and retirees are insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Debt Doubles -- Agency Insures Defined Benefit Pension Plans
Excerpt: "The federal agency that insures pension plans said yesterday that its deficit, already at the highest in its history, had doubled in its last fiscal year, to $23.3 billion. Over a 12-month period, the agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, incurred losses of $12.1 billion, according to the agency's audited annual report for fiscal 2004. Much of the loss was a result of pension fund failures in the airline industry." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Aon Consulting's Eurometer - State Pension Costs and Pensioners Relative to Number of Workers (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Aon Consulting's Eurometer highlights topical issues in the fields of employment and employee benefits and focuses on comparisons among the 25 EU countries. Recent Eurometer results addressed the significant differences in state pension costs within the EU." (Aon Consulting)
Opinion: Illegal Immigrants from Mexico Pose Real Threat to Social Security, Not Individual Accounts
Excerpt: "The real threat to Social Security doesn't come from giving young people this opportunity. The threat comes from a Bush administration plan to load illegal immigrants into the Social Security system, an idea that would skyrocket costs and bankrupt the system at the same time baby boomers flood into their benefit years." (Phyllis Schlafly via Human Events)
Opinion: Social Security Retirement "Accounts" Can't Guarantee Security
Excerpt: "There's a belief that investment firms are licking their chops over the prospect of individual Social Security accounts. President Bush favors such accounts, and financial stocks have jumped since he was re-elected. While the Securities Industries Association -- which represents investment banks, brokerage firms and mutual funds -- endorses private Social Security accounts, some investment professionals have serious doubts about them." (San Francisco Chronicle via Rocklin & Roseville Today)
Opinion: Social Security's Fictitious Trust Fund Overshadows Need for Reform
Excerpt: "President Bush wants Congress to make Social Security reform a top priority. This is because the program is in real trouble -- worse trouble than most politicians and a surprising number of reporters are willing to admit. Although Social Security will fall into deficit into 2018, some assert that the program's trust fund will make up the shortfall, and therefore delay any tax increases or benefit cuts, until 2042. That is simply wrong. There is a trust fund, but it has no money ...." ( St. Paul Pioneer Press; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
The 2003 Stock Ownership Policies Survey of the 250 Largest U.S.-Based Companies (PDF)
21 pages. Excerpt: "This report presents information on formal stock ownership policies for executives and non-employee directors of the 250 largest U.S.-based companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ('Top 250'). Selection of these companies was based on their total market capitalization, i.e., share price multiplied by total common shares outstanding as reported in the Spring 2003 issue of Business Week magazine ('The Best Performers of the S&P 500')." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Treasury Developing Transition Guidance to Help Nonqualified Plans Comply With New Act
Excerpt: "The Treasury Department is developing transition rules for implementing the provisions of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-357) on nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, a Treasury official has indicated. The Treasury is supposed to issue guidance by December 21, 2004 and hopes to beat that deadline, said Daniel Hogans of the Treasury." (CCH Pension & Benefits News)
CalPERS Votes to Toughen Its Merger Policies Against Inflated "Golden Parachutes"
Excerpt: "The nation's biggest public pension fund, with a stock portfolio of $167 billion, voted Monday to toughen its policies against multimillion-dollar 'golden parachutes' for executives who engineer corporate mergers. The board of the California Public Employees Retirement System agreed to scrutinize executive severance pay and block 'oversized' pay packages at corporations whose stock it owns." (AP via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Press Releases
PBGC Releases Fiscal Year 2004 Financial Results
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
National Business Coalition on Health Announces eValue8 Health Plan Innovation Award Winners
(National Business Coalition on Health)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Conversion Specialist
for Great-West Life & Annuity
in CO
Analyst - Consulting Staff
for Scottsdale AZ Consulting Firm - Benefits & HR Outsourcing
in AZ
Compliance Analyst
for T. Rowe Price
in MD
Pension Administrator
for G.M. Pensions, Inc. in the San Diego Area
in CA
Benefits Continuation Product Manager
for Ceridian Benefit Services
in FL
DC Administrator
for Northern NJ Pension Consulting Firm
in NJ
Plan Implementation Specialist
for Benefit Consultants Group
in DE, NJ, PA
401(k) Client Service Representative
for ADP Retirement Services
in NJ
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 reprint this newsletter in full (if you also include 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: