| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
February 16, 2007
Sponsored by: ASPPA
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| The ASPPA 401(k) SUMMIT! |
| Join over 1,300 retirement sales and investment professionals at the premier event of the year. Continuing education credits, 19 individual workshops, networking opportunities and more await you in San Diego, CA, February 25-27, 2007. Don’t miss your opportunity to attend. Save money and register NOW! |
Technical Update 07-1: Effect of Treasury Mortality Tables on PBGC Requirements
Excerpt: "On February 13, 2007, PBGC issued Technical Update 07-1, Effect of Treasury Mortality Tables on PBGC Requirements, which provides guidance on how the establishment by the Secretary of the Treasury of new mortality tables for determining current liability affects premium calculations and other PBGC requirements (in particular, reporting requirements under ERISA sections 4010 and 4043)." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Retirement News for Employers, Winter 2007 Edition (PDF)
14 pages. This edition includes the following: IRS Issues Additional Pension Protection Act of 2006 Guidance and Introduces Web Page; Use of Electronic Media for Providing Employee Benefit Notices and Making Employee Benefit Elections and Consents; Setting Up IRA Accounts for Plan Participants; Critical FewPoints...By Director, EP Examinations; and, Product Profile - Payroll Deduction IRAs for Small Businesses. (Internal Revenue Service)
Chart: Summary of Hybrid Plan Litigation as of December 14, 2006 (PDF)
13 pages. Excerpt: "Cases are listed . . . in reverse chronological order. Decided cases are listed first, beginning on page 1." (American Benefits Council)
Overview: Plan Investment Advisor Rules Increase Employer Obligations
Excerpt: "For the first time this year, retirement plans fiduciaries can provide investment advice to participants and get an additional fee for doing so. Plan sponsors and fiduciaries that want to offer this service will have to satisfy new rules enacted as part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and Department of Labor guidance issued earlier this month." (Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP)
Final 401(k) Regulations -- Hardship Distributions, Updated January 16, 2007
Excerpt: "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 has introduced the ability for a participant to make a hardship distribution for a beneficiary." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
Fidelity Survey Shows Dramatic Auto Enrollment Takeup
Excerpt: "In another sign of its continuing popularity, Fidelity Investments said [yesterday] that the number of workplace savings plans it recordkeeps featuring auto enrollment in 2006 jumped 95% over the prior year." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Tougher Surplus and Governance Rules Set for Pension Plans in Quebec
Excerpt: "Companies sponsoring pension plans in Quebec face more stringent funding and administration rules, along with other new restrictions on surplus utilization, under amendments to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act approved by the Quebec National Assembly in December 2006." (Towers Perrin)
Pension Plan Funding Levels Rebound
Excerpt: "Employers with defined benefit (DB) pension plans are once again seeing higher funding levels and, in some cases, surpluses, mostly thanks to favorable capital market conditions during 2006. At the start of the decade, employers often reported a plan surplus, but most subsequently experienced lower funding levels on diminished investment returns and falling interest rates, even though they continued to make plan contributions." (Towers Perrin)
When Terminating a DC Plan, May the Plan Cash Out Participant with a Vested Balance of Over $5,000?
Excerpt: "For now, once every effort has been taken to locate the participant, than the money should be directly rolled into an IRS under the automatic rollover rules. We say 'for now' because the Pension Protection Act of 2006 permits terminating defined contribution qualified plans to send the missing participant's funds to the PBGC where they will be handled under the PBGC's missing participant program . . . ." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
Overview: Further IRS Clarification of New Beneficiary Rollover Rules
Excerpt: "[T]he IRS stated in the issue of Employee Plans News issued February 13, 2007, (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/se_021307.pdf) that 'a plan may, but is not required to' offer a direct rollover option to non-spouse beneficiaries. This means that there is no guaranteed right of a non-spouse beneficiary to make a rollover." (Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP)
Overview: EBSA Guidance for Fiduciary Advisers on Investment Advice Exemption in PPA
Excerpt: "The exemption, which was added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA; P.L. 109-280), applies to fiduciary advisers that receive fees in connection with their services to participants." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Opinion: Langbecker v. Electronic Data Systems - The End of Fiduciary Responsibility
Excerpt: "Every week it seems the courts find some new way to cabin participant rights and remedies. In Langbecker v. Electronic Data Systems, 39 EBCases 2352, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 1125 (January 18, 2007) the Fifth Circuit, in a split decision found a doozy." (Pension & Benefits Blog)
Brochure: A Secure Retirement Plan - Getting It Right with a Public Pension Plan (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "State and local retirement systems are designed and funded to provide lifetime benefits so that retirees will not be forced to live in poverty or run out of money. Unlike an individual 401(k)-type account, where funds can be exhausted, these benefits are paid monthly throughout retirement." (National Association of State Retirement Administrators and National Council on Teacher Retirement)
Automation, Investment Guidance, Education Are Key Priorities for Retirement Plan Sponsors in 2007
Excerpt: "from Spencer's Benefits Reports: Recent changes to the financial and legislative environment, as well as waning employer confidence that employees are saving enough for retirement, are prompting many companies to reexamine their retirement programs this year, according to a study recently released by Hewitt Associates." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
February 28 Deadline Nears for 409A Compliance Resolution Program
Excerpt: "On February 8, 2007, the IRS released Announcement 2007-18 . . . , which provides a compliance resolution program . . . for employers that want to pay the IRC § 409A-related taxes for employees who exercised misdated options in 2006. Prompt attention is required because employers that intend to participate must notify the IRS of that intent no later than February 28, 2007." (Deloitte)
Overview: Allowing Employers to Pay Section 409A Penalties on Stock Rights Exercised in 2006
Excerpt: "On February 8, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Announcement 2007-18, establishing a compliance program that allows employers to pay the taxes and interest imposed by Internal Revenue Code Section 409A on discounted stock options or stock appreciation rights (SARs) that were exercised by certain employees in 2006." (Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP)
Executive Pay Summaries Conceal: New Proxy Tables Don't Include All Options Data
Excerpt: "Due to an accounting loophole for stock options and an eleventh-hour rule change made by securities regulators just before Christmas, some of the biggest names in technology, health care and financial services will be able to cloud what their top executives make." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Deferred Compensation Payroll Tax Scenario Clarified
Excerpt: "Changing its prior holdings, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [yesterday] said that an accrual basis taxpayer-employer may treat its payroll tax liability as incurred in the first tax year – even if the related compensation is deferred under §404 that is deductible in the second year." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Overview: Bush Admin Releases FY'08 Budget Proposals, Including HSA and Simplified Pensions
Excerpt: "Next to the addition of the standard health insurance deduction proposal, some of the biggest benefits-related differences between this year's and last year's proposed budgets relate to health savings accounts (HSAs). Some of the HSA proposals from last year's proposed budget were enacted as part of the Health Opportunity and Patient Empowerment Act of 2006. As a result, the Administration has replaced those proposals with a series of new proposals to enhance HSAs." (Deloitte)
Companies Continue to Scale Back Use of Stock for Equity Incentive Programs
Excerpt: "According to a recent Towers Perrin review of equity incentive trends and practices at Fortune 500 companies, share utilization fell for the fourth straight year in 2005. The decline reflects ongoing concerns about shareholder dilution, accounting costs and disclosure rules that make it ever more difficult to hide the cumulative weight of equity grants." (Towers Perrin)
Newly Posted Events
401(k) Plan Workshop
Nationwide on April 19, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Form 5500 Workshop
Nationwide on April 18, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Inherited IRAs Webinar
Nationwide on February 22, 2007
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Inherited IRAs Webinar
Nationwide on February 27, 2007
presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC
Newly Posted Press Releases
Talent Management Threatens 13-year Reign of Health Care Costs as the Top Benefit Concern for 2007: Deloitte Consulting LLP/ISCEBS Survey
Deloitte
The Standard Opens New Retirement Plans Office in Phoenix
Standard Insurance Company
The Standard Opens New Retirement Plans Office in Charlotte
Standard Insurance Company
Former General Counsel Of Monster Pleads Guilty To Securities Fraud In Connection With Backdating Of Stock Options
U.S. Department of Justice
NNA Selects SunGard’s Signix Identity Authentication Technology
SunGard Relius
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Service Specialist
for Principal Financial Group
in CA
Senior Employee Benefits Daily Administrator
for BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust)
in ANY STATE
HRIS Benefits Specialist
for Affiliated Computer Services (ACS)
in NJ
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
NOTE TO AOL MEMBERS: PLEASE DO NOT REPORT THIS EMAIL AS SPAM. This email is not unsolicited. We do not send unsolicited email. This email is coming to you because you asked to receive it by entering your email address on our web page at
https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
These emails are sent each workday except federal holidays.
This email has been published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor
Copyright 2007 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.
Anyone can receive these emails; just have them sign up at this web page: https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
Other useful links: