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September 25, 2007

Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy.


Today's sponsor is ASPPA

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ASPPA's Annual Conference, October 21-24, 2007

Be a part of it all at ASPPA's Annual Conference this year. Join over 1,500 retirement professionals, choose from over 60 workshops, attend numerous networking opportunities and participate in ASPPA's bi-annual march to the hill. All this and more await you at the Hilton Washington, October 21-24, 2007. Register Now.

New Compliance Rules

Text of IRS Employee Plans News, Fall 2007 Edition (PDF)
12 pages. Isn't the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division doing a magnificent job at communicating to practitioners? Articles include Lessons Learned from Processing Determination Letter Applications Under Cycle A; EP Examination Director's FY 2008 Critical Priorities; EP's FY 2008 Work Plan; DOL Hearing on Computer Model Advice Programs for IRAs and Similar Type Plans; PBGC Insights: All Plans Must E-File Starting Plan Year 2007 (includes Premium E-Filing Tips); IRC 403(b) Web Page Now Includes 'Ask Bob Architect' Page with FAQs; Online Interactive Version of Publication 4460, The Retirement Plans Product Navigator; PPA 2006 Charts; Certain EP 2007 Tax Forum Presentations Online. Wow! (Internal Revenue Service)

Final IRS Regs on Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service; New Requirements for Retirement Plan Agents (PDF)
69 pages. Excerpt: "These regulations generally limit the practice of enrolled retirement plan agents to representation with respect to issues arising under the following employee plan programs: (1) Employee Plans Determination Letter program; (2) Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System; and (3) Employee Plans Master and Prototype and 5 Volume Submitter program. Enrolled retirement plan agents also are permitted to represent taxpayers generally with respect to IRS forms under the 5300 and 5500 series, which are filed by retirement plans and plan sponsors, but not with respect to actuarial forms or schedules. The Advisory Committee recommended the implementation of procedures for enrollment similar to the current enrolled agent program. The Treasury Department and IRS adopt that recommendation. Enrolled retirement plan agents will be subject to an examination to determine competency, a renewal process and continuing professional education requirements." (Internal Revenue Service)

News

Law Firms Ask for Second 409A Deadline Delay
Excerpt: "A group of nearly 100 law firms has once again asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to push back the deadline to bring documents into compliance with 409A nonqualified deferred compensation regulations even after the IRS recently granted a limited compliance extension." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Undervaluing of San Diego Pension Perk Could Hurt Retirees
Excerpt: "The San Diego pension board's undervaluing of an employee perk could mean that current and future retirees will feel the brunt of the mistake, which led to a $146 million shortfall, according to the city's mayor." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Court Says NFL Player Not Misled into Settling Retirement Claim
Excerpt: "National Football League retirement plan officials did not breach their fiduciary duties to a former player when they settled his disability claim without telling him about an appellate court ruling that would have made the claim worth much more money, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday." (Metropolitan News Company)

Proposal Would Deny Pensions for Officials Guilty of Crimes in Virginia
Excerpt: "[Elected officials and candidates have teamed up] to announce their plans to introduce legislation in January that would prevent convicted elected officials from receiving their state pensions." (Danville Register & Bee)

State Street to Freeze Pension Plan and Boost 401(k) Offerings
Excerpt: "State Street Corp. said yesterday it will freeze its pension plan for its 15,000 workers and offer them better 401(k) contributions instead, joining the ranks of companies nationwide taking steps to shift retirement decisions to individuals." (The Boston Globe)

House Bill Would Shield Workers in Bankruptcies
Excerpt: "Workers' and retirees' wages and pension benefits would be protected in corporate bankruptcies under a bill to be introduced [today] by Democratic U.S. lawmakers with support from labor unions." (Reuters via The New York Times; free registration required)

U.S. House-Approved FAA Budget Bill Includes Pilot Retirement Provision
Excerpt: "Inclusion of the mandatory pilot retirement age provision represents a major victory for groups representing pilots who have been battling to be allowed to continue flying into their 60s, arguing that the public's safety can be maintained while still allowing airlines to retain their aviation experience." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Compliance Rule Summaries/Analysis/Filed Comments

Employer Required to Produce Electronic Pension Records and Systems Documentation Held by Third-Party Service Provider
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: We expect that other judges would agree with the essential holding here: that records created and maintained on behalf of a plan sponsor are effectively records of the sponsor itself, even if held by a third party. Lest there be any doubt about it, however, we recommend that third party service agreements explicitly acknowledge the employer's ERISA recordkeeping obligations and give the employer and other fiduciaries a full right to access all records." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Overview: Determination Letter Program for Pre-Approved Defined Contribution Plans Will Temporarily Close
Excerpt: "The first submission cycle for pre-approved plans (sometimes referred to as the EGTRRA remedial amendment cycle) closed on January 31, 2006. The IRS expects to announce in early 2008 the beginning of the approximately two-year period during which employers must adopt these pre-approved EGTRAA-amended plans. The temporary hiatus in accepting Form 5307 applications is intended to give the IRS time to prepare to receive the determination letter applications that will be filed beginning some time in 2008." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Trends; Surveys; Research

Working Paper: Retirement Distributions and the Bequest Motive
Excerpt: "This chapter discusses the concepts, strategies, and constraints on using tax-favored retirement plans as wealth transfer devices." (Pension Research Council; registration required to download fulltext of paper)

Retirees' Time Short to Devise Cash Plan
Excerpt: "Already retired and sitting on a pile of short-term investments? With lower interest rates likely coming soon, it's time to get your game plan together for squeezing the best yields out of your cash." (The Baltimore Sun)

Policy; Opinion; Advocacy

Annuity in 401(k) Clothing - Next Best Thing to a Pension, or Just Another Tired Solution in a Box?
Excerpt: "[T]he investment community is under pressure to redefine the notion of achieving retirement income security, even as the 401(k) has been tasked with accomplishing what traditional pension plans once offered, or at least seemed to offer: a guarantee." (PlanAdvisor Magazine)

Choosing Default Investments for 401(k) Funds: Call the Lawyer?
Excerpt: "Perhaps the greatest evidence that sponsors do not see the interests of their company at stake in 401(k) plans -- and, thus, do not manage them the way they would manage their own money -- is that, when confronted with having to decide where to default a participant's 401(k) money, the first thing they do is call their lawyer. If it were their money, they'd call their investment adviser." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Opinion: So Long, 90-24 Procedure, You Will Be Missed by Out-of-Time 403(b) Participants
Excerpt: "Anecdotal evidence to this website in the form of emails (too many to count) and board postings, suggested that many were using the 90-24 to move from high-fee insurance products to low-cost mutual funds, which were unavailable in their employer's plan." (403bwise)

Coalitions Presenting Proposals for New and Improved Defined-Benefit and Defined-Contribution Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "[G]roups of employers, actuaries, academics and industry experts have come together to introduce new plan designs that address many of the elements that the Pension Protection Act left out. Many of these proposals seek to maintain the viability of defined-benefit plans, while including within them many features inherent in 401(k) plans." (Crain's Workforce Management via Society of Actuaries)

Social Security Reform: The Nature of the Problem (PDF)
14 pages. Excerpt: "This is the first in a series of issue briefs that the Treasury will release on Social Security reform topics. This brief explains the magnitude of the financial challenge facing Social Security and why acting sooner and spreading the burden of reform across more generations is fairer to future generations." (U.S. Department of the Treasury)

Bush Administration Urges Social Security Fix in New Report
Excerpt: "A report issued by the Treasury Department said that some combination of benefit cuts and tax increases will need to be considered to permanently fix the funding shortfall. But White House officials stressed that President Bush remains opposed to raising taxes." (AP via The Washington Post; free registration required)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Perspectives of Employers, Workers and Policymakers in the G7 Countries on the New Demographic Realities
Excerpt: "With its comprehensive overview of aging workforce issues in the countries comprising the Group of Seven (G7) -- Can.ada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States -- this AARP study breaks new ground by exploring how key stakeholders in these nations are responding to the aging workforce dynamic . . . ." (AARP)

Half of Retirees Say Expenses Have Met Expectations
Excerpt: "Nearly half of retired adults said their expenses in retirement were what they expected, compared to about 30% who said they were more than they expected, according to a a recent Wall Street Journal Online, Harris Interactive poll." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Data Dump, Not Deprivation May Be the Problem for Both Advisers and Employers
Excerpt: "Advisers regularly lament the fact that carriers are stingy with employer claims data. And while anecdotal teeth gnashing is wide spread, a sampling of industry data experts shows that the true issue may by the availability of information. Data by itself can be useless, but cleaned and compared it can be transformed into information -- something that both adviser and client can use to attack costs." (Employee Benefit Advisor; free registration required)

Depression Influences Retirement Decision
Excerpt: "A provocative study suggests middle-aged men and women are more likely to retire early from their jobs if they are depressed. Middle-aged men who suffer with symptoms of depression are more likely to retire early, while retirement-age women often take the leap even if their depressive symptoms are mild." (Mental Health America & Psych Central)

CRS Report for Congress (RL32697): Income and Poverty Among Older Americans in 2006 (PDF)
Excerpt: "Excerpt: Retirement benefits from Social Security and pensions are the most common sources of income among the aged. In 2006, Social Security paid benefits to 86% of Americans age 65 and older. . . . In 2006, 35% of people age 65 and older received income from a private or public pension. Among people age 65 and older who reported income from a government pension, the median annual amount was $14,400. Among recipients of private pensions, the median amount received in 2006 was just $7,200." (Congressional Research Service, U.S. Library of Congress)


Newly Posted Events

Ask The Experts -- Members Only Breakfast
in Pennsylvania on October 9, 2007
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Delaware Valley

Compliance Assistance Seminar - Free
in Tennessee on October 30, 2007
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)


Newly Posted Press Releases

Watson Wyatt Identifies Major Benefit Trends During Open Enrollment Season
Watson Wyatt

Hewitt Associates Data Reveals Rate of Increases for U.S. Health Care Costs Declines for Fifth Consecutive Year
Hewitt Associates LLC

Two Step Software Earns Top Ranking For Corporate Governance And Stock Plan Management In International Legal Technology Association's Annual Survey
Two-Step Software, Inc.

Towers Perrin Health Care Cost Survey Projects That Average Annual Per-Employee Cost for 2008 Will Exceed $9,300
Towers Perrin

Paulson Statement on First in Series of Social Security Papers on Common Ground
U.S. Treasury Department

Massachusetts Employers and Health Plans Continue to Support Quality Care by Rewarding Physicians through Bridges to Excellence Programs
Bridges to Excellence (BTE)

Mayors Help Families Learn the Importance of Saving
U.S. Conference of Mayors


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Consulting/Marketing Manager
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Defined Benefit Analyst
for Vanguard
in PA

Employee Benefits Attorney
for Hershner Hunter, LLP
in OR

Business Development Specialist - Broker Dealer Channel
for ING, US Financial Services
in IN, KY, OH, PA, TN, WV

Retirement Consultant
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in AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, UT

Managing Consultant
for TIAA-CREF
in CA, CO, MA, NJ, NY, WA

401(k) Enrollers/Independent Contractors - Part Time
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in AZ, CA, DC, FL, IL, KS, MI, MO, NV, TX, WI

Relationship Manager - Defined Contribution Plans
for Vanguard
in PA

Manager, Retirement Services
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in NC

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ERISA Attorney
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