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May 15, 2009


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

DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc. (Advert.)

DATAIR 5500 / PBGC / 1099-R / 5300 / FAS 158 Software (clickable image)

DATAIR 5500 / PBGC / 1099-R / 5300 / FAS 158 Software

Pension Reporter System. Easy to use and economical electronic and paper filing. Full instructions and expert support. Choose from 4 modules:
* Annual Reporting Series: EFAST 5500-series, PBGC Premium-series, SAR, and 5500 electronic filing
* 1099-R Series: with related forms and 1099 electronic filing/Service Bureau
* Qualification & Termination: 5300/5310-series and PBGC 500/600-series forms
* FAS 132/158: Audit Letter, Worksheets, Schedules
sales@datair.com or call 1-888-324-2474


[Guidance Overview]
Detailed Description of Code Section 436 Restrictions on Single-Employer Defined Benefit Plans (PDF)

18 pages. Excerpt: "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 . . . established a new code section -- section 436 -- that imposes benefit restrictions for underfunded single-employer defined benefit plans. . . . This report examines the proposed regulations and the impact they will have on single employers that maintain defined benefit plans during 2008 and beyond. . . . Because the rules affect the plan's qualification and the sponsor's fiduciary responsibility under Title I of ERISA, they are important not only to actuaries, but to employee benefits attorneys as well." (Prof. Kathryn J. Kennedy; Reprinted by Permission of Tax Analysts; All Rights Reserved)


[Guidance Overview]
The Change in the 2009 Valuation Interest Rate from December 2008 Spot Rates to October 2008 Spot Rates

Excerpt: "In a surprise pronouncement that should be welcome news to all sponsors of underfunded defined benefit plans, the IRS announced that for 2009, it would allow plan sponsors to use an 'applicable month' approach to selecting a PPA yield curve. In this article, we show that the October full yield curve will often be most favorable and discuss the welcome effects." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)


[Guidance Overview]
The New Take on 404(c): Confusion in the Federal Courts (PDF)

3 pages. Excerpt: "ERISA Section 404(c) provides fiduciaries with a defense against losses incurred by participants who exercise control over their accounts. But the protection applies only to the investment decisions made by the participants (that is, how the participants use the plan's investment options) and not to the selection and monitoring of the investment options offered to the participants...right? Maybe. For the present, we have an anomaly; the answer depends on where you live." (Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen)


[Guidance Overview]
Tax Court: Substantially Equally Periodic Payment Program Was Not Foiled by Additional Distributions That Qualified for Another Early Distribution Penalty Exception

Excerpt: "The US Tax Court issued a summary opinion, in which they held that an amount withdrawn from an IRA that is earmarked for a substantially equally periodic payment (SEPP) program, does not result in a modification if the amount qualifies for another exception under IRC § 72(t)[1]. This decision surprised many tax and retirement planning professionals, as previously they have always understood from available guidance that the only distributions that could occur from such an account without causing a modification was a SEPP." (Appleby Retirement Dictionary)


IRS Distributes Pension Withholding Procedures
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has put out new withholding adjustment procedures for pension plans - to make sure those receiving pensions are having the proper amount withheld. An IRS news release said the new procedures will help some pensioners avoid a smaller refund next spring or a balance due in limited situations. The tax agency said pension payors are not required to use this new procedure, and may continue to use only the withholding tables released by the IRS in February . . . ." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


How Is the Financial Crisis Affecting Retirement Savings? May 2009 Update
Excerpt: "The stock market gained 35 percent between March 9, 2009 and May 5, 2009. For those who held on to their equities, these gains reversed some of the massive losses experienced since September 2007. This fact sheet examines the impact of the ongoing economic turmoil on older households and presents estimates of the retirement account losses to date." (The Urban Institute)


A January 2009 Survey of Companies with Frozen Defined Benefit Pension Plans (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "Most companies with hard frozen plans would like to terminate them in the near future. Unacceptable financial volatility and contribution requirements were the primary reasons for this. A lack of current assets, and a lack of a plan as to how to achieve the necessary funding with an acceptable level of risk stops the majority of the sponsors from doing so today." (Aon Consulting)


Golden Years for Most Americans Appear Increasingly Threatened by the Global Financial Crisis
Excerpt: "Employees -- and employers -- are feeling the pinch from shortfalls in retirement funding. Defined-contribution plans place too much burden on the individual; private-sector defined-benefit plans place too much burden on the employer; and public-sector pensions shift the burden to the taxpayers, threatening to bankrupt local economies. The time may be ripe for new retirement-system designs." (The Wharton School via Human Resource Executive Online)


New York Attorney General Successful Where SEC Failed With 'Pay-to-Play' Pension Rules
Excerpt: "New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo raised the stakes in his attack on 'pay-to-play' in the public pension-fund market as Carlyle Group agreed to a $20 million settlement that limits campaign contributions to officials who oversee state money. Carlyle, the world's second-largest private-equity firm, also agreed yesterday not to use placement agents to solicit investment business from public retirement plans nationwide. It is the first money manager to adopt Cuomo's new 'code of reform' for the municipal-pension market, though it probably won't be the last . . . ." (Bloomberg L.P.)


Former Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Director Probed
Excerpt: "The former director of the U.S. agency that insures pensions violated prohibitions on contacting bidders that were seeking investment contracts, including eventual winners BlackRock . . ., Goldman Sachs . . . and JPMorgan Chase . . . , according to an official investigation. The firms were hired under former Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp Director Charles Millard to manage real estate and private equity investments for the PBGC as part of an effort to boost agency investment returns." (Reuters)


[Opinion]
What Would Be Different Under a 'Universal' Fiduciary Standard?

Excerpt: "Now that we've called for a fiduciary standard for all investment advice (and we mean a real fiduciary standard), the next question is, 'ok, why?' or, 'how would it change things?' In [a May Fiduciary Corner column, the author] takes a look at this question and arrives at six significant changes for the benefit of the investor." (fi360)



The Center for Due Diligence (CFDD) (Advert.)

CFDD October 5-7, 2009 Advisor Conference (clickable image)

CFDD October 5-7, 2009 Advisor Conference

ADAPT, SURVIVE & PROSPER: A Bull Market In Broker of Record Changes

The CFDD’s Advisor Conference is an all business event designed to help retirement plan advisors adapt to unprecedented challenges. Distinguished by accomplished advisor attendance and rich content, the advisor-centric conference has become the industry’s premier networking and educational event. To benefit from unbiased guidance, LIMIT liability, IMPROVE investment returns, generate NEW business, PARTICIPATE in broker of record consolidation and CUSTOMIZE your own QDIA Asset Allocation Solutions, register at a discount NOW!

Click HERE for more information.


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
Same-Sex Marriage: The Defense of Marriage Act and the States' Approaches

Originally published in BNA's Pension & Benefits Daily. (Utz, Miller, Kuhn & Eickman, LLC)


[Guidance Overview]
Supreme Court Turns Away USERRA Decision Appeal

Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court has turned aside a request to review a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finding that an employer had run afoul of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by forcing a returning Army reservist to go through a three-week re-entry process. The 6th Circuit decision issued last year held that police officer Brian Petty had met all four of the prerequisites to invoke his rights under USERRA so the employer, the Metro Government of Nashville-Davidson County, could not delay his re-employment." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


IRS Grants Tax Relief to Victims of Severe Storms and Flooding in Florida
Excerpt: "The IRS has announced tax relief for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the federal disaster area of Calhoun, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Walton, and Washington counties in Florida affected by severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, and straight-line winds on March 26, 2009." (Wolters Kluwer)


ERISA for Securities Professionals
Excerpt: "The provisions of ERISA of greatest concern to securities professionals are the labor-law fiduciary requirements contained in Title I of ERISA. These can be broadly divided into five major categories: Coverage and definitions; Reporting and disclosure; General fiduciary obligations, including co-fiduciary principles; Prohibited transactions Enforcement, including bonding requirements. Each of these areas is discussed in [this] article." (Groom Law Group)



Webcasts and Conferences

(Click to post your webcast or conference)

2009 ERISA Update Seminar
in Hawaii on November 10, 2009
presented by TRI Pension Services

Around the World in 60 Minutes: Overview of Medical Tourism Webcast
Nationwide on May 28, 2009
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans


Press Releases

(Click to post your press release)

CEO Financial Fortunes Drop Sharply, Watson Wyatt Proxy Analysis Finds
Watson Wyatt

PBGC, LandAmerica Announce Pension Funding Agreement
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

Fi360 Annual National Conference Provides Fiduciary Insights, Advocates for Robust Fiduciary Standard
Fiduciary360 (fi360)


Employee Benefits Jobs

(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed for jobs RSS feed of all jobs )

Plan Document Specialist
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ



EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)

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