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The IRS in Your Backyard!
Come discuss employee benefits issues with industry colleagues and local, regional and national experts from the IRS, DOL and the private sector. Programs focus on current regulatory, legislative, administrative and actuarial topics.
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Revision of Form 5500 Schedules MB and SB
"Plan administrators, plan sponsors and employers that file Schedule MB (Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plan and Certain Money Purchase Plan Actuarial Information) and Schedule SB (Single-Employer Defined Benefit Plan Actuarial Information) to the Form 5500 will be filing revised versions of those schedules. The IRS on April 5 announced that it has made technical revisions to the schedules."
(Thompson Publishing Group)
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[Guidance Overview]
A Primer on ERISA Lawsuits Seeking Relief Based on Alleged Violations of the FLSA
"[This] article examines the viability of 'hybrid' lawsuits in which plaintiffs seek relief for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, while also asserting that the alleged compensation errors deprived them of the full value of ERISA plan benefits, thus giving rise to an ERISA claim for breach of fiduciary duty."
(Proskauer Rose LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
The ERISA Litigation Newsletter, April 2011
"[Highlighted is] the Renfro v. Unisys class action pending before the Third Circuit. The Renfro plaintiffs challenged the reasonableness of retail mutual funds as 401(k) plan investment options, as well as the applicability of the Section 404(c) defense to fiduciary breach claims."
(Proskauer Rose LLP)
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Impact of the Financial Crisis on Retirement Plans Through 2008
"To quantify how the stock market collapse affected participants and plan sponsors early in the financial crisis, we look at the Form 5500 series for the 2007 and 2008 file years and compare pension financials at year-end 2007 with those at year-end 2008. We also use historical Form 5500 data for years 1975 to 2008 to examine long-term trends."
(Towers Watson)
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Funding a New Business With a 401(k)
A Rollover as Business Startup, or ROBS, is a little-known and somewhat controversial tax move. 401(k) participants can fund an enterprise without paying early-withdrawal penalties.
(SmartMoney)
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Tax-Saving Tips to Retirement Plan Participants
"Rising taxes were cited as the biggest investment concern by 37 percent of respondents with annual incomes below $50,000, followed by inflation and market volatility, according to The Hartford's 2011 Taxes and Investment Study . . . ."
(401khelpcenter.com)
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Seeing Through the Pension Transparency Act
"[Paul] Zorn concludes that rather than providing meaningful measures, the proposed legislation could create a distorted picture of pension liabilities, driven largely by changes in the 30-year Treasury bond yields and, rather than providing transparency, the measures would likely create confusion among decision-makers, potentially leading to abandonment of public pension plans."
(Cypen & Cypen)
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Having Second Thoughts About Your Roth IRA Conversion?
"Recharacterization is the tax-law equivalent of a second chance. You can undo the conversion, transfer the converted amounts and earnings back to a traditional IRA, and eliminate any taxes you may owe -- as though the conversion never occurred."
(The Vanguard Group, Inc.)
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Reporting on Pensions: The Discount Rate Makes All the Difference
"The problem with underfunding a public-sector pension scheme is twofold. First, it assumes that the employer will be able to make larger contributions in future to fill the hole, which may be unrealistic. Second, if a fund has to sell assets at market lows to pay benefits, it will not be able to take full advantage of market rebounds."
(The Economist)
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[Opinion]
Public Pension Fund Opportunities to Invest in Venture Capital
"[T]here is both a need for, and a shortage of, investment capital willing to make long-term investments in start-up and mezzanine companies. That tells me there is a solid investment theme for public pension funds to pursue: Investing now in viable venture capital deals that will likely pay off later in this business cycle or the next one."
(Governing)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Opinion]
Why Should Social Insurance Reform Not Affect Those Over Age 54?
"If seniors are receiving tens of thousands of dollars more than what they paid in for Medicare, then they should not be allowed to hide behind the tired old argument of being too old to bear any adjustment cost. Indeed, seniors hold most of the nation's assets and a progressive-minded reform would ask them to fork over a small share to relieve the financial burden that must otherwise be imposed on young workers and future generations."
(Cato Institute)
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Press Releases
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