Text of IRS Final Regs on User Fees Relating to Enrolled Agents and Enrolled Retirement Plan Agents (PDF)
12 pages. The IRS has decided to adopt without substantive modification the proposed regulations reducing the enrolled agent and enrolled retirement plan agent initial enrollment and renewal of enrollment user fees to $30 and separating the enrolled retirement plan agent user fees from the enrolled agent user fees. (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)

Earn Your QKA, QPA or TGPC at Your Convenience! [Advert.]

ASPPA has partnered with Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) to offer convenient webcourses towards valuable credentials. Visit www.asppa.org/webcourse for info and pricing.

Text of PBGC Final Rule: Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans; Interest Assumptions for Paying Benefits (PDF)
"[This regulation] prescribes actuarial assumptions -- including interest assumptions -- for paying plan benefits under terminating single-employer plans covered by title IV of [ERISA]." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

Recent 7th Circuit Decision for Defined Contribution Plan Fiduciaries to Watch
"While the court did not say that unitized funds are bad per se, it did make it clear that when an issue about the accounting for an investment option is presented to a plan fiduciary with proposed solutions, it must document its consideration of such proposed solutions and why it makes the decision it has made." (Pension & Benefits Blog)

IRS Guidance on Terminating 403(b) Plans
"In Revenue Ruling 2011-7, the IRS clarifies benefit distribution, taxation and timing requirements for 403(b) plan terminations. While the new guidance should be useful, these plan terminations may still be blocked by provisions in the annuity contracts and custodial accounts used to fund the plans." (Towers Watson)

Retirement Plan Implications of New Puerto Rico Tax Code
"[Puerto Rico's new tax] code makes several noteworthy changes to the rules for qualified retirement plans. These include new limits on benefits, contributions and compensation that may be taken into account; higher deduction and employee pretax contribution limits; and revisions to nondiscrimination requirements.' (Towers Watson)

Changes to Federal Retirement Benefits to Be Considered
"Although President Obama's deficit reduction plan unveiled April 13 does not include provisions cutting federal pay or benefits, changes to federal retirement plans are 'on the table,' an Office of Management and Budget official said Thursday." (Gannett Government Media Corporation)

Losing 84 Cents on Dollar Reveals Runaway U.S. Public Pensions
"The nine trustees of the [Louisiana] Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System made a series of decisions that taxpayers and 10,748 active and retired cops are now paying for. The board embraced bad investments, ignored warnings of weak financial controls that enabled its attorney to steal $1.2 mil.lion and set up conflicts of interest among its advisers . . . ." (Bloomberg LLP)

PBGC Seeks Comments to Assist It in Conducting Regulatory Review
"The PBGC is undertaking this review in response to an Executive Order issued by the President on January 18, 2011 on improving regulations and regulatory review . . . ." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

The Abolition of Mandatory Retirement, and How It Changed America in Unexpected Ways
"[S]ocial scientists love to find perverse incentives and unintended consequences, and in this case, some say protecting older workers' ability to stay on the job has also made employers more reluctant to hire them." (The Slate Group, LLC)

New Mexico's Amazingly-Generous Government Employee Pension Deal: A Case Study (PDF)
"New Mexico taxpayers face a looming public pension crisis. First and foremost, policymakers need to close gaping loopholes like those that allow a pension to be passed on to a recipient's grandchild." (Rio Grande Foundation)

Why You Really Don't Provide 'Plan Design' Services under Your Advisory Agreements
"In other words, if your advice would require changes to the plan's governing documents, it is likely a settlor expense that cannot be paid from plan assets. By contrast, if it relates to the implementation of the requirements set forth in those documents, then it is probably a proper plan expense." (by Phil Troyer, Business of Benefits)

ASPPA and NTSAA Comments to SEC Regarding the Registration of Municipal Advisors
"ASPPA and NTSAA are concerned with application of proposed new rules 15Ba1-1 through 15Ba1-7 . . . under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended . . ., to the professionals who work with governmental sponsored retirement plans." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)

Employee Benefits Developments, April 2011
This issue covers recent cases, rulings, and opinions. (Hodgson Russ LLP)

Incentive or Gift? How Perception of Employee Stock Options Affects Performance
"'The reciprocity effect we found is really bigger than the incentive effect,' [a study author] says. 'We found that when the company does well and the share price goes up and people make more money, their performance in the next period goes up as well." (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)

Benefits Planning in a Challenging Environment (PDF)
"In retirement planning, the need to hold the line on benefits costs and to reduce financial risk may mean more serious consideration of risk-transfer solutions for companies that have retained their DB plans." (CFO Publishing LLC via Prudential Retirement)

Improving Work-Life Fit in Hourly Jobs: An Underutilized Cost-Cutting Strategy (PDF)
"When today's jobs are designed for yesterday's workforce, the uncontrolled turnover and absenteeism that result are costs of poor schedule design." (The Center for WorkLife Law)

ERIC to DOL: Reduce the Regulatory Burden
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))

ERIC Urges Agencies to Issue Additional Guidance for Retiree-Only Group Health Plans
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))

New Study: The SCOOTER Store Saves $2.34 Million in One Year on Health Benefits with Technology That Turns Data Into Insight
(WellNet)

Assistant Plan Administrator
for Gateway Pension Services, Ltd. in MO

Operations Manager
for ClearPoint Financial in WA

ERISA/Employee Benefits Attorney
for Mutual Of America in NY

Manager, Relationship Management Team
for Prudential in IN

VP, Client Transition
for Prudential in CT, IA, NJ, PA

Benefits Project Leader, Benefits Department
for Vanguard in PA

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2012 Health and Welfare Planning
Nationwide on May 3, 2011 presented by Kilpatrick Stockton LLP

Contracting Web Summit
in California on May 19, 2011 presented by MCOL

EBIA's 13th Annual Advanced Cafeteria Plans and Benefits Conference 2011
in Minnesota on July 20, 2011 presented by EBIA / Thomson Reuters