BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter
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[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Notice 2011–54 Extending FBAR Filing Requirement to November 1, 2011 for Certain Individuals (PDF)
"In Notice 2010–23, the Department of the Treasury and the IRS further extended relief to persons whose filing deadline was properly deferred by Notice 2009–62 and provided a new filing deadline to June 30, 2011, to report signature authority over, but no financial interest in, foreign financial accounts for calendar year 2009 or earlier calendar years. . . . [Such persons] will now have until November 1, 2011, to file FBARs with respect to those accounts."
(U.S. Internal Revenue Service)
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Western Benefits Conference 2011 [Advert.]
Featuring groundbreaking sessions for plan sponsors, attorneys, consultants, health & welfare professionals, actuaries, investment advisors and TPAs, the WP&BC and ASPPA present the Western Benefits Conference July 24-27 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
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[Official Guidance]
Text of Final PBGC Regs Treating Bankrup.tcy Filing Date as Plan Termination Date for Certain Purposes (PDF)
"[Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006], when a plan terminates while the sponsor is in bankrup.tcy, the amount of benefits guaranteed by PBGC and the amount of benefits in priority category 3 are fixed at the date of the bankrup.tcy filing rather than at the plan termination date. In most cases, this reduces the amount of guaranteed benefits and the amount of benefits in priority category 3."
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
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Urban Institute Announces 'Deep Bench of Experts' Available to Explain Retirement Data and Issues
"The Urban Institute's Program on Retirement Policy debuted its Data Warehouse on June 14, 2011. The Data Warehouse is an online resource for retirement-related statistics, which can be used to glean how those in different age brackets are faring and get a look at long-term retirement trends. Its initial data include statistics on older workers and population flows."
(Urban Institute)
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Recommendations Regarding Pension Outreach to the Small Business Community (PDF)
Link to a report to the IRS by the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities, presented June 15. The Employee Benefits group within the Advisory Committee describes ideas for further simplifying the EPCRS correction process for small employers, lists the materials published by the IRS in print and on the Web that are directed to small employers, and includes the results of a survey of benefit plan practitioners and small employers.
(U.S. Internal Revenue Service)
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How Does Your Retirement Program Stack Up?—2011 Edition
"We benchmarked corporate retirement programs in five key dimensions—pension health, materiality, volatility, sustainability and assumptions/management decisions—to help employers evaluate and compare their retirement programs to those of the companies in the S&P 1500 as a whole or in various economic sectors."
(Mercer)
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Designing and Implementing Sustainable Pension Benefit 'Tiers' for Government Employees
"[Many state and local governments] are changing the structure of their employee pension benefits. . . . to limit existing pension benefits to current employees and create lower-cost pension benefit tiers for new employees. . . . In some cases, these changes can also be applied to existing employees. . . . The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends that jurisdictions considering new benefit tiers examine the following issues: . . ."
(Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and (Can.ada))
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Hearing on 'Retirement Security: Challenges Confronting Pension Plan Sponsors, Workers, and Retirees'
Includes archived webcast and links to written testimony. From a press release: 'In 2009, defined benefit plans were underfunded by $504 bil.lion, and the administration has proposed a number of regulatory changes that will impact plan sponsors, workers, and retirees."
(U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions)
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Federal Pension Theft Not Always Prosecuted
"[F]rom April 1, 2010, to March 31, 2011, the Justice Department declined to file criminal charges in two dozen cases in which retirement benefits were paid out to dead beneficiaries then spent by someone else. During the same period, prosecutors filed criminal charges or won convictions in 40 such cases . . . ."
(Washington Times)
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Pennsylvania School Pension System Facing Dire Situation
"The Public School Employees Retirement System, or PSERS, has an official $30 bil.lion unfunded liability that will require steep increases in taxpayer contributions over the next three decades . . . . Starting this year, the direct taxpayer contribution portion will shoot up over the next decade from 5.64 percent to 25 percent . . . ."
(Weekly Press)
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NH Governor Vetoes Pension Reform Bill
"Gov. John Lynch vetoed legislation on Wednesday that would require public employees to pay more toward their pensions and some to work longer . . . ."
(Boston.com)
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[Opinion]
Comments by ASPPA and CIKR on Applicability Dates for Fiduciary-Level and Participant-Level Fee Disclosures
"[T]he extension of the transitional rule under the 404(a) regulation is insufficient relief given the delay in finalizing the 408(b)(2) regulation as well as the ongoing review of electronic disclosure standards under [ERISA] and the applicability date of this regulation should also be extended. The applicability dates for these regulations should be no earlier than one year after the 408(b)(2) regulation is published in final form." (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries and Council of Independent 401
(k) Recordkeepers)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Non-Profit Organizations And Government Entities Prepare for New Regs for 'Golden Handcuff' Plans Under Code Section 457(f)
"The IRS has stated that the new Section 457(f) regulations anticipate issuing guidance for substantial risk of forfeiture in line with those published under Section 409A. . . . There is precedent from the IRS's implementation of the 409A regulations, in which employers were provided a safe harbor period for corrections to bring their plans into compliance. However, the safe harbor period may not be very long, and may end as soon as December 31, 2011."
(Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.)
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Employee Ownership Update for June 15, 2011
NCEO Executive Director Loren Rodgers discusses a $10 mil.lion settlement in a DOL suit against an ESOP company, payroll tax relief for stock options in San Francisco, a Senate bill to block the DOL's proposal to make ESOP appraisers plan fiduciaries, and more.
(National Center for Employee Ownership)
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Press Releases
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park, Florida 32789
Phone (407) 644-4146
Fax (407) 644-2151
Jeanette Hull, News Editor
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
Copyright 2011 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but feel free to forward this newsletter in its entirety.
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