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September 15, 2011 Get Health & Welfare News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search
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[Official Guidance]
Text of PBGC Notice on Premium Penalty Relief and Alternative Premium Funding Target Election Relief (PDF)
"Executive Order 13563 on Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review directs agencies to review and improve their regulatory processes. As a result of this regulatory review, and in response to comments by premium payers and pension professionals, PBGC is providing relief from certain premium penalties and in certain situations involving alternative premium funding target elections." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


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[Official Guidance]
Text of PBGC Final Rule on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans; Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans; Interest Assumptions for Valuing and Paying Benefits (PDF)
"This final rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans to prescribe interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation for valuation dates in October 2011 and interest assumptions under the asset allocation regulation for valuation dates in the fourth quarter of 2011." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)

Recent Changes in Tax Code Allow Investors with Huge 401(k) Accounts to Turn Them into Tax-Free Income for Grandchildren's Lifetimes
"This massive estate-tax break was created last year in two steps. First Congress lifted a $100,000 income restriction on who can convert a 401(k) or IRA to a Roth IRA . . . . Then late in the year, it raised the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption (GST) to $5 mil.lion until 2013." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Plan Sponsors Affected by Hurricane Irene Granted Relief by IRS
"The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued an extension for plan sponsors impacted by Hurricane Irene to file the annual Form 5500 for their retirement and welfare benefit plans." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

U.S. Employees' Retirement Preparedness Remains Low
"A recent report by Financial Finesse finds the state of U.S. employees' retirement preparedness remains low despite a positive trend in employees improving their finances and putting heavier emphasis on retirement." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Follow a Due Diligence Process to Select Service Providers
"Just as important as making a prudent selection of service providers is documenting how the decisions were made." (fi360 Blog)

Agencies Request Comments on Stable Value Contracts Used in 401(k) Plans
"The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have jointly requested comments on stable value contracts (SVCs) that could impact the operation of 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)

Study Committee Tackles New Hampshire Pension Reform
"In 2007, the New Hampshire Retirement System changed the way it calculates its pension liability to ensure that contributions from future employees weren't being counted to prop up benefits for current workers. [T]his change made the unfunded liability look larger, but it also allows the Legislature to move forward with pension reforms for new employees." (Grant Bosse / Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity)

Judge Rules for Rhode Island Unions in Major Pension Lawsuit
"[The decision] denies the state's motion to dismiss a 2010 lawsuit by eight public-employee unions challenging General Assembly pension reductions in 2009 and 2010." (The Providence Journal Co.)

What's the Right Savings Rate? (PDF)
"Defined contribution plan sponsors have helped their participants understand the need to save for retirement and encouraged plan participation through education and plan design features like auto enrollment. But participants still struggle with how much to save. This paper provides DC plan sponsors with a practical approach—TRI [TargetReplacement Income rate] 30—to guide participants towards appropriate individual savings rates." (Russell Investments)

ESOP Companies Report Positive 2010 Even Amid Slow Economic Recovery
"The survey shows ESOP companies, by significant percentages, continue to have increased share value, better productivity, and overwhelming support among leaders of the companies." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

Unclaimed Benefits and State Escheat Laws
"From time to time we are asked whether a plan administrator must report and remit unclaimed plan benefit payments as abandoned or unclaimed property to various states under their escheat and unclaimed property statutes. Clients are usually asking about how to handle uncashed retirement plan benefit checks, and this post deals mostly with those types of benefits." (Verrill Dana, LLP)

Increased Savings Can Help Decrease Concern about Retirement
"While Vanguard has long recommended a savings rate of 9% to 12% of pay per year (which, in a retirement plan, could be a combination of employer and employee contributions), we recognize that the savings goal should be set higher to 12% to 15% as a best practice in meeting retirement goals." (The Vanguard Group, Inc.)

Pension Deficits Grow in August
"The financial markets' poor showing in August left U.S. corporations' defined-benefit pension plans even deeper in the red. And there are additional challenges on the horizon for DB plan funding, including the prospect that the Federal Reserve will try to bolster growth by pushing long-term rates lower. That could lower the discount rates companies use to measure pension obligations and increase the size of those obligations." (Treasury & Risk)

[Opinion]
EBRI Testimony Before Senate Finance Committee Hearing on Tax Reform Options: Promoting Retirement Security (PDF)
"[The testimony focuses] on retirement security and the potential impact of various types of tax reform options on retirement income adequacy." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)

[Opinion]
Washington State Pension Hole Is Much Deeper Than Official Estimates
"If Washington pension plans were judged by the standards that private-sector pensions are required to follow . . . Washington pensions would face unfunded liabilities exceeding $50 bil.lion. The costs of truly fully funding public-employee pensions could swamp the state budget, and at more than $20,000 per household, taxpayers too." (The Seattle Times Company)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Notice 2011–72 on the Tax Treatment of Employer-Provided Cell Phones (PDF)
"This notice provides guidance on the tax treatment of cellular telephones or other similar telecommunications equipment (hereinafter collectively 'cell phones') that employers provide to their employees primarily for noncompensatory business purposes." (U.S. Internal Revenue Service via BenefitsLink.com)

[Guidance Overview]
IRS Notice 2011–72 Brings End to Issue of the Taxation of Employer-Provided Cell Phones
"On September 14, 2011, the IRS issued long awaited guidance on the tax treatment of cellular phones or other similar telecommunication equipment that employers provide to their employees primarily for noncompensatory business reasons. In Notice 2011-72 the IRS announced that if the cell phone is provided primarily for noncompensatory business reasons, the substantiation rules necessary to exclude the value of the use of the cell phone as a working condition fringe benefit will be deemed satisfied and any personal use of the cell phone will be deemed excludable as a de minimis fringe benefit." (Miller & Chevalier Chartered)

[Guidance Overview]
Appeal Court Reverses Lower-Court Ruling Denying Former Employee Plan Benefits
"The [court] reversed a ruling that allowed John Young, a trade[r] at Merrill Lynch & Co. to be awarded the firm's 'Long-Term Incentive Compensation Plan for Managers and Producers (Plan) after he resigned from the firm." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

[Guidance Overview]
SEC Continues to Use Sarbanes-Oxley to Claw Back Incentive Compensation
"it is more important than ever that CEOs and CFOs, as well as other executive officers, set an appropriate tone at the top of their organizations, regularly evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures, and work effectively with the company's internal audit function and independent registered public accounting firm." (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati)

States Erode Power of Public-Sector Unions
"A law requiring Michigan public workers to contribute 3 percent of their pay to a retirement-healthcare fund was invalidated by an appeals court, but state efforts to decrease the benefits and compensation of union workers—as well as their right to collectively bargain—continue to increase." (Human Resource Executive Online)

Comparing Compensation: State-Local Versus Private Sector Workers (PDF)
"This brief examines whether benefits close the wage gap between public and private sector workers. The analysis found that the compensation of state-local and private sector workers is similar." (Center for State and Local Government Excellence)

Men and Work-Life Integration: A Global Study
"A quarter century after its emergence and a decade after the business case was established, the work-life field is challenged to understand the barriers that persist in preventing both employees (especially men) from fully utilizing work-life options, and managers (often men) from fully supporting them." (WorldatWork)

Press Releases

PBGC Gives Premium-Related Relief to Pension Sponsors
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

IRS Issues Guidance on Tax Treatment of Cell Phones; Provides Small Business Recordkeeping Relief
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Proposed Tax Changes to Retirement Savings Would Have Big Impact on Workers
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

Financial Finesse Releases New Study on the State of U.S. Employees’ Retirement Preparedness
(Financial Finesse)

Employer-sponsored Retirement Plans Play Vital Role in Ensuring National, Personal Financial Security
(American Benefits Council)

Pension Rights Center to Lawmakers: "Changes to Retirement Plan Tax Breaks Should Address the Retirement Income Deficit, not the Budget Deficit"
(Pension Rights Center)

HR360 Releases 2011 Employee Benefit Plan Compliance Calendar
(HR360, Inc.)



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