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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Webcasts and Conferences
What You Don’t Know About Social Security Benefits..but Should
April 1, 2014 WEBCAST
(ThinkAdvisor)
Retirement Portability Update
April 3, 2014 WEBCAST
(PenServ Plan Services, Inc.)
Certification Preparation Session - Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
April 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC))
2014 New York Institutional Breakfast
April 30, 2014 in NY
(Vanguard)
5th Annual Advanced Forum on Managed Care Disputes & Litigation
May 15, 2014 in PA
(American Conference Institute)
Total Rewards 2014 Conference and Exhibition
May 19, 2014 in TX
(WorldatWork)
Certification Preparation Session - Claim Management and Debit Cards
May 21, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC))
Certification Preparation Session - Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRA)
June 18, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC))
Certification Preparation Session - Health Savings Accounts (HSA)
July 16, 2014 WEBCAST
(Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC))
View All Webcasts and Conferences
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Hand-picked links to the web's best news articles, official guidance, jobs, webcasts and more.
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[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Ann. 2014-16: Issuance of Opinion and Advisory Letters for Pre-approved Defined Contribution Plans for the Second Six-Year Cycle, Deadline for Employer Adoption, and Opening of Determination Letter Program for Pre-approved Plan Adopter (PDF)
"The Service will soon issue opinion and advisory letters for pre-approved (i.e., master and prototype (M&P) and volume submitter (VS)) defined contribution plans that were restated for changes in plan qualification requirements listed in Notice 2010-90, 2010-52 I.R.B. 909 (2010 Cumulative List) and that were filed with the Service during their second submission period under the remedial amendment cycle under Rev. Proc. 2007-44, 2007-2 C.B. 54. The Service expects to issue the letters on March 31, 2014, or, in some cases, as soon as possible thereafter. Employers using these pre-approved plan documents to restate a plan for the plan qualification requirements on the 2010 Cumulative List will be required to adopt the plan document by April 30, 2016. Starting May 1, 2014 and ending April 30, 2016, the Service will accept applications for individual determination letters from employers
under the second six-year remedial amendment cycle for defined contribution pre-approved plans."
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
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[Advert.]
ASPPA On Tour -- Coming to a City Near You!
ASPPA on Tour is the ultimate conference experience for retirement plan professionals. With the perfect balance of national and regional content, each of our five stops will stimulate, motivate and challenge you. Registration for Philly is open!
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Employee Plans News: Issue 2014-5, March 27, 2014 (PDF)
Topics include: [1] IRA one-rollover-per-year rule: Beginning as early as January 1, 2015, you can only make one rollover during any 1-year period from all your IRAs (Announcement 2014-15); [2] New two-year period to adopt pre-approved defined contribution plans: most opinion and advisory letters to be issued on March 31, 2014; employers must adopt new plans by April 30, 2016 (Announcement 2014-16); [3] 403(b) pre-approved plans: deadline for submitting 403(b) pre-approved plans extended to April 30, 2015, and eligibility criteria changed to allow more plan sponsors and employers to participate in the program (Revenue Procedure 2014-28); and [4] Common errors on Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, and Form 8821, Tax Information Authorization, submitted with determination letter applications.
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
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[Guidance Overview]
Many Retirees Face April 1 Deadline to Take Required Retirement Plan Distributions (PDF)
"The [IRS] reminded taxpayers who turned 70-1/2 during 2013 that in most cases they must start receiving required minimum distributions (RMDs) from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and workplace retirement plans by Tuesday, April 1, 2014. The April 1 deadline applies to owners of traditional IRAs but not Roth IRAs. Normally, it also applies to participants in various workplace retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans."
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
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IRA Rollovers: 'One' Really Does Mean 'One' Now
"There may be some interesting lessons to learn from this about-face. First of all, appreciate that the same Treasury Department that proposed the regulation described above and developed the example described above from Publication 590 (its own publication provided to assist taxpayers with compliance) is the one that challenged the position taken by Mr. Bobrow in reliance on these items before the Tax Court. So much for reliance on a position of Treasury and/or the IRS as articulated in one of its own compliance publications. Second, the change in position is likely to catch some people by surprise, especially seniors trying to do proper planning and who do not read all of the Tax Court cases and IRS Announcements."
(Benefits Bryan Cave)
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Mercer U.S. Pension Buyout Index, February 2014
"During February ... the average cost of purchasing annuities from an insurer decreased slightly from 108.5% to 108.4% of the accounting liability. The economic cost of maintaining the liability remained level at 108.7% of the balance sheet liability."
(Mercer)
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Looking at 2013 401(k) Testing in the Rear View Mirror
"The 'it' is the March 15 deadline for 401(k) testing to determine whether Highly Compensated Employees ('HCEs') contributed more than the IRS allows when compared to the Non-HCEs.... Time to consider the road ahead and what can be done to avoid returning 401(k) contributions to the HCEs. Here are a few options for employers in this situation to consider[.]"
(The Retirement Plan Blog)
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Using Automatic Escalation in Public Sector Retirement Plans to Increase Savings
"[This] brief offers recommendations on how governments might incorporate an automatic escalation policy into their defined contribution retirement plans, including: [1] Ensure that employee groups are part of the process ... [2] Acknowledge that there is no uniform approach to automatic escalation policies.... [3] Reduce or eliminate as many barriers to enrollment as possible. [4] Communicate with employees about the benefits of the feature when it is adopted. [5] Consider implementing it in conjunction with other features, such as automatic enrollment."
(Center for State & Local Government Excellence)
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Should Young Retirement Savers Load Up on Stocks? Maybe Not
"Millennials don't seem to buy the traditional wisdom when it comes to investing. They're the most risk-averse investors since the Great Depression, with the average portfolio 52 percent in cash ... That runs counter to what most investment experts will tell you -- that young people need the greatest exposure to riskier stocks to meet long-range goals, and that equity allocations should decline as retirement approaches.... [But a recent paper] found that investors come out ahead by starting conservative and taking more risk as they age."
(Reuters)
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The Role of Tax Incentives in Retirement Preparation (PDF)
40 presentation slides. Topics include: [1] The U.S. Retirement System & Evidence of its Success; [2] Components of the U.S. Retirement System; [3] Private Sector Pensions: Coverage and Switch from DB to DC; and [4] The Future of the U.S. Retirement System.
(American Benefits Council and Investment Company Institute)
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European Commission Proposes Overhaul of Pension Regulation
"The European Union's executive proposed an overhaul of the bloc's decade-old pensions regulation ... that aims to shift the burden of retirement costs away from fiscally-stressed governments ... The proposal ... seeks to boost the attractiveness of employer-funded pension schemes and ease the burden the region's aging populations will place on state-funded schemes, which remain the norm across much of the bloc."
(The Wall Street Journal; subscription may be required)
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Optimal Life Cycle Portfolio Choice with Variable Annuities Offers Liquidity and Investment Downside Protection (PDF)
"Financially inexperienced consumers who must manage their self-directed retirement accounts may fail to understand investment and longevity risk. This problem can be rectified if defined contribution plans include variable deferred annuities with lifetime income guarantees and investment downside protection. [This] paper evaluates life-cycle consumption and portfolio allocation patterns resulting from access to Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefit (GMWB) variable annuities ... [which] offer access to equity investments with downside protection, hedging of longevity risk, and partially-refundable premiums."
(University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)
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Retirement Assets Total $23.0 Trillion in Fourth Quarter 2013
"Total U.S. retirement assets were $23.0 trillion as of December 31, 2013, up 5.0 percent from $21.9 trillion on September 30, 2013, and up 15.6 percent from year-end 2012. Retirement savings accounted for 34 percent of all household financial assets in the United States at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013."
(Investment Company Institute [ICI])
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States, Cities Tackle Pension Liabilities; Watch Illinois, Detroit for Lessons
"Despite raising employee contributions to pension plans, cutting benefits or renegotiating pension contracts, many jurisdictions may be failing to inject enough of the kinds of mechanisms that would bring the significant changes needed to achieve long-term fiscal stability, and that leaves many places, along with those counting on their pensions for retirement, still at risk."
(Bloomberg BNA)
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[Opinion]
Get the Facts Straight Before Dissing the Current Retirement System
"Many overlook the fact that, even in the DB heyday, workforce mobility resulted in many, many workers never qualifying for that 'large' pension check. The truth is, neither the 401(k) nor the DB plan was created to be only leg upon which a retiree would stand during retirement.... But before wringing our hands and running for cover, accompanied by shouts of 'the sky is falling,' let's consider some data that suggests that things may not be as bleak as some profess."
(Todd Berghuis, for Ascensus)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Supreme Court Holds That Severance Pay Is Generally Subject to FICA, But SUB Payments Remain Exempt -- for Now
"While declining, based on the facts of Quality Stores, to extend its holding to all SUB payments, the Court alluded to the inconsistency in this position -- why should SUB payments be exempt from FICA taxation when other severance payments are not? How are the Revenue Rulings exempting severance payments tied to the receipt of state unemployment benefits from FICA consistent with the plain meaning of the FICA statute?"
(Winston & Strawn LLP)
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Three Steps to Drive Clear, Cost-Saving Benefits Communication Campaigns with Measurable Outcome (PDF)
"Benefits account for almost 30% of total compensation spending. An effective communication program helps your company make the most of its investment... Companies that are highly effective at communication are 1.7 times as likely to outperform their peers.... 61% of employees are likely to accept a job with lower pay but better benefits.... A company is four times more likely to lose talented workers in the next year if employees are not satisfied with wellness promotion."
(Benz Communications)
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Tax-Exempt Organizations: Understanding the Proposed Tax Reform Act of 2014's Penalties on Excessive Executive Compensation (PDF)
"Although Congress is unlikely to pass the proposed act in its current form any time soon, it still provides some useful lessons to tax-exempt employers.... Tax-exempt organizations would be wise to review these rules to make sure they don't bring unwanted attention to themselves or their executives. Additionally, the proposed act signals what direction any executive compensation overhaul will take in the future. In particular, it appears that tax-exempt organizations could have their executive compensation practices governed under a regulatory structure that is similar to the one that publicly traded corporations face under tax code Section 162(m) and related guidance."
(Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, via Bloomberg BNA Pension & Benefits Daily)
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IRS Issues Final Regs on Property Transferred for Services Under Section 83
"The regulations are consistent with prior guidance, but offer several clarifications on what constitutes a 'substantial risk of forfeiture.' Employers who did not evaluate the impact of the regulations when they were originally proposed in 2012 will need to consider how the final regulations affect existing arrangements."
(Drinker Biddle)
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Press Releases
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