Pension Administrator
Retirement Strategies, Inc.
in GA

Benefits Associate
Ogletree Deakins
in OR

Manager, Plan Documents
TIAA CREF
in CO, NC

Junior Defined Contribution Administrator
Pension Investors Corporation of Orlando, Inc.
in FL

401(k) Plan Conversion Specialist
MVP Plan Administrators, Inc.
in NC

Plan Conversion/Client Transition Manager
Pentegra Retirement Services
in NY

Defined Benefit Administrator - Actuarial Assistant
TPA Firm
in AZ

Retirement Plan Coordinator & Life Ins Administrator
Woodbury Financial Planning Firm
in NY

Sr Retirement Document Compliance Consultant
TIAA-CREF
in ANY STATE

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

Employer Mandate Implementation: Do You Qualify for Transition Relief?
RECORDED
(Hill, Chesson & Woody)

Health Care is Going Retail A Three Part Series - Part 1 The Retailization of Health Care
RECORDED
(von Briesen & Roper, s.c.)

Employer, Health Plan Implications Of Anthem Breach
April 2, 2015 WEBCAST
(American Bar Association [ABA])

The Year in Benefits: Insights and Strategies for Retirement, Health, and Executive Compensation Plans
April 8, 2015 in DC
(ALI-ABA [American Law Institute-American Bar Association])

Service Agreements 2015
April 10, 2015 WEBCAST
(SunGard Relius)

IRS's Voluntary Closing Agreement Program -- When EPCRS Just Isn't Good Enough
April 16, 2015 in CA
(Western Pension & Benefits Council - Orange County Chapter)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

Reporting for New Airline Bankruptcy Settlement Rollovers
"Up to 90 percent of the aggregate airline payment amounts received may be rolled over to a Traditional IRA, and thus may be excluded from income. Announcement 2015-13 explains that to exclude the amount from income, the taxpayer must file a paper Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.... Up to 100 percent of the aggregate airline payments amount may be rolled over to Roth IRAs, and such amounts are not excluded from income." (Ascensus)  

[Advert.]

National Employee Benefits Day | April 2, 2015

National Employee Benefits Day 2015 focuses on Wellness 2.0 -- the growing movement to expand employer wellness programs to encompass all areas of total well-being: body, mind, wallet, community and work. Learn more about Wellness 2.0.

[Guidance Overview]

Recent Guidance on Charter School Participation in State Pension Plans
"Some of the factors that the IRS and Treasury proposed with respect to charter school employee participation in public sector pension plans include whether the charter school: [1] is a nonsectarian independent public school serving a governmental purpose that provides tuition free elementary or secondary education; [2] is operated in accordance with a specific state statute that permits the granting of charters to create independent public schools; and [3] is required or permitted to participate in the public pension plan under applicable law." (Franczek Radelet P.C.)  

IRS Draft Form 5500-SUP for 2015 (PDF)
Dated March 27, 2015. "This form is required to be filed [by qualified retirement plans pursuant to] section 6058(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. Complete all entries in accordance with the instructions to Form 5500-SUP." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

Determining ERISA Duties Post-Dudenhoeffer
"The potential harm and disruption of requiring ERISA fiduciaries to take it upon themselves to make public disclosures about employer securities is enormous. Any duty of disclosure that did not match exactly and precisely the duties imposed by the specific regulations and jurisprudence of the securities laws would be potentially devastating to the carefully crafted and well-known disclosure obligations that already exist.... [T]here is no reasoned basis for ERISA plan participants to receive more, different or better information about public company investments than the market as a whole.... As the Supreme Court acknowledged in Dudenhoeffer, ERISA fiduciaries must consider whether their actions will cause 'more harm than good.' " (Alston & Bird LLP)  

Boomerangs and the PBGC, or When a Sale Is Not a Sale
"This case seems on course to give us some rules about when a transaction's principal purpose is to evade liability. We have already had some guidance in another circuit on how that phrase is applied in the multi-employer plan context, as the Sun Capital Partners court found that simply taking less than an 80% ownership interest wasn't an attempt to evade liability. However, this case involves an interest that was originally higher than 80% and was reduced. Further, this court seems to be willing to entertain the idea that a transaction can have more than one principal purpose." [PBGC v. The Renco Group, No. 13-cv-621 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 5, 2015)] (Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP)  

[Advert.]

Looking to Connect with other EB Professionals? Start a New WEB Chapter!

Are you are a leader in employee benefits? Interested in developing qualifications of others in the field, while enhancing your own credentials? Contact us about joining a team of like-minded professionals to start a new WEB chapter in your geographic area.

IRS Compliance Check Program Opens Form 5500-Based Projects and Issues Summary Report on Diversification of Employer Stock
"[A] project -- which ended in December 2014 -- sought to determine whether plans investing in publicly traded employer securities were complying with the diversification requirements under Code Section 401(a)(35).... The EPCU also found, however, that 15% of the sampled plans had plan documents that did not contain required language on diversification." (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Asset Allocation Changes Among Biggest U.S. Pension Plans
"Many of the largest pension plans made significant changes to their asset allocation in 2014. Among the nineteen members of the $20 billion club -- a group of U.S. listed corporations that each have worldwide pension liabilities in excess of $20 billion -- no fewer than nine increased their allocation to fixed income by 4% or more during the year." (Russell Investments)  

The Cost of Delaying Consideration of Retirement Income Products
"While there are still questions about the process for selection of products, and there may be portability issues for participants who change employment, offering an in-plan retirement income product could be advantageous to plan sponsors. It may reduce lump-sum distributions from the plan with a corresponding increase in asset retention. In addition, offering a retirement income product may address the reluctance of senior employees to retire due to concerns about not having adequate means to finance their retirement years." (PLANSPONSOR)  

Retirement Income Strategies: Three Key Building Blocks
"There isn't a single source of income that you should use to fund your retirement spending. Instead, consider building blocks of returns from different parts of your portfolio.... There are three primary building blocks, after Social Security: Block #1: Cash and short-term reserves. Block #2: Interest and dividends. Block #3: Capital gains on assets invested. Each 'block' comes from a diversified portfolio, structured to deliver return as well as distributions -- meaning cash flow -- from multiple sources." (Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants)  

2015 Survey of Public Sector Defined Contribution Plans (PDF)
8 pages. "The 2015 NAGDCA Defined Contribution Plan survey covered 129 government defined contribution plans ... The plans responding had over 2.9 million people eligible to participate and nearly 1.6 million participants. Fifty-nine percent of all responding plans are single employer plans and 41% are multiple employer plans. Seventy-six percent of responding plans reported they are supplemental to a DB plan, while 16% are supplemental to a DC plan. Twenty-one percent are primary plans." (National Association of Governmental Defined Contribution Administrators [NAGDCA])  

Nevada Bills Would Affect Public Sector Plans
"The Nevada State Assembly is considering legislation that would establish a new retirement plan for new public sector employees and expand all public employees' choices regarding how their retirement plan funds are invested.... It provides for the establishment of a hybrid retirement program for new employees[.]" (National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA])  

Cumulative List of Non-US Pension Funds Exempted by FATCA Intergovernmental Agreements
"The Groom cumulative list of non-US pension funds exempt from FATCA has been updated through March 23, 2015 and revised to be in alphabetical order." (Groom Law Group)  

[Opinion]

Why the SEC Should Not Create a Uniform Fiduciary Standard for All Brokers and Investment Advisers
"[P]erhaps the better solution to the blurring of the distinction between investment advisers and brokers is not to subject them all to a single uniform fiduciary standard as 'financial advisors', but instead to simply re-assert the dividing line between them.... In other words, consumers don't deserve a choice between fiduciary and suitability; they deserve a choice between advisers and salespeople. And notably, the rules already exist to create such a separation, under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940." (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

[Opinion]

Your Plan's Investment Committee Needs Teamwork
"An institutional investment committee needs to decide where it must go in order to create a road map process. Acknowledging that the end game could change as new circumstances arise is another factor. Setting up an actionable plan to assess how 'success' will be determined is paramount. Without such, it is difficult at best to benchmark any or all decisions made by members of the investment committee." (Pension Risk Matters)  

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Final Regs: Certain Employee Remuneration in Excess of $1,000,000 Under Section 162(m)
"[T]he final regulations modify Section 1.162-27(e)(2)(vi)(A) to provide that a plan satisfies the per-employee limitation requirement if the plan specifies an aggregate maximum number of shares with respect to which stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock, restricted stock units and other equity-based awards may be granted to any individual employee during a specified period under a plan approved by shareholders in accordance with Section 1.162-27(e)(4). This clarification is not intended as a substantive change.... Commenters suggested that the clarification to Section 1.162-27(f)(3) should apply to RSU's granted after the publication of final regulations and not merely to remuneration payable under a RSU after the date of publication. These final regulations adopt this suggestion." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

DOL Makes Good on Promise of ERISA Plan Criminal Investigations
"[EBSA] closed 365 criminal investigations in fiscal 2014, representing a nearly 30% increase since fiscal 2010. EBSA's criminal investigations, including its participation in criminal investigations with other law enforcement agencies, led to the indictment of 106 individuals -- including plan officials, corporate officers and service providers -- for offenses related to employee benefit plans[.]" (Employee Benefit Adviser)  

Five Plan Document Provisions to Reduce ERISA Litigation Risk
"[1] Ensure a deferential standard of review ... [2] Avoid exceptions to the administrative exhaustion requirement ... [3] Limit the deadline for participants' suits... [4] Control the place where participants can sue ... [5] Prohibit the assignment of claims." (Corporate Counsel; free registration required)  

Posting SPD on Intranet Without Notice to Participants Was Noncompliant Electronic Disclosure
"Company intranets are a common and convenient tool for benefit communications -- but if ERISA's electronic distribution rules are not followed, the plan administrator may not be able to rely on the posted materials in litigation.... Merely placing SPDs on a website, without notifying participants of their availability and significance (and the right to a paper copy), does not satisfy ERISA's requirement that the distribution method be reasonably calculated to ensure actual receipt and result in full distribution." [Thomas v. CIGNA Group Ins., No. 09-CV-5029 (E.D.N.Y. Mar. 2, 2015)] (Thomson Reuters / EBIA)  

Communication and Education Are Keys to Executive Benefits Engagement
"Criteria used for determining NQDCP eligibility varied amongst categories, with job grade (28 percent) and salary plus title (20.8 percent) cited most often. Informal funding continues to be a popular strategy for managing NQDCP asset-to-liabilities and increased in prevalence this year to 62 percent from 57.2 percent in 2013. Companies are primarily using corporate-owned life insurance (54 percent) as compared to taxable securities (42 percent) or cash (19 percent) as their informal funding vehicle of choice." (Prudential)  

Payers, Employers Look to HighRoads to Navigate SBC Changes
HighRoads

First Bankers Trust Services Welcomes Howard L. Kaplan as Vice President in the Fiduciary Services Group
First Bankers Trust Services, Inc

View All Press Releases