ASPPA

Compliance Testing Specialist
Kravitz, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Part Time On Call Retirement Planning Consultant
Transamerica Retirement Solutions
in AR, CA, FL, GA, HI, IL, MI, MO, NJ, NY, TN, TX, UT

Employee Benefits Attorney
Wiggin and Dana LLP
in CT, NY

Director, Compensation and Benefits -- Fortune 500 Division
Masco Contractor Services
in FL

Retirement Plan Consultant
Higginbotham [MBG Retirement, Inc.]
in TX

DC Account Manager/Compliance Analyst
Pentegra Retirement Services
in NC, NY, OH, SC

Benefits Administrator
DailyAccess a Verisight Company
in TX

Client Services Specialist
ACCG - GEBCorp
in GA

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Staying Ahead of the Curve: Avoiding ERISA Litigation that Can Derail A Retirement Plan
April 9, 2015 WEBCAST
(Bloomberg BNA)

Handling An Inherited IRA
April 21, 2015 WEBCAST
(American Bar Association [ABA])

Pension Derisking or Risk Shifting? Perspectives of Different Stakeholders
April 22, 2015 WEBCAST
(Society of Actuaries)

S Corporation ESOPs - Legal Issues
June 2, 2015 WEBCAST
(National Center for Employee Ownership)

COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
October 9, 2015 in WA
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

HIPAA Privacy & Security
October 9, 2015 in WA
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Updates EPCRS, Reduces Some Fees (PDF)
"The IRS has made the correction less burdensome for these errors if they are discovered reasonably quickly. Under the new rules, the employer contribution for the missed deferral is eliminated or reduced (although the company must still make a contribution of any match associated with the missed deferral)." (Ferenczy Benefits Law Center LLP)  

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[Guidance Overview]

Early Correction of Elective Deferrals Less Costly Under New EPCRS (PDF)
"The IRS recognizes that a QNEC for the missed deferral opportunity is a windfall for employees but takes the position that it's justified as a penalty for plan sponsors who do not promptly address administrative errors.... Although the 45 day notice requirement could limit availability for breaches identified and partially corrected in prior periods, it should be recalled that the EPCRS correction principles generally call for a correction that is 'reasonable and appropriate for the failure.' ... So missing the notice requirement may prevent using the option from being a deemed reasonable safe-harbor, but won't necessarily mean that it is not reasonable and appropriate for the failure." (Buck Consultants at Xerox)  

[Guidance Overview]

Easier, Less Costly Alternatives Become Available for Correcting Retirement Plan Mistakes
"To correct excess annual additions, the excess amount must be paid to the participant or forfeited, as applicable. Under prior guidance, the period for correcting this failure was two-and-a-half months after the end of the affected plan year. The new guidance greatly extends this period to nine-and-a-half months.... The IRS has significantly reduced the compliance fees in certain cases ... The IRS has provided new, less costly safe harbors to correct the failure to make employee deferral contributions[.]" (Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP)  

Communication Is Key to High Take-Up Rates for Pension Lump-Sum Cash Outs
"Consider these proven steps to communicate your lump-sum cash out option: ... Determine how to get your communications into their mailboxes, literally.... Separate information from action to simplify the decision-making process and to ensure that participants aren't overwhelmed with their options.... Don't expect one mass mailing to do the job.... Be sure to consider where participants can go for help ... [C]onsider additional touch points[.]" (Milliman Retirement Town Hall)  

Valuing Social Security Benefits as an Asset on the Household Balance Sheet
"As a guaranteed income stream that cannot otherwise be liquidated or reinvested, most retirees don't think of their Social Security benefits as an asset.... Yet unlike most other assets, the value of Social Security is uniquely impacted by its assumptions... where unlike traditional assets, the value is actually higher when inflation rises, and is greater when interest rates are low. As a result, viewing Social Security as an asset actually reveals that it is a highly desirable asset for a retiree, uniquely capable of hedging many risks in retirement that traditional portfolios cannot... and making it all the more appealing to preserve the Social Security 'asset' for its diversification by delaying benefits as long as possible!" (Michael Kitces in Nerd's Eye View)  

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Outliving Savings is Top Retirement Concern
"[M]ore than half (57 percent) of CPA financial planners cited running out of money as the top retirement concern for their clients. This was followed by uncertainty on how much to withdraw from retirement accounts (14 percent) and healthcare costs (11 percent).... When asked about the top three sources of clients' financial and emotional stress about outliving their money, planners cited healthcare costs (76 percent), market fluctuations (62 percent) and lifestyle expenses (52 percent) as the primary issues." (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [AICPA])  

Retirement Readiness Challenges for Successful Employees
"Plan sponsors are well aware that lower-paid employees face challenges in preparing for retirement, and many sponsors have taken steps address this issue. Yet, employees in the middle of their employment compensation pyramids also face challenges. These employees often cannot save enough in qualified retirement plans and reach limitations on Social Security. As a result, the gap between ideal and actual savings for these employees may be much greater than acknowledged and frequently go unaddressed.... [I]ndividuals earning more than $200,000 a year cannot achieve a comfortable retirement relying on Social Security benefits and qualified plan savings alone." (CAPTRUST Financial Advisors)  

Can Neuroeconomics Improve 401(k) Decision-Making?
"Using the science of neuroeconomics (a combination of economics, neuroscience and psychology) [a recent white paper states] that many of us hamstring ourselves by maintaining various bias' and emotional connections which end up resulting in bad investment decision-making.... [This author has] added suggestions on how to overcome these biases with your 401(k) participants.... Emotional decision-making.... Loss aversion.... Mental accounting.... Selective attention.... Framing.... Familiarity bias." (Employee Benefit News)  

Year-of-Death Reporting for Deceased IRA Owners
"Even if the deceased IRA owner didn't take a distribution last year, there is special reporting of his or her IRA balance. For the year of death, the IRA custodian must file IRS Form 5498 for the decedent, showing the IRA's fair market value (FMV), including any contributions the decedent made before he or she died. (Note that if the decedent made any contributions or rollovers last year, those contributions must be properly reported on his/her tax return.)" (Slott Report)  

Questions Arise Over Repayment of Money Mistakenly Paid to City Retirees
"[City of] Pontiac retirees who were accidentally overpaid may have to give back that money. But an activist group says they shouldn't have to cough up the cash. The accounting mistake meant a minor bump in money for about half of Pontiac's retirees ... and that's why the Pension Board voted to recoup the money, saying state law requires that the money be paid back." (CBS Detroit)  

[Opinion]

Avoid This Marketing Gimmick: Online 401(k) Fee Analyzers
"Form 5500s have very limited, if any, fee information. That makes them a terrible source for a fee analyzer.... Small plan Form 5500s only disclose fees paid directly by plan sponsor or deducted from participant accounts. They do not disclose the amount of fees paid from investments (e.g., revenue sharing or wrap fees).... Large plan 5500 may disclose indirect compensation on its Schedule C if that compensation is not considered 'eligible' indirect compensation.... [M]ost providers that receive indirect compensation consider their compensation 'eligible' for purposes of Schedule C and don't disclose it. Investment expense ratios are not disclosed by either the large plan or small plan Form 5500." (Employee Fiduciary)  

[Opinion]

Red Flags for Those Mapping Out Their Retirement Years
"[T]he U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means is pursuing the reform of Social Security, using much the same rationale that was employed to cut benefits of private pension-plan participants -- that if changes are not made, retirees face drastic cuts. The committee states: 'Without action to address the fiscal and structural challenges facing Social Security, seniors will see a 23 percent cut to their benefits beginning in 2033. Action must be taken now to preserve the promise of Social Security for today's beneficiaries and future generations.' " (StarTribune)  

[Opinion]

American Academy of Actuaries Comment Letter to PBGC on Suspension of Benefits Under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (PDF)
"[C]ritical and declining plans that need to implement benefit suspensions in order to remain solvent are able to take this action as soon as possible. Delays could lead to a necessity for larger benefit suspensions will be necessary in order for plans to survive.... [A] change in the effective date of the benefit suspensions will result in the notices overstating the impact of the suspensions submitted for Treasury approval due to benefits becoming eligible for additional protection under the age limitations. Guidance does not need to require the production of revised individualized estimates. However, advance notice to pay status participants alerting them to their actual benefit change would be appropriate shortly before the final implementation date." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Opinion]

American Academy of Actuaries Comment Letter to PBGC on Partitions of Eligible Multiemployer Plans and Facilitated Mergers (PDF)
"[We] recommend that the guidance include the details that will be required with respect to needed actuarial projections and reports.... It would also be helpful if the PBGC is able to provide, as best it can, its evaluation criteria for determining whether to consider and approve an application for partition or facilitated me... Requiring too extensive an analysis in all cases would be counterproductive if it discouraged plans that could benefit from these provisions from applying." (American Academy of Actuaries)  

[Guidance Overview]

Ensure Compliance with Final Regs on Equity Awards
"[P]ublic companies should review their plans to determine whether they clearly set forth the applicable individual maximum number of shares.... Newly public companies should evaluate their equity plans to make sure that the transition rule is not claimed for restricted stock units or phantom stock unless actual payment is made before the end of the Reliance Period." (Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP)  

Tenth Circuit Rules That Fraudulent Concealment Not Required to Toll General Limitations Period for Fiduciary Breach Claims
"The core dispute was whether the 'fraud or concealment' exception to the general limitations period requires proof of concealment by the fiduciary, or applies in all cases of alleged fraudulent breach.... [T]he Second Circuit has refused to 'fus[e] the phrase 'fraud or concealment' into the single term 'fraudulent concealment.' It therefore applies the exception when a breach claim is based on fraud or there is proof of fiduciary concealment. Here, the Tenth Circuit adopted the Second Circuit's interpretation ... [reasoning] that its interpretation remedies 'what would otherwise be a harsh result in situations where a fiduciary has engaged in prohibited conduct that cannot readily be discovered.' " [Fulghum v. Embarq Corp., No. 13-3230 (10th Cir. Feb. 24, 2015)] (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)  

Employee Benefits Attorney Marc Purintun Joins Williams Mullen as Partner
Williams Mullen

Alliant Employee Benefits Is Certified To Industry Best Practices
Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

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