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Employee Benefits Jobs
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Webcasts and Conferences
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[Guidance Overview]
DOL Proposal Significantly Expands Fiduciary Adviser Rule
"[P]roviding advice regarding distribution planning ... would be a fiduciary act under this proposal.... The increase in the number of advisers who would be considered fiduciaries, as well as the increase in the types of services considered fiduciary acts, would significantly expand the plan sponsor's responsibilities for reviewing and monitoring outside providers. Likewise, plan sponsors would have additional responsibilities associated with reviewing and negotiating agreements with advisers to ensure they comply with general ERISA requirements and any prohibited transaction exemptions the advisers intend to use."
(Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP)
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[Guidance Overview]
New EPCRS Options to Correct Deferral Errors (PDF)
9 pages; includes a 4-page chart detailing correction methods. "Some areas that seem unclear: Where do missed after-tax contributions fit into the new rules?.... What is the correction for a missed deferral in a plan that uses automatic contribution features, but the failure extends beyond the 9-1/2 month period after the end of the plan year of failure but not beyond the end of the second plan year? ... Should missed catch-up contributions be viewed as any other missed deferral under the new rules?"
(Retirement Management Services)
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Erroneous Interpretation of Plan That Reduced Benefits Was 'Amendment' Under Anti-Cutback Rule
"Finding that a straightforward reading of an employer's pension plans, which was consistent with the company's earlier interpretation of those plans, led to the conclusion that terminated vested participants were entitled to pensions in an amount that did not include an actuarial adjustment for the years prior to age 65 in which they received benefits, the [Third Circuit] determined that the plan administrator's second interpretation of the plans could be construed as an 'amendment' to the plans that violated ERISA's anti-cutback rule. The court also ruled that the second interpretation of the plans denied the participants' benefits due them in violation of ERISA Section 502(a)(1)(B)." [Cottillion v. United Refining Co., Nos. 13-4633, 13-4743
(3d Cir. Mar. 18, 2015)]
(Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
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DOL Proposed Fiduciary Regs: Which 'Plans' Are Covered?
"[A] 403(b) plan maintained by a public school, community college or state university is exempt from these regulations since they are governmental plans. Governmental 457(b) plans and most church plans are exempt. (Keep in mind, however, that a recommendation to roll over into an IRA will make you a fiduciary regarding the IRA under these proposed rules.)"
(National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA])
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How to Improve 401(k) Participant Fee Disclosure
"[T]he DOL fails to see the practical dissonance between its own language and the language of the folks it wishes to protect.... The legalese leads to ... volumes of pages ... when a much simpler approach could more easily produce the desired results.... In addition to single page disclosure, the DOL has within its power the ability to require disclosure be consistent among all service providers.... But this template need not apply just to service providers. It can be extended to the plan sponsors themselves."
(Fiduciary News)
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Falling Short: The Coming Retirement Crisis and What to Do About It (PDF)
9 pages. "The first section [of this article] assesses the trend in retirement preparedness over the past three decades and reports the percentage of today's working-age households that are unprepared. The second section details the reasons underlying the problem. The third section discusses specific solutions to head off a crisis. The final section concludes that longer worklives, more saving, and more effective use of households' assets are essential to restoring retirement security to our nation, and policymakers have a critical role to play in achieving this goal."
(Alicia H. Munnell, for Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
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A Small But Important Change Proposed for Retirement Savings Rules
"The Obama proposal, which was buried in last February's budget, would exempt those with $100,000 or less in traditional retirement plans from having to make minimum required taxable withdrawals at all. Of course, they always could take out funds if they needed to (and would owe tax on the distribution) but they would not have to.... The idea is a very nice follow-up to rules Treasury adopted a year ago that would allow retirees to avoid the MRD tax on up to $125,000 of retirement savings they convert into longevity annuities."
(Forbes)
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How Will Longer Lifespans Affect State and Local Pension Funding?
"Using the private sector standard, public plans underestimate life expectancy by only 0.5 years, reducing the 2013 funded status of state and local plans from 73 to 72 percent. Incorporating future mortality improvements would increase life expectancy by 2.3 years and reduce the funded ratio of public plans from 73 to 67 percent."
(Center for State & Local Government Excellence)
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U.S. House Subcommittee to Discuss Reforms to Modernize the Multiemployer Pension System
"On Wednesday, April 29 at 2:00 p.m., the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions ... will hold a hearing on ways to strengthen the retirement security of America's workers.... [This] hearing will provide members an opportunity to examine the challenges facing the multiemployer pension system and ways to improve the system on behalf of workers, employers, retirees, and taxpayers."
(Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives)
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Right Yardstick to Measure Investment Performance and Risk
"For an index to be meaningful, it has to be an accurate representation of the group of securities you want to compare AND it has to be universally accepted by the investment community and peers as a valid and appropriate index. However, two different indexes can meet these criteria and still use different techniques to calculate returns, additions and deletions."
(Pension Consultants, Inc.)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Publication 947: Practice Before the IRS and Power of Attorney (PDF)
20 pages; April 2015. "What's News: [1] IRS no longer recognizes the registered tax return preparer designation.... [2] Form 2848 now provides space for the information and signatures of up to four representatives.... [3] Revisions to Circular 230... [4] The IRS has developed an online searchable database of tax return preparers who participate in the Annual Filing Season Program."
(Internal Revenue Service [IRS])
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Assessing Your Say-on-Pay Vote
"Over 70 percent of banks last proxy season received a favorable shareholder vote on their programs of 90 percent or more, so any result below that level suggests potential concerns.... Typically, salary increases and equity awards are made in the first quarter of the year, but shareholders will be evaluating those decisions through the lens of performance through the end of the year. This can at times lead to an unfortunate disconnect."
(Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC)
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Press Releases
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Additional useful links:
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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager
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