Plan Administration Department Manager
MidAmerica Administrative & Retirement Solutions, Inc.
in FL

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Measuring the Value of Investment in Wellness
August 19, 2015 WEBCAST
(Business Insurance)

Intermediate IRA Training Part 2
August 20, 2015 WEBCAST
(Wolters Kluwer)

Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) Updates
August 27, 2015 WEBCAST
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

SEC's Pay Ratio Rule: What Companies Need to do to Prepare
October 15, 2015 WEBCAST
(Practising Law Institute)

Pension Administration Business Managers and Owners Conference
March 20, 2016 in IL
(ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries])

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[Official Guidance]

Text of Private Letter Ruling 201532036: Desired Amendment to Governmental DB Plan Tripped Up by 401(k) Rule (PDF)
"Plan B is a cost-sharing, multiple employer, defined benefit plan that is intended to constitute a qualified plan under section 401(a), and a governmental plan within the meaning of section 414(d). The governing provisions of Plan Bare statutorily promulgated by the legislature of State A.... Under Statute D, an individual who is a Tier 1 member of Plan B on July 1, 2013 will have a one-time, irrevocable election, during a 90-day period ... to either: [1] increase their employee contributions from 4% to 5% of compensation (effective January 1, 2014), and from 5% to 6% (effective January 1, 2015), and increase their multiplier from 1.75% to 1.85% ... or [2] continue to make an employee contribution of 4% of compensation and have their multiplier drop from 1.75% to 1.4%.... [T]he elections would not constitute one-time irrevocable elections within the meaning of Section 1.401(k)-1(a)(3)(v). In order to be a one-time irrevocable election under [that Section], the election must be made no later than an employee's first becoming eligible under any plan ... of the employer. In this case, the employees are already participating in Plan B[.]" [Dated May 4, 2015; released August 7, 2015)] (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

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Best Practices for 403(b) and Related Retirement Plans Information Sharing: Minimum and Comprehensive Data Elements (PDF)
60 pages. Version 1.04; updated July 31, 2015. "These 'Best Practices' set forth: [1] The data elements for information sharing between 403(b) plan employers or employer representatives and vendors.... [2] A basic file convention layout. [3] The frequency of data transmissions. [4] An approach for sharing and transmitting data on a transaction or daily basis when agreed upon by both the sending and receiving parties... The Best Practices were developed for purposes of facilitating compliance with the final regulations by identifying the specific data elements necessary to coordinate plan administration." (The SPARK Institute)  

Seventh Circuit Makes It Easier to Tag an Asset Purchaser with Seller's ERISA Multiemployer Pension Plan Withdrawal Liability
"The Seventh Circuit [found] that the requirement of successor foreknowledge of liability may be satisfied by notice of either existing or contingent liabilities. The Seventh Circuit maintained that, in the absence of this new rule, a 'liability loophole' would exist: because withdrawal liability is ascertainable only after withdrawal occurs, plan sponsors would be foreclosed from imposing successor liability on asset purchasers if the seller's withdrawal occurred after the asset sale but would be able to do so (under Seventh Circuit precedent) if the seller's withdrawal occurred before the asset sale." [Tsareff v. ManWeb Services, Inc., No. 14-1618 (7th Cir. July 27, 2015)] (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP)  

Could Near-Term Thinking Improve Retirement Savings?
"Only 3 in 10 Millennials said they knew how much money they should set aside for retirement while only 4 in 10 Gen X and Boomer workers said they knew the right amount.... [N]ear-term savings milestones might be more achievable. Plan providers could encourage goals for young workers such as, save half a year's salary by age 30, or three times their salary by age 45. These milestones can make retirement saving less abstract and more concrete." (LIMRA)  

Ascension Pension Settlement Highlights Vulnerability of 'Church Plans'
"Under the settlement, contingent on approval next month by a federal judge in Michigan, Ascension agrees to make a one-time $8 million cash payment to its pension plans and adopt certain ERISA-like protections. The protections include the guarantee of plan benefits through June 30, 2022, and regular financial notices about the plans. The Ascension pension plans, however, will still be considered 'church plans,' which are exempt from ERISA[.]" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)  

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Alternative Investments in Employee Benefit Plans
"[P]lan sponsors will benefit from considering the following in addition to considering the investment risk related to alternative investments: Investment selection and ongoing due diligence ... Supporting documentation ... Liquidity of the investment ... Determination of fair value." (EisnerAmper)  

Pension Finance Watch, July 2015
"A drop in long bond yields dominated results in July, though the impact was partially offset by positive equity returns. The Towers Watson Pension Index declined 1.2% for the month, to 75.5. Even with the July decrease the index remains up about 5% for the year." (Towers Watson)  

Corporate Pension Funded Status Drops by $16 Billion in July (PDF)
"The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans worsened by $16 billion during July ... The deficit rose to $261 billion primarily due to a decrease in the benchmark corporate bond interest rates used to value pension liabilities.... As of July 31, the funded ratio declined to 84.8%, down from 85.5% at the end of June. This breaks the upward momentum from the second quarter of 2015 where the funded ratio had increased for three consecutive months." (Milliman)  

[Official Guidance]

Text of Draft IRS Instructions for Form 2848: Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative (PDF)
Draft is dated August 6, 2015 but indicates a December 2015 revision date. "What's New: Updated the description and representation requirements for unenrolled return preparers (designation h). Removed registered tax return preparer (designation i). The unenrolled return preparer designation includes individuals who passed the IRS registered tax return preparer competency test that was offered between November 2011 and January 2013." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

To-Do List for Implementing Final Rules on the CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure
"[1] Brief the board and/or compensation committee as to the final rules and the action steps.... [2] Each company may select a methodology to identify its median employee based on the company's facts and circumstances ... [3] Assess your ability to calculate precisely all items of compensation or whether reasonable estimates may be appropriate for some elements.... [4] Begin to evaluate possible testing dates.... Consider work-force restructuring ... [5] Determine whether any of your non-U.S. employees are employed in a jurisdiction with data privacy laws that make the company unable to comply with the rule without violating those laws." (Winston & Strawn LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Adopts CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Requirements
"Despite much public debate and significant negative feedback on the proposed rules, the SEC adopted final requirements that are generally consistent with its initial proposal and largely without compromise on what were perceived as the most controversial issues.... Certain non-U.S. employees may be excluded pursuant to a foreign data privacy law exemption and/or a 5 percent de minimis exemption; reliance on either exemption requires additional disclosure. Compensation of employees may be adjusted to the cost of living in the jurisdiction where the CEO resides." (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP)  

[Guidance Overview]

Final CEO Pay Ratio Rules Provide More Flexibility for Compliance
"[S]ome data-gathering activities have been simplified: [1] Once companies determine their median employee, they can continue to use that person as the median employee for two more years, as long as their circumstances remain the same. [2] Companies that have business combinations can exclude newly acquired employees for that fiscal year's disclosure. [3] Two exclusions for non-U.S. workers were provided.... [4] Companies can apply a cost-of-living adjustment when identifying the median employee and in calculating the median employee's compensation, although the unadjusted ratio would also need to be disclosed to provide context." (Towers Watson)  

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Proposes Executive Compensation Clawback Rules
"[T]he issuer's annual determination of its Section 16 officers takes on an added importance.... This is an opportune time for an issuer to review its existing policy to determine if the provisions of the policy should be supplemented or amended in view of the SEC's proposed rules. For issuers without a clawback policy, the issuer should examine the necessity of such a policy.... [L]isted issuers should be aware that, the two largest proxy advisory firms, ISS and Glass Lewis, consider the presence of a clawback policy as a factor in making certain corporate governance recommendations." (Holland & Knight)  

Five Predictions about the CEO Pay Ratio Rule in Practice
"[1] The media will be the most voracious consumers of this data.... [2] CEOs and Boards will use historically low ratios as an argument for raising CEO Pay.... [3] Compensation professionals will be tasked with explaining why 'pay ratio' at their company is not directly comparable to their peers.... [4] Companies with high ratios will work to explain how this benefits their shareholders.... [5] Some companies will find themselves stuck between hiring, or keeping, the right person and staying within the guidelines to receive positive Say on Pay recommendations from proxy advisory firms." (Performensation)  

Could CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Lead to Employee Misunderstanding and Lost Productivity?
"[F]or organizations that don't proactively manage employee expectations, there may be employee misunderstanding that could have a negative impact on employee engagement, productivity and, potentially, turnover. This concern should not be ignored and could be addressed as part of a holistic CEO pay ratio implementation and communications strategy." (Towers Watson)  

Changes to Federal Tax Return Filing Deadlines
"Pursuant to recently enacted legislation, filing deadlines for federal partnership information returns (Form 1065), S corporation information returns (Form 1120S) and C corporation income tax returns (Form 1120) have been changed.... For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2015, the IRS must modify its regulations to provide for the following maximum filing deadline extensions: ...Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan: 3-1/2 months." (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP)  

Guide to Society of Actuaries Written Exams: How to Be Successful (PDF)
35 pages. "The purpose of this document is to provide useful information for candidates taking written-answer examinations. In addition, we have included examples that illustrate many of the concepts.... This is the second version of the document.... [1] The fellowship exams were restructured and renamed. This document reflects those changes. However, the examples continue to be from the prior structure as the principles they illustrate are still valid. [2] The preliminary examination on life contingencies (MLC) added a written-answer component in 2014. Some specific advice for this exam has been added." (Society of Actuaries)  

Ascensus Appoints New Regional Vice President
Ascensus

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