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HRA Compliance Drilldown: Health Care Reform, Code, and Other Rules
RECORDED
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Current Developments & “What’s New” in Pensions, Ethics and Professionalism Related to Employee Benefits Practice
October 27, 2015 in CT
(NIPA - CT Chapter)

Conducting a Vendor Search
October 28, 2015 WEBCAST
(Multnomah Group)

Administrative Service Agreements for Health and Welfare Plans: Anticipating and Addressing Potential Pitfalls
November 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(Thomson Reuters / EBIA)

Where ADA and FMLA Overlap: Leaves, Accommodations and Headaches, Oh My!
November 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(Franczek Radelet PC)

Interaction of Employer-Provided Group Health Plans with Marketplace Coverage, COBRA, and Medicare
November 19, 2015 WEBCAST
(ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits)

Ascend 2016 Conference
November 14, 2016 in NV
(Ascensus)

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[Official Guidance]

Text of SSA Announcement: No Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment for 2016
"The Social Security Act provides for an automatic increase in Social Security and SSI benefits if there is an increase in inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). The period of consideration includes the third quarter of the last year a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was made to the third quarter of the current year. As determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015. Therefore, under existing law, there can be no COLA in 2016." (U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA])  

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[Official Guidance]

Text of GASB Exposure Draft Amending Statement No. 68: Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions Provided through Certain Multiple-Employer Defined Benefit Pension Plans (PDF)
15 pages. "This proposed Statement would amend the scope and applicability of Statement 68 to exclude pensions provided to employees of state or local governmental employers through a cost-sharing multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan that [1] is not a state or local governmental pension plan, [2] is used to provide defined benefit pensions to employees of employers that are not state or local governmental employers, and [3] has no predominant state or local governmental employer (either individually or collectively with other state or local governmental employers that provide pensions through the pension plan). This proposed Statement would establish requirements for recognition and measurement of pension expense/expenditures and liabilities, note disclosures, and required supplementary information for pensions that have [these] characteristics ... The requirements of this proposed Statement would be effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2015. Earlier application would be permitted." (Governmental Accounting Standards Board [GASB])  

[Official Guidance]

Newly Published: List of 460 Pre-Approved 403(b) Plans (PDF)
14 pages. For information about the nature and use of the list, see this page on the IRS web site. Excerpt from that page: "This list includes Prototype (P) and Volume Submitter (VS) plans that were submitted to the IRS for opinion or advisory letters from June 28, 2013 to September 09, 2015, covering the final regulations under IRC 403(b) which were issued in 2007 (2007 final regulations). The list will be updated periodically. It includes ... [a] letter serial number (LSN) and date. Please note that virtually all of the opinion and advisory letters will be issued at the same time, thus at the date this list is initially issued it will not contain any LSNs or dates." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Issues Final Regs on Determination of Minimum Required Contributions for Single Employer DB Plans
"[T]he final regulations provide that [1] a payment of the liquidity shortfall is treated as unpaid until the close of the quarter in which the due date for the installment occurs ... [2] any contribution of liquid assets for a quarter applies toward satisfying the liquidity requirement (as well as the otherwise applicable quarterly installment).... [3] if a plan terminates before the last day of a plan year, the plan is treated as having a short plan year that ends on the termination date." (Trucker Huss)  

Retirement Plan Considerations in Mergers and Acquisitions
"Arguably, the most important thing a buyer should to know when a seller has a plan is the history that comes with it. In a stock sale, the buyer becomes the plan sponsor ... and becomes fully liable for any plan errors. This becomes problematic in terms of both time spent ... and possible money owed ... Oftentimes, this realization pushes the buyer to request that the seller terminate their retirement plan prior to the transaction. Hopefully, this realization comes in time!" (Multnomah Group)  

New Mortality Tables -- Again! (PDF)
"The SOA's MP-2015 report indicates that there will be annual updates to the projection scales as new data is released from the SSA and other agencies. This could mean that plan sponsors will update the mortality assumption for accounting valuations annually. If so, there will be annual fluctuations due to new mortality experience but these annual updates should have a much less significant impact than what sponsors saw when they adopted the RP-2014/MP-2014 tables." (P-Solve LLC)  

2015 Defined Contribution Trends (PDF)
"An active year for target date funds ... Plan sponsors refine their approach to plan fees ... A muted response to recent regulations and lawsuits ... Automatic features are increasingly common, but implementation may fall short ... Fees are also a focus in investment structures: indexing and institutional structures increase in prevalence ... Retirement income solution adoption is still slow." (Callan Associates)  

Roth IRA, Roth 401(k), Roth Solo K -- What's the Difference?
"Because investment gains in Roth accounts are tax-free, it can make sense to use one to hold assets that have the potential for significant increases in value. Younger investors can also benefit from Roth accounts because they have more time for their investments to grow in this tax-free environment. That said, there are some key differences among the various types of Roth accounts that retirement savers should understand[.]" (nerdwallet)  

Auto-Enroll IRAs Likely to Be Best for State-Run Retirement Plans
"The auto-enrollment IRAs are likely to be more successful with fewer potential challenges under [ERISA] ... MEPs, on the other hand, are ERISA-regulated, and can be 401(k) plans or accounts with features similar to 401(k)s that allow for employer contributions. However, if the states are allowed to offer MEPs, it's uncertain whether they could also require small businesses to offer their employees such plans, because the federal benefits law appears to prohibit states from mandating employers to offer an ERISA plan[.]" (Bloomberg BNA)  

What Osberg vs. Foot Locker Teaches About Equitable Remedies Under ERISA
"Enforcing equitable remedies under ERISA by focusing on whether the evidence supports the charge, as Osberg shows, is all that is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff when participants come to court challenging plan decisions based on equitable remedies. So is Osberg a tipping point that may lead the way to a less grudging view by the courts of equitable relief claims under ERISA where allegedly misleading plan communications are at issue? Time will tell, but it has all the indicia that past tipping points in other areas of ERISA litigation, such as excessive fee disputes, have had: a well-reasoned decision by a well-respected court, well-founded in the evidence." [Osberg v. Foot Locker, Inc., No. 07-cv-1358 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 29, 2015)] (Stephen Rosenberg, The Wagner Law Group)  

IRS Scrutinizes Public Employer PTO Plans
"The constructive receipt doctrine is taking on renewed significance as public employers have created new conversion options for 'extended leave,' retirement accounts, health insurance continuation, and the like, some of which have at least a limited 'cash out' option. But even in situations where the cash option is limited or capped, the IRS is clear that the 'constructive receipt' rule will continue to apply. The IRS is currently conducting an initiative focusing on benefits, and accordingly is increasing its scrutiny of public employer PTO and benefit plans." (von Briesen & Roper, s.c.)  

CEOs Beware: Your Astronomical Salaries May Soon Cost You Customers
"Most [Americans] still think the CEO pay ratio at large national corporations is around 30-to-1, when it is really closer to 300-to-1. The misunderstandings will soon fade: In August, the [SEC] ordered companies to begin reporting their CEO pay ratios by 2017. When that information begins to circulate widely, companies may find themselves running afoul of the old-fashioned norms on Main Street -- and losing customers as a result. Recent evidence from researchers at Harvard Business School suggests that customers punish companies that offer lavish CEO salaries." (The Washington Post; subscription may be required)  

Schwab Retirement Plan Services Introduces Advisor Managed Accounts to Help More 401(k) Participants Receive Retirement Plan Advice
Charles Schwab Corporation

W. Thomas Reeder Jr. Sworn in as PBGC Director
PBGC [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation]

Frontier Announces New Senior Appointment
Frontier Advisors

Mercer Marketplace Private Exchange Continues Growth in Individual Participants and Clients
Mercer

Eddie Ahmed Joins MassMutual as Chief Human Resources Officer
MassMutual

LIMRA Appoints New International Research Director
LIMRA

OneAmerica Rolls Out Road Show to Promote Financial Wellness
OneAmerica Financial Partners

NAPA Announces Top Women Advisors
National Association of Plan Advisors [NAPA]

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Declares October 16 First "National TPA Day"
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services

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