NAPA

Team Lead, Pension Operations
Nationwide
in OH

Pension Administrator
Actuaries Unlimited, Inc.
in CA

Post Your Job

View All Jobs

RSS Feed: All Jobs

Introduction to Qualified Tuition Programs (529 Plans)
January 20, 2016 WEBCAST
(Lorman Education Services)

Inheriting an IRA or Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan
January 26, 2016 WEBCAST
(Lorman Education Services)

View All Webcasts and Conferences

Today's Discussions on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

View All Discussions

[Guidance Overview]

2016 Compliance Calendar, with Poster of 2016 Regulatory Limits
"The Regulatory Limits for 2016 poster describes regulatory limits for elective deferrals and catch-up contributions, as well as deadlines for returning excess contributions. The related 2016 Compliance Calendar includes recurring compliance and notice requirements for qualified defined contribution plans." (Vanguard)  

[Advert.]

A Revolutionary New Resource.

ERISApedia.com Instant Access to Answers. Find your ERISA compliance answers quickly and easily with up-to-date content and a modern platform. Now available: ASK THE AUTHOR and Form 5500 eSource. Free Trial - Sign up or email sales@ERISApedia.com.

Bipartisan Members Introduce Legislative Proposals to Protect Working Families Saving for Retirement
"The Strengthening Access to Valuable Education and Retirement Support (SAVERS) Act, led by Rep. Roskam, and the Affordable Retirement Advice Protection (The ARAP) Act, led by Rep. Roe, would require an affirmative vote by Congress before any final rule by the [DOL] goes into effect. If Congress fails to approve the department's regulatory proposal, a new fiduciary standard would take effect that: ... [1] [Requires] advisors to serve in their clients' best interests ... [2] [Penalizes] financial professionals who violate the trust of their clients; [3] Requires advisors to clearly communicate key information to ensure investors are well-informed to make investment choices; and [4] Ensures that individuals and families saving for retirement have access to advice and investment options to meet their individual needs and circumstances." (Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives)  

Snakes and Ladders: What to Expect in the Unexpectedly Triumphant Final DOL Fiduciary Rule
"The great debate over a fiduciary standard for retirement advice, now in its fifth year, is about to enter its final, climactic phase. In the meantime, the Department of Labor has entered a self-imposed blackout to review feedback on its proposed conflict of interest rule. DOL is legally constrained from discussing any specific changes in advance, but this article offers an analysis based on specific issues that key supporters and some opponents agree need revisions; and on other, recent remarks by senior DOL officials suggesting that they are open to change in certain areas of the proposal." (RIABiz)  

2016 IRS Priorities and Top Audit Triggers (PDF)
"The agency ... will allocate higher grade resources to Plan types which display a historical pattern of increased non-compliance [including]: ... [1] Plans with more than 2,500 participants. They pose the greatest risk to the largest number of people. 60% of all Plan Participants and 70% of all Plan assets are in these large Plans. [2] Multiemployer Plans ... [3] IRC 403(b) Plans." (Ekon Benefits)  

Retirement Income Solutions: A Guide for DC Plan Sponsors (PDF)
18 pages. "With this paper, DCIIA describes many of the tools and withdrawal strategies (both guaranteed and non-guaranteed) that support plan participants' income needs as they move toward and live in retirement. [The paper's] goal is to provide a useful resource to help plan sponsors to understand and evaluate their options for providing retirement income." (Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association [DCIIA])  

Text of Amicus Brief Urging Supreme Court Review of Cash Balance Plan's 'Normal Retirement Age' Based Solely on Years of Service
"The Second Circuit's standard handcuffs plans. A 'normal retirement age' for purposes of ERISA determines not 'when employees must retire, but only when certain rights vest and how benefits are adjusted.' ... The Second Circuit's approach limits the alternatives available to plans in arranging their benefits offerings to meet companies' needs, thus burdening employers and, by making retirement plans less attractive, undermining ERISA' s goal of providing benefits to employees.... As matters currently stand, the same plan will be subject to competing interpretations depending on the district in which a claim is raised. Worse yet, in the Second Circuit, a plan will be subject to a vague, general standard that could lead to divergent results by different factfinders." [Laurent v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, No. 14-1179 (2d Cir. July 23, 2015; cert. pet. filed Nov. 13, 2015)] (American Benefits Council)  

Why to Monitor Target Date Funds
"As you're working with a plan sponsor to choose a TDF, help them by documenting what attributes they find important about TDFs and why they chose the one they did. Monitoring isn't just watching -- your client needs to revisit the criteria and determine if the TDF the plan sponsor has chosen still meets it. And consider if that criteria is valid." (The Principal Blog)  

Guidelines for Communicating a Second Stage ESOP Transaction
"[F]ollowing a second stage transaction, participants usually see a decrease in stock value on their statements. They'll likely have questions and might even be worried about the company's future. This is a perfect time to refresh your ESOP education and communication plan." (Principal Financial Group)  

Extenders Bill Poised to Make Big Changes: What You Need to Know
"Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) are back... 'forever' ... Enhanced retirement plan portability with roll-ins to SIMPLE IRAs ... Age 50 exception to the 10% penalty is expanded... More time to roll over bankrupt airline payments ... 529 Plan improvements." (Slott Report)  

Teamster Retirees Demand Trustees 'Stop the Rush' to Reduce Pensions
"This past month, meetings in Columbus, Ohio, and Kansas City, Missouri, drew 600 and 500 Teamsters and family members, respectively. Milwaukee saw nearly 300 and Cincinnati more than 200. Retirees have formed active 'Committees to Protect Pensions' in 20 cities, with Facebook pages set up in a dozen more.... The pension committees are demanding that trustees of the Teamsters' mammoth Central States Pension Fund, with 407,000 members, stop the rush to achieve solvency on their backs, and find another way to shore up the fund's ailing finances." (Labor Notes)  

As Retirees Outnumber Employees, Public Pensions Seek Saviors
"Desperate for more money, public pension systems have been making high-risk investments hoping for a higher profit. But they may ultimately cost taxpayers more." (Governing)  

[Opinion]

What Will the Benefits Service Provider of the Future Look Like? (PDF)
"[W]hat we have seen in the retirement plan administration industry mirrors what we have seen nationally -- an Industrial Revolution of sorts ... One would think that this makes the servicing of retirement programs easier and less expensive, but the opposite is often true... As computers increasingly do what we used to do by hand with an HP 12C calculator and a pencil, Congress, the [DOL], and the [IRS] have also increased the compliance burdens.... Are we going to see the benefits equivalent of the 'citizen-driver' experience, where you can pick up administration on any street corner with a cell phone and get the same ride to your destination as you would with a taxi or a limo?" (Ferenczy Benefits Law Center LLP)  

[Opinion]

DOL Stretches Credibility and Precedent in New State Plans Guidance
"DOL takes the position that a state government could set up what would be called an 'open MEP,' a multiple employer plan for employers that have no common interest, purpose, or ownership. This is something that DOL has expressly and aggressively forbidden in such recent guidance as Advisory Opinion 2012-04A.... There are also legitimate questions to be asked about the alternative DOL-approved options for state-coordinated ERISA plans.... [Do] we want state governments deciding which service providers they will favor by including then in a state-approved retirement plan 'marketplace?' Do we want a state to sponsor a prototype plan document and offer it directly to employers, essentially competing with private sector firms that offer prototype documents and the services that go with them?" (Todd Berghuis, for Ascensus)  

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Releases Advice Addressing Section 162(m) and CFO Compensation of Smaller Reporting Companies
"Like smaller reporting companies, emerging growth companies (EGCs) are also entitled to rely on the limited disclosure rules in Item 402(m) of Regulation S-K. [IRS Chief Counsel Memorandum 2015 43003], however, does not address the applicability of its conclusion to EGCs. In addition, and most notably, the [CCA memorandum] does not address how [its] conclusion ... impacts the deductibility of compensation paid to a smaller reporting company's (or an EGC's) PFO before the release of this memorandum." (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)  

Lockton Dunning Benefits Announces Leigh Harris as Vice President
Lockton

Manning & Napier Announces Agreement to Acquire Majority Interest in Rainier Investment Management, LLC
Manning & Napier, Inc.

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services Hires Scott Schaerer As Vice President, Total Retirement Solutions, in Pacific Northwest
John Hancock Retirement Plan Services

J.P. Morgan to Pay $267 Million for Disclosure Failures
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Secretary of Labor Perez Appoints New Members, Leadership for 2016 ERISA Advisory Council
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

View All Press Releases