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fi360 Fiduciary: Class Action Lawsuits Against Fiduciary and 401(k) Plans
RECORDED
(fi360)

fi360 Fiduciary: SEC Retirement Targeted Industry Reviews and Examinations Initiative
RECORDED
(fi360)

Startup Essentials: Structuring Equity Compensation Wisely
March 2, 2016 WEBCAST
(Practical Law Company)

Are You Sure Your Company is 100% Bulletproof Against Costly ACA Compliance Penalties?
March 3, 2016 in CT
(HUB International)

Key Fiduciary Services Procurement Issues for 2016
March 29, 2016 WEBCAST
(Fiduciary Supply Management Association [FSMA])

Health & Benefits Leadership Conference
March 30, 2016 in NV
(LRP Publications)

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Today's Discussions on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

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[Guidance Overview]

IRS Provides Guidance on New Form 5500 Compliance Questions
"[T]he IRS posted an announcement on its website that ... specifies -- by form, schedule and line-number -- the questions that should not be answered. However, there are other questions on the 2015 forms that are designated 'Compliance Questions,' similar to questions that have appeared on prior years' forms. Depending on the type of filer, these questions may have to be answered.... In the 2015 Form 5500 instructions, the IRS states that the compliance questions in Part VII of Schedule R (to be filed by retirement plans) 'are critical to the IRS to effectively focus on specific factors of the Federal tax law compliance.' " (McGuireWoods LLP)  

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SSA Cost Estimate for Proposed Elimination of Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision from the Social Security Act (PDF)
"Assuming enactment of the proposal effective for all benefits payable for entitlement in January 2017 and later (without regard for when the beneficiary became initially entitled), we estimate the increase in benefit obligations for the OASDI program would reduce the OASDI long-range actuarial balance by 0.13 percent of taxable payroll and would change the projected year of reserve depletion for the combined OAS I and DI Trust Funds from 2034 under current law to 2033 under the proposal." (U.S. Social Security Administration [SSA])  

Senate Committee Report: DOL, SEC Clashed Over Retirement Advice Rule
"Evidence of the discord between the two agencies is likely to be seized on by critics of the [DOL] proposal.... [The DOL] rejected numerous recommendations from the SEC and other agencies, wrote Republican Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in a 39-page report ... The Labor Department 'coordinated closely' with SEC staff, said Department spokesman Michael Trupo. The panel's report mischaracterizes documents, which show that Labor's 'engagement with the SEC was comprehensive, and that the SEC's input was incorporated into the plan,' Trupo said. An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment." (Reuters)  

SEC Cracks Down on Bad Actors in Retirement Space
"Launched last summer, the Retirement-Targeted Industry Reviews and Examinations (ReTIRE) initiative has initiated more 160 sweep examinations of advisors and brokers to evaluate how they are providing advice to investors saving for retirement ... 'Some of the observations that we've had to date have included misleading marketing materials with respect to rollover activities and other retirement-based communications, lack of documentation evidencing the reasonableness of recommendations, vague or omitted disclosures associated with fees and services and we've seen a number of issues with mutual fund share-class selection,' [said Jane Jarcho, of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations]." (Financial Planning)  

A Fix for Retirement Plan Guessing
"Despite today's low interest rates, a current longevity annuity can be an appealing alternative to the expected returns of a fixed-income portfolio. In fact, if longevity insurance rates rise just a bit more, they may become competitive with long-term equity returns, thanks to the benefit of mortality credits. That means that eventually an allocation to a longevity annuity bucket may become standard in retirement income planning -- as long as life expectancies don't grow so much that the longevity annuity rates drop." (Michael Kitces, in Financial Planning)  

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Recharacterizing Your Roth IRA Conversion? Four Things You Need to Know
"A waiting period applies for previously converted funds ... No waiting period for new traditional IRA funds ... Reconversion can bring tax benefits ... Reliable advice needed." (Slott Report)  

Fidelity Suspends MetLife Annuity Sales as Insurer Mulls Breakup
"Fidelity Investments, the second-largest U.S. mutual fund company, suspended sales of MetLife Inc.'s annuities as the life insurer weighs a possible sale, spinoff or public offering of a retail unit that provides the retirement products.... The loss is a setback for MetLife, the largest U.S. life insurer, which has declined about 21 percent this year in New York trading. The insurer's Accumulation Annuity and Growth and Income Annuity are no longer available to new investors through Fidelity[.]" (Bloomberg)  

Treasury Plan for Puerto Rico Favors Pensions Over Bondholders
"A broad plan being put forward by the Treasury Department to ease Puerto Rico's financial crisis would put pension payments to retirees ahead of payments to bondholders -- a move that some experts fear could rattle the larger municipal bond market. The proposal was being driven by evidence that Puerto Rico's pension system is nearly out of money, leaving retirees who are dependent on it financially vulnerable." (The New York Times; subscription may be required)  

[Opinion]

Expect 401(k) Adviser Pay to Fall If Recent Lawsuits Go Unchecked
"When the market is tanking, that is when a 401k adviser is in highest demand by the participants. Plan sponsors routinely rely on the adviser to provide education to the participants during these times of market turmoil. Under this dangerous precedent, it could further hurt the adviser because he is working harder and for less money, essentially driving that floor lower. There would appear to be two ways to avoid this. The first is to charge a flat fee for service or a per head charge.... The second way to combat this is to better educate clients about all of the work that goes into their plans." (QP Steno Blog)  

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Instructions for 2015 Form 5500: Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan (PDF)
82 pages. Revised Feb. 2016 to reflect the new IRS announcement regarding certain questions. "New Lines 4o, 4p 6c, and 6d were added to Schedules H and I. The IRS has decided not to require plan sponsors to complete these questions for the 2015 plan year and plan sponsors should skip these questions when completing the form." (Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]; Internal Revenue Service [IRS]; Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC])  

Spotlight Is on Employee Benefits Communication for Many Organizations
"[D]espite prioritizing benefits communication, only 19% of employers say their employees have a high level of understanding their benefits.... The reason employers say benefits understanding is so low is because most participants do not open/read materials (80% of organizations reported this), almost half don't understand the materials, and participants do not perceive value in their benefits (31%)." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])  

Managing Benefits in an M&A or IPO Deal
"The top strategic questions companies face during an M&A transaction include how rich benefits should be for the combined entity and whether one company's benefits prevail over the other's.... Before and after an IPO, a newly public company may want to expand its employee benefit offerings to be more competitive in the market and to meet long-term employee retention goals.... Bringing all employees onto a single benefits system or platform usually eases administrative cost and complexity. It also has implications for workforce management." (Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM])  

FASB Proposed Changes to Accounting for Pension and Other Postretirement Plan Expenses
"One exposure draft, 'Improving the Presentation of Net Periodic Pension Cost and Net Periodic Postretirement Benefit Cost' ... would change the presentation of net periodic costs, so that the service cost must be shown separately from other components and provide that only the service cost can be capitalized. The other exposure draft, 'Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans' ... would change the disclosure of costs and expense in the financial statements of employers that sponsor defined benefit plans (pension plans and other postretirement benefit plans). FASB has requested responses to a series of questions posed in each of the exposure drafts." (Cheiron)  

myStockOptions.com Expands Tax-Return Guidance To Help The Millions Of US Taxpayers Who Have Equity Compensation
myStockOptions.com

AFS 401(k) Announces Launch of Personal Finance Tool, MoneyNav
AFS 401[k] Retirement Services

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