Retirement Plan Administrator
Steidle Pension Solutions, LLC
in NJ

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Tax Reform
January 16, 2018 WEBCAST
Ascensus

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Proposed Legislation Would Enhance Auto Enrollment, RMD, Lifetime Income, and Other Retirement Plan Rules
"[Provisions of the Retirement Plan Simplification and Enhancement Act of 2017 (RPSEA) include:] ... No RMDs for certain individuals ... Increased RMD age ... Qualifying longevity annuity contract (QLAC) enhancement ... More self-correcting for employer plans ... Grace period for automatic-enrollment failures ... Simplify notice requirements ... Incentive to allow early plan entry ... Simplified reporting and disclosure ... [Expands] safe harbor plan designs with the Secured Deferral Arrangement (SDA)."
Ascensus

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Prep for Compliance Testing Season -- Advanced Level Webcast

Be prepared this Compliance Testing Season. John Griffin, J.D., LL.M., will discuss common errors related to compliance testing, methods for improving test results, how to deal with testing errors and more. Register here!

Case Study: DB Plan Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions
"[A]nalysis revealed that the divesting plan sponsor had undervalued the DB plan liabilities by at least 60% of the value proposed in the purchase agreement presented to ... the buyer.... [T]here were four main areas of concern: the mortality assumption, demographic assumptions, terminal funding upon retirement, and associated investment risk."
Milliman

2018 Key Administrative Dates and Deadlines for Calendar-Year Single-Employer Defined Benefit Plans (PDF)
Chart lists and describes important administrative dates and deadlines for single-employer defined benefit plans subject to ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.
Milliman

IRS 401(k) Fix It Guide: A Primer on How to Fix Your 401(k)
"The IRS's 401(k) Fix-It guide is helpful but extremely dense ... [An] abbreviated version [is presented in this article] to try to make it a bit easier to digest. [The authors] try to describe the essentials to remember in a way that doesn't require a law degree to understand."
ForUsAll

ESOP Benefits for Defense Contractors
"[D]efense contractors may have long-term and complex contracts and relationships with government agencies. A sudden change in leadership or sale of the company can make contractors and customers nervous and could lead to the government seeking out a competitor. With an ESOP transition, leadership and ownership changes can take place over time based on the owner's direction."
Butterfield Schechter LLP

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A West Coast Conference with Advanced Content

At the LA Advanced Pension and 401(k) Conference, January 25-26, 2018, you'll experience advanced level, challenging discussions with the very best industry expert speakers.

New York State Proposes Best Interest Standard to Apply to Annuity and Life Insurance Sales
"The New York proposal goes further than a recent draft revision to the model suitability regulation published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ... [as it] applies not just to annuities but also to life insurance sales. The two drafts also define best interest differently."
Greensfelder

[Opinion]

Are Broker-Dealers Drowning in Their Own Compliance Standards?
"[T]he compliance and regulatory burden of working at a broker-dealer is slowly but steadily driving advisors to the independent RIA channel.... [T]he broker-dealer community maintains that a fiduciary rule (e.g., from the [DOL]) is unworkable due to the regulatory and compliance burdens it creates... even as leading advisors at broker-dealers continue to leave and transition to the fiduciary RIA model!?"
Nerd's Eye View

[Official Guidance]

Text of DOL Inflation-Adjusted Civil Penalties for 2018, Including Those Under ERISA and FMLA
"[T]his final rule sets forth the Department's 2018 annual adjustments for inflation to its civil monetary penalties.... This final rule is effective on [the date of publication in the Federal Register, scheduled to be Jan. 2, 2018]. As provided by the Inflation Adjustment Act, the increased penalty levels apply to any penalties assessed after [such date]." [BenefitsLink note: 2017 and 2018 dollar amounts have been summarized by EBSA in an appendix to the rule, which will not be published in the Federal Register. EBSA penalties under ERISA begin on page 31; penalties under FMLA are on page 35.]
U.S. Department of Labor [DOL]

[Guidance Overview]

The New Tax Rules for Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits
"Compensation discussion and analysis sections (CD&As) for 2018 proxy statements should be reviewed to determine if any changes are advisable related to the Section 162(m) discussion. Companies should catalog grandfathered arrangements and implement processes to ensure that such arrangements are not unintentionally materially modified.... Employers that sponsor [retirement] plans allowing for loans should consider whether plan participant communications should be revised early next year to alert participants to the greater flexibility allowable for rollover of loan offset amounts."
McGuireWoods

Noteworthy Federal Cases in 2017 Relating to Employee Benefit Plans
"Here is a round up of cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and the First and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals in 2017 involving ERISA employee benefit plans."
Verrill Dana LLP

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS CCM 201752008: Allocating Deduction Limitation Under Section 162(m)(6) (PDF)
"Corporation Y is a tax -exempt hospital and is part of an aggregated group with Corporation X, a covered health insurance provider. Both Corporations X and Y paid applicable individual remuneration to Employee A. The regulations under Section 162(m)(6) provide that the Section 162(m)(6) deduction limitation must be allocated among members of an aggregated group. Is remuneration paid by Corporation Y otherwise deductible and taken into account for purposes of applying the deduction limitation even though Corporation Y is a tax -exempt entity? ... Yes, remuneration paid by Corporation Y is otherwise deductible and is taken into account in applying the deduction limitation under Section 162(m)(6)."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Pay Ratio Disclosure: How to Tackle the SEC Rule
"[This article presents] a framework and proposed approach to pay ratio disclosure that might greatly simplify your analysis and work plan. [The authors] encourage you to conduct a trial run soon to increase your chance of success for next proxy season. One benefit of a trial run is that you can see how results vary by exercising discretion with respect to the varying methods. There is a key concept driving the whole analysis: determining the median employee."
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, via Corporate Secretary

Rollover within a Multiple Employer Plan Due to Change in Employer: Top Heavy Test Affected?
A participant leaves one adopting employer under a Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) for another adopting employer under the same MEP. The participant has the 401(k) balance transferred from the first group to the second group. Assume that the employers are not a controlled group or an affiliated service group and that their only nexus is that they are a part of the MEP. Would the second group need to include this balance in its top heavy ratio?
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