Retirement Plans Newsletter

January 18, 2018

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Jobs

DC Plan Administrator
San Diego Pension Consultants
in CA

Administrative Consultant for Qualified Retirement Plans
PenSys, Inc.
in CA, NC

3(16) Fiduciary Services Specialist
Pensys Fiduciary Services, Inc.
in CA

Sales Consultant 401(k) / DB
Farmer & Betts
in GA, MN, MO, NC, SC, TN, TX, WI

Institutional Assistant
WealthSouth, A Division of Farmers National Bank
in KY

H&W Account Executive
Alerus Financial
in MN

Defined Contribution Pension Plan Administrator
The Angell Pension Group, Inc.
Telecommute

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Disaster Relief 18-01, in Response to Wildfires, Flooding, Mudflows and Debris Flows in California
"This Disaster Relief Announcement provides relief relating to PBGC deadlines ... [to] any person ... that is located in the disaster area ... or other person whose operations are directly affected by wildfires, flooding, mudflows and debris flows that began on December 4, 2017, in California.... The relief generally extends from December 4, 2017 through April 30, 2018. The disaster area consists of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

[Advert.]

PSCA's 71st Annual National Conference, May 1-2, 2018, Scottsdale, AZ

Sponsored by Plan Sponsor Council of America [PSCA]

Join us in the Arizona desert to replenish and refresh your retirement plans. Hear from industry experts about issues, trends, and solutions. Spend two days drinking up knowledge that will rejuvenate your plan for the rest of the year! Register now!


[Guidance Overview]

Rules Have Changed for Puerto Rico Qualified Retirement Plans
"Act 106 amended the PR Code [to] ... [1] reinstate the previous annual limitations based on [U.S. Code] Section 415(c) ... [2] provide new rules for dual qualified plans pertaining to coverage testing; and ... [3] modify significantly the tax treatment of lump sum distributions."
Littler

[Guidance Overview]

Changes to VCP User Fees Create Mixed Results for Retirement Plans
"While the new fee structure is more simplified, it will result in some significant differences for plans compared to the prior approach.... [S]maller plans, which may have paid as little as $500 or $750 under the prior fee structure, will have to pay at least $1,500 (or more, depending on assets) ... [A]ll plans will lose the ability to take advantage of the failure-specific reduced fees."
Ice Miller LLP

Retirement Plan Sponsors: Have You Checked Your Website Lately?
"[S]ome of the most frequent issues [include] ... When recordkeepers or other service providers update their website addresses, many plan websites fail to correct the related link on their own site.... [I]nformation that is years out-of-date, including outdated plan documents, forms, or even listing recordkeepers or other service providers that are no longer part of the plan.... [T]he retirement website of the parent company is perfect, but subsidiary organizations attempt to write their own content, which can contain errors."
Cammack Retirement Group

2018 Key Administrative Dates and Deadlines for Calendar-Year Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plans (PDF)
This three-page chart includes a descriptive list of the 'key' administrative dates and deadlines for multiemployer defined benefit plans regulated by ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code.
Milliman

[Advert.]

Retirement Savings Plans and Tax Reform: How Will It Affect You?

Sponsored by Lorman and BenefitsLink

Feb. 12 webinar. Gain a solid understanding of how the tax reform will affect retirement plans for your company. BenefitsLink discount.


Restructuring a Multi-Manager Plan: A Case Study (PDF)
"The revamping process examined the investment fund structure, participant enrollment, and investment management fees.... The exercise provided important lessons in multi-manager fund structures, and ultimately resulted in a greatly improved DC plan.... After this process, the plan saw: [1] An increase in participation of 20 percentage points; [2] A decrease in investment management fees across the board; [3] A simplification of the fund structure and elimination of little-used options in the former plan."
Callan Associates

The Active Management Value Metric 3.0: Investment Returns and Wealth Preservation for Fiduciaries and Plan Fiduciaries
"The Active Management Value Ratio 3.0 (AMVR) is a simple, yet very effective, tool that investment fiduciaries, plan sponsors and plan participants can use to identify cost-inefficient actively managed mutual funds ... For those willing to take the time to do the research and the calculations, the rewards can be significant. For fiduciaries, the time spent can be especially helpful in avoiding unwanted personal liability[.]"
The Prudent Investment Fiduciary Rules

Putnam Gets Industry Support in 401(k) Fund Appeal
"The Investment Company Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other groups urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold a ruling rejecting claims that Putnam was wrong to put its own investment funds -- which earned fees for the company -- in the 401(k) plan for its workers. The groups argued against a judicial standard that would require Putnam -- and not the workers -- to prove that the challenged investments caused losses to the company retirement plan."
Bloomberg BNA

The Tides Are Turning for SEC Enforcement Policies
"At stake in the prolonged debate over a 'best-interest' standard of care for retirement advice are $7.5 trillion in 401(k)-type assets and $8.4 trillion in IRA assets. Whether or not the [DOL] and the [SEC] will eventually come to agreement on a uniform standard of conduct remains to be seen, but the SEC's inspection and enforcement arms are slowly forging ahead by imperceptibly moving the regulatory needle in favor of the DOL's higher standard for advice-givers."
Corporate Compliance Insights

[Advert.]

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Sponsored by BenefitsLink

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How to 'Pensionize' Any IRA or 401(k) Plan (PDF)
19 pages. "This research provides a framework for assessing different retirement income generators (RIGs) and navigating the many tradeoffs that older workers face when making retirement income decisions.... [This] project examined 292 different retirement income strategies[.]"
Stanford Center on Longevity

Verizon Pensioners Still Want to Recoup ERISA Protections
"[T]he 2017 Advocate Report ... includes a full pension de-risking study ... [which] focuses on PBGC and Congressional actions that may slow pension de-risking activity, and highlights the drivers and causes of de-risking ...'The study found that reducing PBGC single-employer premium levels or stemming their rapid growth is likely to decrease risk transfer activity,' [Jack Cohen, Association of BellTel Retirees chairman,] notes.... 'We have to wonder if the insurance companies can stand to take all that risk, and how they will manage it.' "
PLANSPONSOR

[Opinion]

Those Corporate Pensions Weren't Always So Great
"Corporate pensions in the U.S. were structured to reward a particular kind of worker -- the kind that spent his or her (usually his) entire career at a large company -- and leave most others in the cold.... It is possible to imagine an alternate reality in which Congress engineered a smooth transition from old-style pensions to a more sustainable, more portable setup."
Bloomberg

Benefits in General

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Disaster Relief CA-2018-01, for Victims of Wildfires, Flooding, Mudflows and Debris Flows in California
"Individuals who reside or have a business in Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties may qualify for tax relief.... [C]ertain deadlines falling on or after Dec. 4, 2017 and before April 30, 2018, are granted additional time to file through April 30, 2018."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Guidance Overview]

No More Delays! DOL Says New Disability Claims Rules Take Effect April 2
"[1] Identify all ERISA-covered plans sponsored by the employer that provide disability benefits.... [S]hort-term disability (STD) plans may or may not be subject to ERISA.... In addition, some retirement plans have disability-based provisions and could be caught up in the new rules. [2] Confirm that all ERISA-covered plans that provide disability benefits have updated claims procedures in effect on April 2.... [T]he procedures should be in writing and ready to be implemented by this date.... [3] Update summary plan descriptions (SPDs) to include the new procedures, and distribute the revised SPDs."
Mintz Levin

Executive Compensation
and Nonqualified Plans

[Guidance Overview]

How the Changes to Section 162(m) Executive Comp Rules Impact Your Company (PDF)
"[The] changes will necessitate reviewing proxy disclosures related to Section 162(m) and considering whether provisions and practices related to complying with the previously applicable Section 162(m) rules should continue to be followed. As companies both public and private prepare for their compensation decisions in 2018, here are key things you need to know[.]"
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager

BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2018 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.

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