Retirement Plans Newsletter

March 8, 2018

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Jobs

Employee Benefits - Retirement Plans Manager
Boulay
in MN

Litigation Associate
Trucker Huss APC
in CA

Health & Welfare Associate
Trucker Huss APC
in CA

Loans and Distribution Support
American Retirement Plan Services, LLC
in MD

Team Leader / Manager Client Services
Newport Group
in NC

►See 141 Jobs

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Webcasts, Conferences

Legislative Update: Retirement Plans
March 22, 2018 WEBCAST
TRI-AD

Compensation – Part 1: Why is Compensation Complicating My 401(k) Plan?!
April 5, 2018 WEBCAST
NIPA [National Institute of Pension Administrators]

New Tax Bill and Its Impact on Employee Benefits
April 9, 2018 WEBCAST
Lorman Education Services

Compensation – Part 2: A Deep Dive into the New Section 199A
April 17, 2018 WEBCAST
NIPA [National Institute of Pension Administrators]

New 403(b) Plan Documents Part III: The Final Chapter: Protecting Your Clients
April 18, 2018 WEBCAST
National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA]

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program and Abandoned Plan Program Workshop
April 25, 2018 in KY
Employee Benefits Security Administration [EBSA], U.S. Department of Labor

Becoming an S Corporation ESOP
May 8, 2018 WEBCAST
National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO]

Deep Dive Into the TJCA of 2017 and Its Impact on Qualified Plans
May 16, 2018 WEBCAST
ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries [ACOPA]

Military Benefits Under USERRA: Compliance Requirements for Qualified Retirement Plans
June 26, 2018 WEBCAST
ASPPA [American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries]

IRA and HSA Workshops
September 19, 2018 in MN
Ascensus

►See 173 Upcoming Webcasts and Conferences

►See 1369 Recorded Webcasts


Discussions

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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Disaster Relief 18-02, in Response to Tropical Storm Gita in American Samoa
"[PBGC] is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to tropical storm Gita that began on February 7, 2018 ... The relief generally extends from February 7, 2018 through June 29, 2018. The disaster area consists of the Territory of American Samoa."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

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Noted author and speaker S. Derrin Watson, J.D. is now answering questions in our Ask the Author service. Get your answers from Derrin in four business hours or less. Contact us at sales@ERISApedia.com or 612-605-2266.


California Courts Split on Pension Vested Rights Analysis
"[T]he Alameda court ... found that the reasonableness of PEPRA's changes ... must be judged independently in each county so that the effect on pre-PEPRA members could be evaluated in the context of each county's particular CERL system. The Alameda court rejected the MAPE court's broad focus on the general unfunded pension liability crisis in the State as a whole." [Alameda County Deputy Sherriff's Ass'n v. Alameda County Employees' Retirement Ass'n, No. A141913 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 8, 2018)]
Hanson Bridgett LLP

Tenth Circuit to Address Deferred Corporate Deductions for Expenses Payable to ESOP-Participating Employees
"[The employer] claimed the deductions, and the shareholders claimed flow-through deductions for the accrued but unpaid payroll expenses. The IRS disallowed these deductions... because [the employer] and the ESOP-participating employees were considered 'related persons.'... [The Tax Court] concluded that the ESOP trust was a 'trust' for purposes of IRC Section 267(a)(2) [which meant that] Petersen and other S corporations must defer deductions for expenses paid to their ESOP-participating employees until those expenses are includable in those employees' gross income.... [T]he shareholders argue that Congress never intended for IRC Section 267 to apply to employee trusts such as ESOPs."
McDermott Will & Emery

Notes from Meeting of Actuaries 'Intersector Group' with IRS, October 11, 2017 (PDF)
8 pages. Topics include: [1] Mortality tables opt-out: plan sponsor's determination; [2] Partial lump sums: total benefits vs. bifurcation rules; [3] Spinoff issues for plans subject to section 436 restrictions; [4] Multiemployer plan issues; [5] Closed plans/discrimination; [6] Hurricane relief issues; [7] Phased retirement; [8] Pension Equity Plans; [9] Risk sharing designs.
American Academy of Actuaries, Conference of Consulting Actuaries, Society of Actuaries, and ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries [ACOPA]

Notes from Meeting of Actuaries 'Intersector Group' with PBGC, October 11, 2017 (PDF)
6 pages. Topics include: [1] Terminated plans; [2] Section 4010 filings under the new rule; [3] Reportable events; [4] Multiemployer plan issues; [5] Plan terminations where an annuity provider cannot be found; [6] Insolvent multiemployer plans with active contributing employers; [7] Treasury Department interpretation of requirement to lift benefit suspensions after a merger between a distressed multiemployer fund and a larger healthy fund; [8] Missing participants; [9] New Code Section 430 mortality regulations.
American Academy of Actuaries, Conference of Consulting Actuaries, Society of Actuaries, and ASPPA College of Pension Actuaries [ACOPA]

[Advert.]

PSCA's 71st National Conference -- Early discount extended thru 3/9!

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!


Annuities Versus Tontines in the 21st Century (PDF)
"In this paper [the authors] investigate the practicalities of re-introducing retirement investment income tontines (RITs) into the financial supermarket of the 21st century.... [The authors] proceed from actuarial theory to investment practice and illustrate the following: [1] how RITs backed by fixed-income bonds would be operationalized in practice, and [2] how they would behave and perform relative to (historical) annuity payouts sold by insurance companies, the tontine's closest living cousin."
Society of Actuaries

401(k) Fiduciaries: Is It Time to Hone Your Processes?
"Last year's litigation ... attacks 401(k) fiduciaries on the quality of their process and on outcome. The fiduciaries that were sued last year were for the most part doing what their lawyers told them to do. They followed a 'prudent process stratagem' and entered into pretty low cost arrangements but they still got hammered with a lawsuit."
Fiduciary Plan Governance, LLC

Understanding the DOL Fiduciary Rule: An Exception for Certain Large Independent Fiduciaries
"Though the phased implementation period ultimately may be further extended, plan sponsors will want to become familiar now with the new fiduciary rule and exemptions, as well as the exception. While attempts by advisers to avoid fiduciary responsibility are not new, the investment adviser currently can avoid acceptance of fiduciary responsibility and hope that it stays with a sophisticated plan fiduciary by incorporating the exception's terms into his or her agreements."
HR Daily Advisor

Trap for the Unwary: Family Members as Investment Advisors for IRAs and Plans
"[If], for example, a mother asks her son, who is an advisor at a broker-dealer, to manage her IRA, any compensation paid to the son would be a prohibited transaction. That is, the mother is causing a family member -- a person in whom she presumably has an interest that could affect her fiduciary judgment -- to receive compensation. The consequences are harsh."
Drinker Biddle

'Hell's Kitchen' Plan Document Mistakes
"Plan sponsors spend so much time and effort crafting the perfect plan document that when they finally get to the finish line, they overlook the basics and neglect to follow through on the document's execution, which can put all that hard work in jeopardy.... The perfect plan document was created and signed, but wasn't shared with the recordkeeper(s) -- you know, the people who actually administer the plan document?"
Cammack Retirement Group

Aggregate Funded Ratio for Corporate Pension Plans Decreased in February (PDF)
"The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate pension plans decreased by 0.7 percentage points to end the month of February at 88.2 percent, and up 6.1 percentage points over the trailing twelve months ... The monthly change in funding resulted from a 3.3% decrease in liability values, which was more than offset by a 4.1% decrease in asset values. Despite February's decline, the aggregate funded ratio is up 3.6 and 6.1 percentage points year-to-date and over the trailing twelve months, respectively."
Wilshire Associates

Retirement Saving Focus Especially Needed for Latino Women
"Latinas are 39% more likely to have employment-based retirement savings accounts than ... Hispanic men.... [A]verage retirement account balances, including 401(k) and IRAs, for Latinas ages 25 to 64 are only $5,892, far less than Latino men and all other demographics ... The causes of Latinas' lower retirement savings include lower earnings, shorter working tenure, lower pension participation and account depletion."
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Selected Discussions
on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

Compensation Definition for Purposes of ADP/ACP Tests
A 401(k) plan uses base compensation of "wages, tips, and other compensation as reported on W-2." Bonuses are included for deferral calculations. Bonuses are excluded for match contribution calculation. Plan document says to use 414(s) compensation for ADP/ACP testing, but doesn't define 414(s). For ADP/ACP, do I use the total base OR the total base less bonus?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Change to Definition of 'Disability' Considered a Change in Vesting Schedule?
A 401(k) plan provides for 100% vesting upon becoming "disabled," defined as "a physical or mental condition that makes him unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity and that can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for at least a twelve-month period or results in death." A determination of disability is made by the plan administrator. The plan sponsor desires to amend the plan to change the definition of disabled to mean a disability as determined by the Social Security Administration. Would this amendment constitute a change to the vesting schedule under Code section 411(a)(10) that would require an election to be offered to those participants who have at least 3 years of service?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Nondiscrimination Testing: Different Measurement Periods?
When doing the general test for nondiscrimination, must the same measurement period (current year versus accrued to date) be used for the rate group determination and for the average benefits percentage? That is, can I determine accrual rates for rate groups on an accrued-to-date basis but calculate my average benefits percentage on a current accrual basis, because I don't have the DC balances, only current year contributions? Or do I need to get balances and use same basis?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
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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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