Program Implementation Analyst
NRECA
in VA

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Employee Benefits and Employment Integration: How to Handle Transactions Without Losing Your Workforce
April 6, 2018 WEBCAST
McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Retirement Plan Trends in Today's Health Care Market
April 18, 2018 in IL
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Successor Liability in Asset Sales and Distressed Benefit Plans: Best Practices for ERISA Counsel
May 1, 2018 WEBCAST
Strafford

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Fewer GenXers Have Retirement Savings
"Six in 10 GenXers have money saved for retirement. This is down from 65 percent two years ago. Of those with retirement savings, seven in 10 have less than $250,000 saved, down from eight in 10 in 2016.... Six in 10 GenXers believe private employers should be legally required to offer a 401(k) plan to employees, and a staggering 81 percent would like be offered an option to take a portion of their retirement plan balance as monthly, guaranteed lifetime income."
Insured Retirement Institute [IRI]

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Roth Usage Doubled in Past Decade
"Roth was offered in 63.1 percent of plans in 2016 compared to 30.3 percent in 2007.... Of the eligible employees that made contributions to a plan in 2016, 18.1 percent made Roth contributions.... [P]lans with 1-49 participants have an average of 29.2 percent of eligible employees making Roth contributions."
Plan Sponsor Council of America [PSCA]

2018 Guaranteed Lifetime Income Study (PDF)
"73% of respondents now consider guaranteed income as a highly valuable addition to Social Security, compared to 61% a year ago ... [A]mong those who report owning a guaranteed lifetime income product, 63% reported being highly satisfied with the purchase.... More than half express concern about being able to afford long-term health care or nursing home expenses (54%) and losing some of their retirement savings in a market downturn (52%), and 46% are worried about outliving retirement savings."
Greenwald & Associates, and CANNEX

Asset Purchaser May Have Had Sufficient Continuity of Business Operations to Be Subject to Successor Withdrawal Liability
"In the totality of relevant circumstances, [the Seventh Circuit found that] ManWeb's purchase of and use of Freije's intangible assets -- its name, goodwill, trademarks, supplier and customer data, trade secrets, telephone numbers and websites -- and its retention of Freije's principals to promote ManWeb to existing and potential customers as carrying on the Freije business under ManWeb's larger umbrella, weigh more heavily in favor of successor liability than the district court recognized." [Indiana Electrical Workers Pension Benefit Fund v. ManWeb Servs., No. 16-2840 (7th Cir. Mar. 12, 2018)]
Cary Kane ERISA Lawyer Blog

Should You Include a Managed Account Option in Your 401(k)?
"In addition to accounting for a participant's age, a managed account may also take into consideration salary, other employee benefits, and additional investments the employee owns outside the company 401(k). And like with the TDF, the managed account will continue to manage the employee's 401(k) investments, adjusting asset allocations, and rebalancing when necessary."
ForUsAll

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Recent Developments in 401(k) Fee Disclosure Rules

March 28 webinar will arm plan sponsors with tools needed to understand fees, ask the right questions when disclosures are unclear, and know what and how to communicate with plan participants to meet fiduciary obligations. Discount for BenefitsLink readers.

Retirement Plans Retreat from Active Funds, Flock to Investment Trusts
"Assets in collective investment trusts, or CITs, run by T. Rowe Price Group Inc soared 54 percent last year to $88.9 billion. And assets in 16 CITs managed by Fidelity Investments rose 31 percent to $85.6 billion ... The trend reflects a broader shift of money from more expensive funds run by stock-pickers to cheaper options that passively track indexes. Actively managed funds suffered $207.5 billion in net withdrawals across the United States last year[.]"
Newsmax

Fifth Circuit Vacates DOL Fiduciary Rule
"The Fifth Circuit is not expected to officially vacate the Fiduciary Rule until May 7, and until that time, the Fiduciary Rule is technically in place. Therefore, it may not be advisable to make large scale immediate changes but rather use this period to inventory the activities that could be affected and consider potential strategies." [Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. DOL, No. 17-10238 (5th Cir. Mar. 15, 2018)]
Groom Law Group

The Fiduciary Rule: Reports of Its Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
"It really is too soon to conclude ... that the recent Fifth Circuit decision invalidating the Fiduciary Rule sounds the Rule's death knell.... The [DOL] could request a rehearing before the full court or appeal. Every other court that has reviewed the Fiduciary Rule has concluded ... that the Rule was a valid exercise of regulatory authority. This case could conceivably go up to the Supreme Court."
Cohen & Buckmann, P.C.

Fifth Circuit Vacates the Fiduciary Rule 'In Toto,' While the Tenth Circuit Upholds DOL's Treatment of Fixed Indexed Annuities
"On March 15, 2018 ... the Fifth Circuit issued a harsh rebuke of DOL's actions and vacated the Fiduciary Rule ... The 2-1 split decision paid no heed to a decision by the Tenth Circuit, filed just two days earlier, upholding a portion of the same rule regulating fixed indexed annuities (FIAs).... DOL appears to have put the entire Fiduciary Rule into suspense on a nationwide basis, at least for the time being. Whether it accepts the defeat or chooses to press ahead with the litigation is open to question."
Miller & Chevalier

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IRS Issues Participant Forms for 2016-2017 Disaster Relief Reporting (PDF)
"IRS has released Forms 8915A and 8915B for participants adversely affected by a 2016 or 2017 disaster to report a retirement plan distribution that qualifies for favorable tax treatment for the 2017 tax year. While participants are responsible for filing these forms, plan sponsors and administrators should be aware of them in case they wish to point participants in the right direction where they know individuals have taken disaster-related distributions."
Conduent

Funding Pension Plans in 2018
"The aggregate funded status [of DB plans from 389 Fortune 1000 companies] on an accounting basis improved from 81 percent at the beginning of 2017 to 83 percent at the end of the year.... The average plan return of 13 percent was well above the expectation of 7 percent. In addition, employers' contributions to their plans was up roughly 20 percent in 2017 compared with 2016, possibly in response to rising premiums from the [PBGC]."
Treasury & Risk; free registration required

CalPERS Raises Pensionable Compensation Caps for 2018
"The compensation limit for classic members for the 2018 calendar year is $275,000; raised from $270,000 in 2017. The compensation limit for new members for the 2018 calendar year is $121,388 for Social Security Participants and $145, 666 for Non-Social Security Participants. In 2017, the compensation limits for new members was $118,775 for Social Security Participants and $142,530 for Non-Social Security participants. Employees with membership dates prior to July 1, 1996 are not impacted by these limits."
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore

Unions to Run Police and Firefighter Pension Systems in New Jersey
"The bills will pass on Monday with token 'no' votes from a few Republicans who don't really need union support in their districts but what does allowing the Police & Fire unions to manage their pensions mean for the system as a whole?"
Burypensions

[Guidance Overview]

Prepare to Address Disability Claims Under All Types of Benefit Plans Differently, Starting April 1, 2018
"Does a third party (external) reviewer determine if disability exists? If so, either the plan document, insurance contract or service agreement needs to require that that third party comply with the new DOL rules.... Many benefit plans detail claims procedures only in the SPD; in that case, the plan document might not need to be updated, but a summary of material modifications should be provided to plan participants outlining the disability claims procedure changes."
Frost Brown Todd LLC

Don't Amend Executive Comp Plans Yet for New Disability Claims Rules
"It is likely that all or a portion of the benefits earned or accrued before 2018 under non-qualified deferred compensation, executive retirement, and severance plans will be exempt from the $1 million deductibility limits of Code Section 162(m) under the grandfathering provisions of the transition rule.... Do not amend your non-qualified deferred compensation, executive retirement, and severance plans now in order to preserve the exemption."
Winston & Strawn LLP

Companies Show No Love for Hard-Won Exemption to Pay Ratio Rule
"Business advocates pressed the SEC as it drafted the rule to include a way for companies to avert potential privacy violations when collecting information on non-U.S. workers.... But the extra legwork and added disclosure required has turned off most companies to its use."
Bloomberg BNA

Restricted Stock/RSUs and Tax Returns: Eight Costly Mistakes to Avoid
"[1] After selling any or all of the shares at vesting, you still need to report this sale on Form 8949 and Schedule D even though you are also including it as part of your compensation income.... [2] [Y]our tax basis for reporting the stock sale in column (e) on Form 8949 is the amount of compensation income at vesting that appeared on your W-2 ... [3] You will also mistakenly double-report income if you do not realize that your W-2 income in Box 1 already includes stock compensation income."
myStockOptions.com

[Opinion]

Does Tax Deductibility Affect CEO Pay? the Case of the Health Insurance Industry
"The failure of reduced deductibility to slow growth in CEO pay in the health insurance sector ... means that the TCJA provisions are unlikely to significantly affect CEO pay more widely.... To restrain growth in CEO pay we need reforms to improve corporate governance and give shareholders more power over corporate executives."
Economic Policy Institute

Can Acquired Employer with SIMPLE IRA Continue to Maintain the Plan After Acquisition?
We are a small employer with a SIMPLE IRA. We are being acquired through a stock transaction by a larger company with a 401(k). Can we continue to maintain the SIMPLE IRA as a frozen plan (no future funding) or are we required to terminate it by the end of the 2 year transition period? If we terminate the SIMPLE IRA, what are the tax consequences?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

HCE Excluded from 3% Safe Harbor. Still Get a Top-Heavy Pass?
Key EEs have 75% of plan assets. TH according to account balance test. Plan has 3% SH to all. Plan is deemed NOT to be TH by virtue of the SH rules. What if we excluded all HCE, or only non-owner HCE from the 3% SH? Do we still get the TH "pass" as there may be some HCE who are non-key and would otherwise get the TH contribution had the plan not been SH?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Participant Loan Options After Corporate Spin-Off
I am looking for a creative solution around repayment of loans in a spinoff. Imagine I have an organization where a group of employees are part of divestiture. The selling organization's loan program does not allow for terminated employees to continue making payments, nor do they want to open up this feature to the entire population. The purchasing organization does not have a loan program, nor do they want to create one. The best solution would be for one of the parties to adjust/create a loan program. That seems to be a tall order even though it makes the most sense. So I am looking for a creative solution where the entire group of employees can be packaged together so they continue making loan repayments.
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