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Retirement Plans Newsletter August 29, 2018 |
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Jobs
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Webcasts, Conferences Fiduciary Risks Reach Critical Mass!
Operating In Compliance: Understanding IRS & DOL Audit Hot Buttons and How Sponsors Can Address Them
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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Defined Benefit Consultant|
[Guidance Overview]
IRS Approves 'Student Loan Repayment Nonelective Contribution' But Questions Remain "[1] It is not clear whether the IRS would permit student loan repayment contributions to be offered under retirement plans other than 401(k) plans. [2] The IRS did not state that the plan sponsor would need to adopt certain student loan repayment substantiation requirements.... [3] It may be administratively impractical for plan sponsors to monitor employee student loan payments ... without the assistance of a competent administrator.... [4] The IRS did not specify whether plan coverage and nondiscrimination testing could be manipulated to prevent student loan repayment contributions from causing plan testing failures."
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[Advert.]
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[Guidance Overview]
"[P]ay scales are higher in some industries than others, and in some cases young employees may well reach the highly compensated threshold ($120,000 in 2018) and beyond within the period of time that they maintain student debt. The PLR Employer minimized nondiscrimination concerns by using a safe harbor when designing the nonelective contribution: the same percentage of compensation is allocated for all eligible participants."
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Private Letter Ruling Provides New Options for Addressing Student Loan Debt Via 401(k) Plan "While the non-elective contribution will likely be provided primarily to non-highly compensated employees, and therefore will pass discrimination testing, the impact on the testing for deferrals and matching contribution is more unpredictable. This match structure would NOT qualify for any of the safe harbor testing provisions."
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President Trump to Address Retirement Security "President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on retirement security at a public appearance in Charlotte on Friday [August 31].... A spokeswoman said the order is part of an administration policy 'to promote programs that enhance retirement security and expand access to workplace retirement savings plans for American workers.' "
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Self-Directed Brokerage Windows in 401(k) Plans: Do Fiduciaries Have to Look Inside? "[R]egulatory guidance indicates that the choice of the broker, and negotiation of the broker's fees and other charges, may very well be a fiduciary act.... [DOL] has raised the question of whether there should be some responsibility for plan fiduciaries to at least monitor the usage of investments through the brokerage window.... [T]he participant-directed plan disclosure rules ... require that disclosures regarding the brokerage window arrangement, and the related fees and charges, be provided to all plan participants eligible to use the window, not just those actually using it."
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[Advert.]
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Understanding the Causes of 401(k) Litigation and How to Avoid a Lawsuit (PDF) 20 presentation slides. Topics: [1] Litigation landscape: why lawsuits happen; [2] The issues; [3] How to stay out of court; and [4] Legal/regulatory compliance versus professional conduct standards.
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Chrysler Pension Plan Participant Finds Some Litigation Success in Sixth Circuit "[T]his second appellate decision reverses the district court's latest grant of summary judgment to the plan on the lead plaintiff's request for reformation. On the other hand, the decision affirms summary judgment on the plaintiff's request for equitable estoppel, and remands the matter again to district court for further proceedings consistent with the latest appellate opinion." [Pearce v. Chrysler Group LLC Pension Plan, No. 17-1431 (6th Cir. June 20, 2018)]
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Treasury Department Approves Two Multiemployer Applications to Cut Benefits "Western States Office and Professional Employees Pension Fund ... submitted its third application ... to reduce benefits 30% for active participants, terminated vested participants and retirees under the age of 80, to avoid insolvency that was projected to happen by 2036.... Iron Workers Local 16 Pension Fund ... reapplied ... to reduce benefits starting Oct. 1. Without the reductions -- an average of 20% in benefit cuts -- it is projected to be insolvent by 2032.... Officials at both plans were notified ... that final authorization will happen after plan participants vote on the proposed
plan[.]"
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Where to Turn if You've Been Wrongfully Denied Your Retirement Benefits "The Pension Rights Center acts as a resource for six federally funded pension counseling projects that together serve individuals in 30 states across the country. The pension counseling projects provide free legal assistance to anyone -- regardless of age or income -- who needs help understanding their rights to retirement benefits they have earned through their employment. These projects even offer legal help obtaining wrongfully denied retirement benefits by working through a retirement plan's internal claims and appeals process."
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[Opinion]
ERISA Section 404(c) Is Not Working "[At] least two courts have suggested that if participants are not provided with the material information necessary to protect their interests, then the participants cannot be said to have exercised the control over their 404(c) account. So what constitutes 'sufficient information to make an informed decision?' Two consistent themes of ERISA are cost-control and risk management."
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Benefits in General |
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Issues Guidance for New UBTI 'Siloing' Rules, But Questions Remain "[1] Does an organization's ability to appoint a representative to an investor committee or other advisory body with respect to an investment partnership constitute such organization's 'participation' in the management of the partnership for purposes of the Control Test? ... [2] To what extent must an exempt organization seek information on underlying trades or businesses from investment partnerships, and what happens if the exempt organization is unable to obtain sufficient information? ... [3] What does it mean that fringe benefit UBTI inclusions are 'not subject' to section 512(a)(6)? Is such UBTI inclusion a de facto silo, or may unrelated trade or business losses be applied against fringe benefit UBTI?"
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How to Gain Executive Buy-In for Benefits Technology "Focus on what matters to each stakeholder and how the new system will help them in their specific role. It's also important to understand what type of push-back you might get, so you can be prepared to respond clearly and effectively. Let's take a look at how benefits technology factors into what matters for each of the key stakeholders you'll likely be trying to convince during the purchasing process[.]"
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Executive Compensation |
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[Guidance Overview]
IRS Issues New, Mostly Unfavorable Section 162(m) Guidance "Many existing arrangements with so-called negative discretion are not grandfathered ... Compensation contracts that are renewed or extended are not grandfathered ... Increases in compensation are deemed material modifications ... Changes to employment agreements with covered employees should be carefully reviewed ... to consider the impact of Section 162(m) on such arrangements."
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Strategies for Creating More Deductible Compensation Under the 'New' Section 162(m) "Two different sections of the regulations under Code Sec. 409A provide an exception to the prohibition on delaying or deferring payments and allow a company to decide to defer the payment of compensation to an executive, without an election in advance, if the compensation is not deductible under Code Sec. 162(m). ... The new 'once a covered employee, always a covered employee' rule will complicate some companies' ability to utilize these exceptions, but should not eliminate them."
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"[1] [Consider] change to vesting schedules of Code Section 457(f) deferred compensation to incorporate graduated vesting instead of cliff vesting ... [2] Review fringe benefit offerings and ensure that they are structured ... to be excludable from gross income; [3] Evaluate whether the tax-exempt organization's controlled group can consolidate its employment and hence payrolls into a single entity to minimize future additions to the covered employees group; ... [4] [T]rack and support the portion of a physician's compensation that is 'directly' related to performing medical services."
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Selected Discussions |
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Needing Fidelity Bond on a Multiple Employer Plan Does anyone have any recommendations of insurers who will write a fidelity bond for a multiple employer plan?
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Completing Form 5500-EZ When It's the First and Final Return for the Plan I'm filing a final 5500-EZ return (because the plan was closed and the assets distributed), but this is also the first return (the assets never exceeded $250,000 so there was no need to file). Should I check both boxes for the first return (A (1)) and for the final return (A (3)) on part 1 of the 5500-EZ? Or only one box -- either the first return or the final return?
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Refusing to Submit Your Client's Form 5500 Report Have you ever had a situation in which you did not want to provide your usual service of electronic submission of a client's Form 5500 report because you believe the report your client instructs you to submit would include a false statement? (Your draft was accurate and correct, but your client tells you to change an answer to one that is false.) How did you handle the situation? Does a submitter have any responsibility for whether its client makes a truthful report?
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Press Releases |
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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Text of FASB Accounting Standards Update 2018-14: Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans
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IRS Private Letter Ruling OKs 401(k)/Student Loan Repayment Program But Issues Remain
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Connect
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
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Winter Park, Florida 32789
(407) 644-4146
Lois Baker, J.D., President
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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