Retirement Plans Newsletter

December 13, 2018

BenefitsLink.com logo
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com logo
Search   ·   Past Issues   ·   Get Message Boards Digest   ·   Get Health & Welfare News

Jobs


Webcasts, Conferences


Discussions

New Topics on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

New Comments and Topics

All Topics, Grouped by Forum


This Newsletter:
Subscribe Now

BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter:
Subscribe Now

Message Boards Digest:
Subscribe Now


[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Interest Rate Update for Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans, January and First Quarter 2019

"The first quarter 2019 interest assumptions under the allocation regulation will be 3.09 percent for the first 20 years following the valuation date and 2.84 percent thereafter.... The January 2019 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.50 percent for the period during which a benefit is in pay status and 4.00 percent during any years preceding the benefit's placement in pay status. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for December 2018, these interest assumptions represent no change in the immediate rate and no changes in i1, i2, or i3."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

[Advert.]

Offer ends December 31! Save 25% on Benefits E-Learning Courses

Sponsored by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP]

Enroll today and make your education a priority in the new year! Enroll in any of these online courses and get instant access to interactive, self-paced online training. E-learning courses are the online training solution that fits into your schedule


[Guidance Overview]

IRS Announces Transition Relief for Excluding Part-Time Employees Under 403(b) Plans

"If a 403(b) plan provides that the preceding-year exclusion is determined on a plan year basis, the Relief Period ends on the last day of the last plan year that ends before December 31, 2019. If a 403(b) plan provides that the preceding-year exclusion is determined based upon an employee's anniversary year, the Relief Period will end on different dates for different employees based upon the date of each employee's anniversary of employment, but no later than December 31, 2019."
Proskauer Rose LLP

A Solution to What Shouldn't Be a Problem? IRS Provides Some 403(b) Universal Availability Relief

"[Notice 2018-95] provides some temporary relief from this [Once-In-Always-In] requirement until 12/31/19 for most plans ... But once 2020 rolls around, we will be back to business as usual regarding the rules.... [H]ere are the cliff notes: the rules for excluding employees is a complicated three-part test that requires extensive counting of individual employee hours worked.... Sometimes plan sponsors just make it hard on themselves by electing to administer impossible retirement plan provisions that provide minimal cost savings. This is one of those provisions."
Cammack Retirement Group

Retirement Plan Withdrawal Trends

"[T]he average participant withdrew more than 55% in any given year at or soon after retirement. Only 28% of participants remained in the plan three years after retirement."
J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Editor's Pick The Impact of Automatic Enrollment

"[M]ore than 51% of 25-year-old participants investing in a plan were initially enrolled through an automatic enrollment default, potentially engaging participants who might not have invested in the plan otherwise.... [A] sizable segment of participants is starting average contributions at a minimal 3.3% rate and failing to take any action other than what the plan sponsor makes on their behalf in terms of subsequent increases."
J.P. Morgan Asset Management

[Advert.]

ftwilliam.com -- market leader in Government Forms software

Sponsored by Wolters Kluwer

Easy to use, 100% web-based, and integrated with other ftwilliam.com software modules. ftwilliam.com is consistently one of the first vendors to release updates. Learn more.


IRS Releases 2018 Required Amendments List for Qualified Retirement Plans

"Certain annual, monthly, or other periodic changes to amounts and items are considered to be included on the RA List for the year in which the changes are effective, even if not directly referenced on the RA List.... [T]he IRS expects that few plans have provisions that need to be amended for these changes."
Findley

The Importance of a Beneficiary Form

"ESOP's are usually not designed to allow for immediate entry upon hire so a new employee may not be an ESOP participant right away. Asking your new employee to fill out a ESOP beneficiary form ahead of time is a proactive option to ensure you have the election once they enter the plan.... Consider a review of your employee population at least once a year ... at the beginning of the new plan year or at the time of annual distribution of participant statements."
Blue Ridge ESOP Associates

The QPAM Exemption: Common Traps for the Unwary

"Fortunately for QPAMs managing plan assets, the QPAM Exemption builds in an exception to the prohibition against transacting with a party in interest who has the power to appoint or terminate the QPAM.... [A] fund will generally have to inquire into who has investment authority over a plan investor's assets only if the plan investor holds a 10% or more interest in the fund."
Winston & Strawn LLP

$3M Settlement Reached in Edward Jones Self-Dealing Lawsuit

"In response to the defendants' motion [to dismiss], the plaintiffs amended their complaint by replacing the one questioned plaintiff with another; removing allegations concerning the three Edward Jones managed mutual funds; and adding the Edward Jones Profit Sharing and 401(k) Administrative Committee and its members as defendants. After this complex set of motions and rulings, the parties have now opted to settle the matter rather than proceed to the full trial."
PLANSPONSOR

Many Employers Express Limited Understanding of When Workers Will Retire

"[T]he vast majority of employers (83%) have a significant number of employees at or nearing retirement. However, only half (53%) express having a good understanding of when their employees will retire. Additionally, while eight in 10 employers (81%) say managing the timing of their employees' retirements is an important business issue, only 25% do this effectively."
Willis Towers Watson

Demand for Financial Advice Increases; Retirement Advice Needed Most of All

"Three of the most cited objectives for which respondents identified a need for advice were related to retirement: saving for retirement outside of your workplace plan (74 percent), saving to fund health care expenses in retirement (74 percent), and saving for retirement through current workplace plans (71 percent).... Advice on how much to save was the most cited type of financial advice for a majority of the financial objectives, followed by tracking progress."
T. Rowe Price

Executive Compensation
and Nonqualified Plans

[Guidance Overview]

Code Section 83(i): Initial Questions Answered by IRS But More Guidance Needed

"[Notice 2018-97] does not address the uncertainty around the timing of the withholding obligation prior to the Section 83(i) election. In general, employers must collect and remit tax withholding within a few days of the exercise or settlement. However, it is uncertain if the income tax withholding will be due at that time pending the 30 day window for employees to make an 83(i) election."
Kilpatrick Townsend

Selected Discussions
on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

Crediting Service for Temp Agency

The employer occasionally uses the services of a temporary agency to find new talent. Occasionally after 90 days the "temp" is offered a permanent position with the employer. Does the employer have to count service while a "temp" for the plan's eligibility waiting period, vesting credits and accruals? In other words, does the employer have to bridge that service while working "temp" now that they are hired to a permanent position with the employer?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

► Subscribe to the BenefitsLink Message Boards Digest— a free daily email of all new discussions (not just the selected few shown above). View a sample issue.

Press Releases

Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue

Connect   LinkedIn logo   Twitter logo   Facebook logo

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
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.

Links to web sites other than BenefitsLink.com and EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com are offered as a service to our readers; we were not involved in their production and are not responsible for their content.

Unsubscribe  |   Change Email Address  |   Privacy Policy