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Retirement Plans Newsletter July 2, 2019 |
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Webcasts, Conferences Introduction to Form 5500 Filing Requirements
Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs) for Colleges, Universities & Independent Schools: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
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Discussions |
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This Newsletter:
BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter:
Message Boards Digest:
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[Official Guidance]
70 pages. "This document sets forth proposed regulations relating to the tax qualification of plans maintained by more than one employer. These plans ... are often referred to as multiple employer plans or MEPs. The proposed regulations would provide an exception, if certain requirements are met, to the application of the 'unified plan rule' for a defined contribution MEP in the event of a failure by an employer participating in the plan to satisfy a qualification requirement or to provide information needed to determine compliance with a qualification requirement.... "The exception generally would be available if the participating employer in a MEP is responsible for a qualification failure that the employer is unable or unwilling to correct. It would also be available if the participating employer fails to comply with the section 413(c) plan administrator's request for
information about a qualification failure that the section 413(c) plan administrator reasonably believes might exist. For the exception to the unified plan rule to apply, certain actions are required to be taken, including, in certain circumstances, a spinoff of the assets and account balances attributable to participants who are employees of such an employer to a separate plan and a termination of that plan."
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[Advert.]
ASC CE Webcast: Special Qualified Plan Rules for Churches and Governmental Entities
A retirement plan for church & government entities has special document and administrative requirements. Sign up now to learn more about the Title I exemption, the application of the Code's qualification rules to church and governmental plans & more! |
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[Official Guidance]
35 pages. "This document contains a second exposure draft of a proposed revision of ASOP No. 27 ... The first exposure draft was issued in March 2018 with a comment deadline of July 31, 2018. Eighteen comment letters were received and considered in making changes that are reflected in the second exposure draft."
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[Official Guidance]
33 pages. "This document contains a second exposure draft of a proposed revision of ASOP No. 35 ... The first exposure draft was issued in March 2018 with a comment deadline of July 31, 2018. Sixteen comment letters were received and considered in making changes that are reflected in the second exposure draft."
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[Guidance Overview]
A Guide to Regulation Best Interest "Section I discusses Regulation Best Interest generally. Section II discusses at some length each of the four Component Obligations that must be satisfied to demonstrate compliance ... Section III examines a number of other important collateral issues ... Section IV discusses required records and recordkeeping ... Section V provides a suggested framework for ensuring that registered broker-dealers are fully compliant with Regulation Best Interest on or before the fast-approaching compliance date of June 30, 2020."
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[Guidance Overview]
"Large employers that have at least one eligible California based employee and who do not offer their own employer sponsored retirement plan must register with the CalSavers program and begin auto-enrolling employees ... no later than June 30, 2020. By 2022, even employers with as few as 5 California based employees ... will be subject to the mandate."
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[Advert.]
Reach the right candidate for your company's job opening! Put your job ad in front of our 24,000+ newsletter readers and on our web site -- the employee benefits community's job board for over 20 years. |
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Massachusetts Securities Division Proposes Uniform Fiduciary Standard "On June 14, 2019, the Massachusetts Securities Division proposed and offered for public comment a state regulation to apply a fiduciary standard of conduct to broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers and investment adviser representatives when they advise their customers.... The Division's proposal appears to be a clear reaction to Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin's disappointment with the new Regulation Best Interest from the [SEC]."
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June 2019 Pension Finance Update "Pension finances improved in June, as stock market gains overcame lower interest rates. Both model plans ... gained ground last month: Plan A improved close to 2%, ending the first half of 2019 basically flat, while Plan B added close to 1% and is now up less than 1% through the first six months of 2019[.]"
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"The draft bill would make the following changes: [1] Reduce the lifetime estate tax exemption limit to $3.5 million for deaths in 2020 or later ... [2] Establish a lifetime exemption limit for gifts of $1 million ... [3] All monies from tax on excess gifts and transfers made, and tax on estates of deaths in 2020 or later, would be directed to the OASDI Trust Fund. Enactment of this provision alone would improve the long-range OASDI actuarial balance by an estimated 0.58 percent of taxable payroll, and would improve the OASDI annual balance by 0.78 percent of payroll for the 75th projection year (2093)."
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[Opinion]
Three Policy Ideas for Turning Individual Account Balances Into Retirement Security (PDF) "Crafting the ideal retirement spending program requires an alchemistic blend of the retiree's life expectancy, future investment returns, inflation, emergency spending needs, bequest motives, and ever-changing tax law and Social Security benefits. Annuities would be an obvious solution for many, but few retirees are willing to turn over a large sum of money for a seemingly small monthly payment.... [T]hree relatively new and promising ideas [are]: a voluntary Social Security buy-in; tontine -- a kind of mortality risk sharing pool; and a new kind of Treasury bond called a SeLFIE."
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Benefits in General |
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A Deadline Is a Bright Line: Seventh Circuit Narrows 'Substantial Compliance' "Although the court held that a plan administrator that misses a statutory deadline cannot be in 'substantial compliance' with the statute, the Seventh Circuit ... refused to abrogate entirely the doctrine of 'substantial compliance.' Rather, the court narrowly held that the doctrine does not apply to the violation of regulatory deadlines, so 'when that time is up, it's up.' " [Fessenden v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co., No. 18-1346 (7th Cir. Jun. 25, 2019)]
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Considerations When Eliminating Specific Employee Benefits "[C]ompanies can't simply continue to add benefits. Every once in a while, they might need to phase out or eliminate a benefit to put a new one in its place or because it doesn't align with the company's compensation philosophies. From a legal perspective, what should organizations be aware of when it comes to the elimination of an employee benefit? ... Are there some best practices that employers might want to consider when it comes to underutilized benefits?"
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Executive Compensation |
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161-page presentation outline. "[To] know whether compensation is subject to clawback where an executive is terminated for sexual misconduct that constitutes 'cause,' one needs to know what the corporate clawback or recoupment policy says, and those policies are not commonly included in securities filings.... It seems reasonable to expect that over the next few years sexual harassment will increasingly be explicitly listed as 'cause' for purposes of determining whether a terminated executive must forfeit potential compensation."
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Selected Discussions |
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No Profit Sharing Contribution Made for New Plan -- Must File 5500 Anyway? New profit sharing plan adopted in November 2018. The 401k component was going to start 1/1/2019. Plan sponsor decided not to make a profit sharing contribution for 2018 -- so zero assets at December 31, 2018. Is a Form 5500 required for 2018?
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Press Releases |
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Renowned ERISA Law Firm Now Offers Legislative, Regulatory and Policy Services
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Hodges-Mace Begins a New Chapter With Alight
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Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue |
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A Welcome Expansion: IRS Resuscitates Determination Letter Program
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Text of GASB Exposure Draft: Section 457 Deferred Compensation Plans That Meet the Definition of a Pension Plan
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Connect
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BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
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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 2019 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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