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[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Notice 2020-83: 2020 Required Amendments List for Qualified Retirement Plans and § 403(b) Retirement Plans (PDF)

"The Required Amendments List applies to both individually designed plans qualified under Section 401(a) and individually designed plans that satisfy the requirements of Section 403(b).... Part A. Changes in requirements that generally would require an amendment to most plans or to most plans of the type affected by the change. None ... Part B. Other changes in requirements that may require an amendment. [1] Difficulty of care payments treated as compensation for retirement contribution limitations (SECURE Act section 116).... [2] Application of cooperative and small employer charity pension plans." 

Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Guidance Overview]

Documenting Rollover Recommendations: The DOL and SEC Requirements

"The DOL makes documentation an explicit requirement of its proposed prohibited transaction exemption for fiduciary investment advice. The SEC encourages documentation in the preamble to Reg BI. Neither mandates the information that needs to be reviewed and documented, but both provide lists of relevant data in the preambles to their guidance.... [The authors] discuss the requirement and provide a chart of the information that should be considered." 

Faegre Drinker

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Bends on CARES Act Funding Deadline; PBGC Follows Suit

"[F]or calendar-year plans and some noncalendar-year plans starting late in the calendar year, the [effective interest rate (EIR)] almost certainly won’t be known by the Jan. 4 contribution due date. In that case, sponsors should estimate interest using the highest of the three segment rates for the plan year. This conservative approach will ensure that the contribution is at least as large as needed to satisfy minimum requirements. If the actual EIR is lower than the estimate, the sponsor can create prefunding balance with the excess contributions. However, what this means for PBGC premiums is unclear." 

Mercer

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Guidance Provides More Detail on Terminating 403(b) Plans

"Rev. Rul. 2020-23 ... [provides] guidance for satisfying the distribution requirements in a plan termination where a 403(b)(7) custodial account is distributed as an individual custodial account 'in kind' to a participant or beneficiary, generally where the participant or beneficiary does not affirmatively elect a distribution. The guidance is retroactively effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008." 

Groom Law Group

[Guidance Overview]

DOL Now Requires Plan Investments Based Only on Pecuniary Factors

"[1] Follow the prudence safe harbor in the regulations ... [2] Use pecuniary factors only ... [3] Follow tie-breaker rules only if pecuniary factors create deadlock ... [4] No additional rules for choosing investment alternatives in account-based plan ... [5] Prohibition on non-pecuniary factors for QDIA." 

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Year-End Compliance Update for Retirement Plans

"As 2020 draws to a close, this is a good time for employers sponsoring retirement plans to wrap up year-end compliance issues and prepare for the upcoming year. Here is a quick list of topics that plan sponsors may want to consider as 2021 approaches." 

Miller Johnson

Changes on the Horizon? Introducing the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020

"Some provisions would be mandatory, such as the changes to the required beginning date and required minimum distribution rules, modifications to the long-term, part-time employee eligibility measurement period, and the automatic enrollment feature for new plans.... [T]he effective date for most of these changes [would be] the plan year beginning after December 31, 2020." 

Hall Benefits Law

Fall 2020 Employee Benefits Briefing

Audio recording. "[1] Fiduciaries should generally only consider pecuniary factors when choosing investments for plans that are subject to ERISA. [2] Plan sponsors should review their missing participant procedures in light of recent IRS guidance on tax reporting and withholding for accounts remitted to state unclaimed property funds. [3] Plan sponsors should review their health and welfare plan documents and consider whether any provisions can be added to mitigate against litigation risk and unnecessary expenditures.... [4] Fiduciaries should remain diligent in monitoring their plan's investment fund lineup, reviewing recordkeeping fees, and documenting their processes when making decisions involving the plan.... [5] Plan sponsors should review and update their COBRA documentation to make sure there are no deficiencies, and consider auditing their health plan's compliance with the mental health parity requirements." 

Nixon Peabody LLP

2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor 'To Do' List: Executive Compensation

"[1] Last chance to correct certain Section 409A document failures discovered in 2020 ... [2] Nonqualified deferred compensation deferral elections should be made on or before December 31, 2020 ... [3] Take certain action to address impact of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Section 162(m) ... [4] Certain nonqualified deferred compensation plans must be amended before December 31, 2020 ... [5] Code Section 6039 information statements due by January 31, 2021 ... [6] Restore COVID-19 related salary reductions before March 15, 2021 ... [7] Revisit other COVID-19 related compensation decisions." 

Snell & Wilmer

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OK for Participant to Use COVID Distribution to Pay Off Loan from Plan?

"Does anything prohibit a participant from taking a legitimate COVID distribution and using part of it to pay off an existing (non-COVID) loan?" 

BenefitsLink Message Boards

PBGC Coverage of DB Plan for a Financial Planner?

"Looking into setting up defined benefit plans for some financial planners for 2020. Does anyone have any experience as to whether they would be covered by PBGC? I am aware that I can ask via a PBGC pilot program, but we might not get a response in time." 

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Use Plan Assets to Pay Expenses of Preparing Qualified Replacement Plan's Document?

"We set up a PS plan as a qualified replacement plan (QRP) and billed the client. Excess assets from the DB have been transferred to the QRP. Now QRP only has excess DB assets. No PS contribution will be made for 2020. Client wants to pay the document fee from the new PS plan assets. Legal?" 

BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Press Releases

Bolton Chief Actuary, Ellen Kleinstuber, to Serve as President-Elect of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries
Bolton

Baker Botts Welcomes Leading ERISA Litigator in San Francisco: Christopher J. Rillo
Baker Botts

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