Retirement Plans Newsletter

January 28, 2021

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[Guidance Overview]

Post-CARES Act Checklist for Retirement Plan Sponsors

"For plans that adopted the loan repayment suspension provision, payments with a due date beginning in January 2021 can no longer be suspended.... [T]here is no minimum required distribution due for anyone on April 1st of this year ... [T]he deadline for 2021 RMDs will be 12/31/2021.... [P]lan sponsors should confirm that no [coronavirus-related] distributions were processed after December 30th ... While the deadline for CARES Act loans actually occurred several months ago (September 22,2020), plan sponsors that permitted these loans should confirm that no new CARES Act loans were disbursed after that date." Icon to read more

Cammack Retirement Group

[Guidance Overview]

Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors, Part 38

"[It] is highly unlikely that the PTE will be effective on February 16, if ever. That creates a situation where the expanded DOL interpretation of the definition of fiduciary advice for rollovers is probably here to stay, but the exemption for conflicted recommendations to rollover IRAs will not be effective, at least for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, the DOL has extended its non-enforcement policy on nondiscretionary fiduciary advice to December 20, 2021." Icon to read more

FredReish.com

[Guidance Overview]

401(k) Plan Eligibility and Vesting for Part-Time Employees

"Plan sponsors may want to consider amending their plan document to provide for immediate eligibility for part-time employees solely for elective deferrals. This will reduce the burden on plan sponsors who find it difficult to track part-time employees' hours in regards to the SECURE Act's new eligibility and vesting rules." Icon to read more

ORBA

The Effects of a Financial Transaction Tax on Savings and Retirement Security (PDF)

35 pages. "This report analyzes pending proposals for a financial transaction tax (FTT) before Congress that would place a tax ranging from 0.02-0.5 percent on all equity, debt and derivatives trades transacted in the United States. As detailed in this report, the FTT would create a drag on investments for investors across the board, big and small." Icon to read more

Modern Markets Initiative

Revisiting the CARES Act and Its Impact on Retirement Savings

"At the time of its passage, some in the retirement industry were concerned that, while relief was needed, this bill would 'open the floodgates' to a large percentage of workers cashing out years of retirement savings. Fortunately, this did not happen. Analysis of Vanguard defined contribution (DC) recordkeeping data shows a modest portion of workers did access their retirement savings in 2020, but that the vast majority of participants remained steadfast on their retirement journey." Icon to read more

Vanguard

Target-Date 2020 Funds Did Well in 2020. Here's Why.

"For anyone who had been contemplating retiring in 2020, the first quarter couldn't have been easy. Stocks fell 34% in 23 days ... As of Dec. 31, 2020, the average return of a vintage 2020 target-date fund was 10.8%, one percentage point lower than the 11.7% return for a balanced fund with a 50% to 70% equity allocation ... In the first quarter, 2020 target-date funds overall fell 10%, on average." Icon to read more

Barron's

Billions Flow Out of TSP Due to COVID

"[N]early $3 billion exited the Thrift Savings Plan this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.... TSP participants took out 3,043 CARES Act loans over the normal $50,000 cap, for a total of $229 million. And 119,720 participants withdrew money using the CARES Act flexibilities, totaling $2.9 billion. Despite these figures, assets in the TSP grew in 2021." Icon to read more

Government Executive

[Opinion]

Outdated Retirement Savings Technology Could Be Harming Workers in America -- But Providers and Plan Sponsors Have the Power to Fix It

"Manual processing when consumers switch from one plan to the next is one example of the extreme inefficiency in today's system that makes it cumbersome, slow, and expensive for administrators -- and therefore less user-friendly for workers trying to save.... [W]hile innovation is abundant in financial services -- distributed ledger, predictive analytics, machine learning, data aggregation, artificial intelligence, gamification, APIs -- the retirement industry has lagged in investing in and leveraging these disruptive technologies effectively." Icon to read more

Aspen Institute

Executive Compensation
and Nonqualified Plans

[Guidance Overview]

Treasury Issues Final Regs on Section 162(m) Executive Compensation Deduction Limits

"A proactive approach to compliance will ease the transition to the new post-Act Code Section 162(m) framework and help preserve the relief offered by the grandfather rule.... [1] Determine whether your organization is considered a publicly held corporation and thus subject to Code Section 162(m). [2] Review your organizational structure and identify all other publicly held corporations in your affiliated group, including predecessor corporations. [3] Establish internal procedures for tracking covered employees. [4] Identify the extent to which these employees' benefits are grandfathered under the Final Regulations." Icon to read more

Groom Law Group

Selected Discussions
on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

► It's easy to sign up and participate in discussions! Post answers, ask questions, create custom feeds and views. Join your peers (and potential referral sources or customers)—there is no charge.

Brother-Brother Controlled Group?

"Two brothers each own 50% of Corp A and 50% of Corp B. Corps A & B are completely different business entities and have no business between the two. Because their common ownership is 100% of both corps, I am assuming they are a controlled group. Correct?" Icon to read more

BenefitsLink Message Boards

3% to All But HCE Fails Due to Young Whippersnapper

"Employer wants to give 3% PS contribution to everyone in the plan, but the owner doesn't want to take a contribution at all. Owner has a son who happens to be the youngest employee in plan. Giving his son 3% will not pass rate group testing. He fails. Could I still give the son 3% and just say that the allocation in pro-rata other than the owner is taking $0?" Icon to read more

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Contribution of Deferrals Is Late Even If Delay Is Due to Reconciliation?

"A few times in the past year a client has made the payments to TPA on time but TPA did not allocate them to the participants' accounts right away. It seems it's because the file sent by the payroll provider did not match the amount paid. When this happens the TPA holds the funds until they can reconcile, at which point they apply them. It seems like these shouldn't be late contributions. Any authority for this conclusion?" Icon to read more

BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Press Releases

OneDigital Acquires Fulcrum Partners
OneDigital Health and Benefits

Most Popular Items in the Previous Issue

DOL Tips to Address Missing Participants
Cammack Retirement Group

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David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager

BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2021 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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