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Retirement Plans Newsletter

July 19, 2021

3 New Job Opportunities

 

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Releases Updated EPCRS Guidance

"Elective deferral failure -- sunset of safe harbor extended ... Self-correction of certain significant operational failures extended ... Anonymous submissions eliminated ... New correction methods for overpayments added."  MORE >>

Ascensus

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Makes 'Significant Changes and Revisions' to EPCRS Correction Program

"[Rev. Proc. 2021-30] eliminates the VCP anonymous submission procedure and adds an anonymous, no-fee, VCP pre-submission conference procedure. The revenue procedure also expands correction by plan amendment under SCP, extends the end of the SCP correction period for significant failures by one year, and extends the sunset of the safe harbor correction method for certain missed elective deferrals by three years."  MORE >>

American Retirement Association [ARA]

[Guidance Overview]

Exceptional Usefulness and Quality icon Troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans: PBGC Issues Regulation on ARPA Special Financial Assistance

"The interim final rule outlines ... [1] How SFA amounts are calculated; [2] How the receipt of SFA will affect the calculation of withdrawal liability; [3] The SFA application process; [4] How SFA assets must be invested; [5] How the receipt of SFA results in restrictions on benefit increases and employer contribution decreases; [6] The requirement to reinstate certain benefit cuts in order to receive SFA."  MORE >>

Morgan Lewis

[Guidance Overview]

Exceptional Usefulness and Quality icon IRS Provides Escheatment Guidance for Qualified Plans (PDF)

"[P]lan sponsors of qualified plans that escheat plan benefits should update their reporting and withholding procedures no later than January 1, 2022, to comply with Revenue Ruling 2020-24 ... The withholding requirements may be of particular concern for escheatment that is made in-kind ... Notably, no corrective action is required for the plan sponsor's prior reporting and withholding position."  MORE >>

Groom Law Group, via Journal of Pension Benefits

[Guidance Overview]

Mixed News for Employers as PBGC Releases Multiemployer Bailout Plan Rule

"Some employers had also hoped that receipt of SFA would allow plans to cut future contribution rates. However, PBGC dashed this idea by stating that contribution rates cannot be reduced below the rates in effect on March 11, 2021 (the date the bailout legislation was enacted), plus any rate increases called for in collective bargaining agreements in effect on that date. And, since all plans receiving SFA are in critical status, it is likely that existing rehabilitation plan contribution increases will remain in place."  MORE >>

Fisher Phillips

Dissecting TIAA Subsidiary's $97 Million SEC Rollover Settlement

"TIAA has agreed to further significant internal reforms, including subjecting all rollover recommendations to a strict fiduciary standard; eliminating differential compensation for sales of managed accounts; eliminating or fully disclosing other adviser conflicts of interests related to recommending managed accounts; using plain language to disclose when advisers are not acting as fiduciaries; and training advisers to offer a fair comparison between managed accounts and employer-sponsored plans."  MORE >>

John Manganaro, in planadviser

Participants Trending Toward a 'Do It for Me' Mindset

"A majority (53%) of surveyed participants want help selecting their investment strategies and prefer to leave most ongoing investment decisions to experienced professionals. What's more, the number of participants who believe their employers have an obligation to help them pick the right plan investments has steadily climbed over the years -- rising from 29% in 2016 to 41% in 2021."  MORE >>

American Retirement Association [ARA]

Congress Gets Closer to Addressing the Issue of Lost Retirement Plans

"[T]he Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act (S 1730) ... would establish an online pension registry inside a new Office of Lost and Found housed in the [PBGC].... [and] would require plans which force out small accounts of $1,000 or less to send the account balance to [that Office] if they cannot locate the participant.... These lost plan provisions have also been included in the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2021 (HR 2954) ... and in the Retirement Security and Savings Act (S 1770)[.]"  MORE >>

Pension Rights Center

Generational Views of Retirement in the United States (PDF)

16 pages. "Millennials and Generation X are most concerned about the impacts of COVID-19 on their retirement. Across generations, most of those who are concerned about the impacts of the pandemic plan to delay their retirement. ... There is broad support across generations for Social Security, including support for increasing contributions and expanding benefits. All generations have favorable views of defined benefit pensions, with Millennials holding the most favorable views. There is wide agreement generationally that pensions are better than 401(k) plans for providing retirement security, and that everyone should have a pension."  MORE >>

National Institute on Retirement Security [NIRS]

[Opinion]

Capital Markets and Pension Funding Forecasts (PDF)

"[A] negative economic outlook for the next ten years ... bodes badly for underfunded pension plans and retirees.... [T]he American Recovery Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) ... further weakens the minimum funding requirements: ARPA replaces the 7-year amortizations of each year's loss or gain in the unfunded liability with a single 15-year amortization requirement.... ARPA sets a grandiose scheme for interest rate manipulation through 2030[.]"  MORE >>

H.C. Foster & Company

Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]

Phone Call Recordings May Be Requested by Claimants If They're Deemed Relevant to a Benefits Claim

"The DOL ... concluded that recordings of conversations with participants would not be excluded from any disclosure just because the claims administrator or plan doesn't include that recording within its own administrative record, doesn't treat the transcript or recording as a part of the claim's activity history through which the claim is developed, tracked, and administered or because that transcript or recording was created for quality assurance."  MORE >>

ERISAPros

[Guidance Overview]

Don't Overlook This Tax Planning Opportunity: One-Time IRA-to-HSA Rollover

"[T]he Health Opportunity Patient Empowerment Act of 2006 ... allows for a one-time penalty- and tax- free rollover of money from your traditional IRA to a health savings account (HSA).... This strategy allows you to just shift funds already in your traditional IRA to an HSA, without taking money from your non-retirement accounts.... [T]he transfer from the IRA will have removed some of the money, though a relatively small amount, out of the required minimum distribution (RMD) calculation."  MORE >>

EisnerAmper

Executive Compensation and Nonqualified Plans

[Guidance Overview]

Alert (High Risk Issue) icon IRS Updates Nonqualified Plan Audit Technique Guide: is a New Enforcement Initiative on the Horizon?

"This latest update to the NQDC guide contains much more detailed guidance than the prior version. That is noteworthy because President Joe Biden and many members of Congress have been proposing to increase the IRS's budget in order to provide more resources for audit initiatives. Could a new executive compensation enforcement initiative be on its way? If so, employers need to be prepared with the following steps."  MORE >>

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP

Employee Benefits Jobs

View job as Director of Actuarial Services
for July Business Services Director of Actuarial Services

July Business Services

Telecommute / Waco TX

View job as Defined Contribution Account Manager
for Nova 401(k) Associates Defined Contribution Account Manager

Nova 401(k) Associates

Telecommute / Houston TX / Dallas TX / Scottsdale AZ

View job as Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for The MandMarblestone Group, llc Defined Contribution Plan Administrator

The MandMarblestone Group, llc

Telecommute / Philadelphia PA

Selected New Discussions

Use Plan Administrator's Digital Signature on Form 5500 Prepared by the TPA?

"Our TPA firm obtains authorization from the plan sponsor/plan administrator and files the 5500 for the company. Can the 5500 signature from the plan sponsor/administrator be digital or does it have to be a 'wet' signature in order to be valid?"

BenefitsLink Message Boards

The Dreaded Tiny One-Day Delinquent Contribution

"Due to set of unusual circumstances, a small plan Plan Sponsor, which always deposits 401(k) contributions on time, deposited the sum total of $150 for 3 participants one day late (i.e., 8 business days after withheld). Report on 5500?"

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Webcasts and Conferences
(Retirement Plans / Executive Compensation)

EPCRS: The IRS Giveth and the IRS Taketh Away

August 10, 2021 WEBCAST

Boutwell Fay LLP

Recognizing Prohibited Transactions

September 21, 2021 WEBCAST

Ascensus

Last Issue's Most Popular Items

Text of IRS Rev. Proc. 2021-30: Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (PDF)

Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Side-by-Side Comparison of Provisions in SECURE 2.0 and Cardin-Portman Proposals (PDF)

Groom Law Group

Actuarial Equivalence Lawsuits: Plaintiffs May Defeat Motions to Dismiss, But Can They Win Class Cert?

Groom Law Group

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

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