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Retirement Plans Newsletter

July 22, 2021

4 New Job Opportunities

 

[Official Guidance]

IRS VCP Submission Kit for Use When Plan Sponsor Was Not Eligible to Sponsor a SIMPLE IRA Plan

"Plan sponsors may use this Voluntary Correction Program (VCP) Submission Kit if they: [1] Aren't eligible to sponsor a SIMPLE IRA Plan, because they have too many employees, or [2] Can't sponsor a SIMPLE IRA Plan, because they maintain another type of retirement plan.... Receiving IRS approval of this submission kit, however, doesn't correct other failures in your plan, like the failure to: [1] Limit contributions made to the SIMPLE IRA plan in accordance with IRC Section 408(p); [2] Update your SIMPLE IRA plan document for current law changes; [3] Operate the SIMPLE IRA plan according to its written terms; [4] Admit all eligible employees."  MORE >>

Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Proposed Regs: Electronic Filing Requirements for Specified Returns and Other Documents

103 pages. "This document contains proposed regulations amending the rules for filing electronically and affects persons required to file partnership returns, corporate income tax returns, unrelated business income tax returns, withholding tax returns, and certain information returns, registration statements, disclosure statements, notifications, actuarial reports, and certain excise tax returns."  MORE >>

Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Expands Self-Correction Procedures But Eliminates Anonymous Voluntary Correction Program

"While self-correction of operational errors through retroactive amendment is still limited to amendments that increase benefits for all affected employees, the IRS's change expands the instances in which this correction approach may be available.... These revised overpayment correction procedures provide additional flexibility to plan sponsors in the correction of overpayment failures, particularly as it relates to the requirement for plan sponsors to contribute make-whole payments to defined benefit plans."  MORE >>

Morgan Lewis

[Guidance Overview]

IRS Snapshot Reflects Updated 401(k) Hardship Distribution Rules

"Although the snapshot doesn't offer any new guidance, IRS has provided a useful, streamlined summary of the hardship distribution requirements. Snapshots also serve as training materials for IRS auditors and typically highlight compliance issues IRS will review during an audit."  MORE >>

Mercer

Industry Best Practice: Fraud Controls (PDF)

"Plan Sponsors are responsible for the overall security of [retirement plan] accounts. Recordkeepers must implement controls that reasonably protect, detect, and respond to fraudulent activity. Participants must act to use secure login credentials and monitor their accounts.... These controls should be a combination of preventative, detective, and responsive controls. [This] chart is intended to highlight a minimum set of controls that should be considered and set expectations for all parties involved."  MORE >>

The SPARK Institute

[Sponsor]

Uncashed Checks – DOL Guidance, Challenges & What To Do

Billions of dollars go uncashed each year for various reasons. Join us to get your questions answered by our experts, learn about recent DOL guidance, and what plan sponsors/providers are doing to address changes & challenges.

Sponsored by PBI Research Services

Defined Contribution Plan Distributions: Considerations and Recommendations

"To help you prepare for a potential IRS examination, [this article lists] some requirements for participants to receive Required Minimum Distributions (RMD), hardship distributions, and coronavirus-related distributions, recommendations of actions you can perform, and documentation to retain as added internal controls."  MORE >>

Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker, LLC

Engaging Participants: Communication Strategies for Defined Contribution Plan Sponsors (PDF)

"With success measurement largely limited to the accumulation phase in practice, participation becomes a major criterion; but helping participants to help themselves requires engagement. How do plan sponsors achieve this level of engagement or action from participants? Are defined contribution participants more likely to respond to messages of fear or encouragement? [This report explores] key questions that plan sponsors often ask and offer recent research to help provide answers."  MORE >>

Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association [DCIIA]

Design of Financial Wellness Programs: What Do Employees Want and Whom Do They Trust? (PDF)

"This paper will explore employee awareness and engagement challenges, and illuminate how employees' trust in, and comfort levels with, those delivering the program can affect their participation and the program's success."  MORE >>

Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association [DCIIA]

Financial Wellness and Financial Health: What Are They, What Drives Them, and What Will People Do to Improve Them? (PDF)

"[T]he behavioral changes people are willing to make require the least tangible effort. Despite these challenges, the employer-based retirement system provides both know-how and mechanisms to affect financial wellness."  MORE >>

Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association [DCIIA]

Public Pension Funding Tops 80% for First Time in Over Five Years

"For the first time since ... 2016, the funded ratio for [the nation's 100 largest public defined benefit pension plans] has climbed above 80%.... Q2 2021 marked the fifth consecutive quarter of high-water marks for both public pension assets and liabilities, with the estimated funded status of the [these] plans growing from 79.0% at the end of March 2021 to 82.6% at the end of June."  MORE >>

Milliman

TIGTA Audit Report 2021-16-044: Taxpayers Were Notified About the CARES Act Retirement Plan Provisions But Additional Actions Could Be Taken to Identify Potential Noncompliance (PDF)

21 pages. "Although the Section 2202 Compliance Plan assessed the effect on examination activities and outlined the steps necessary to encourage and enforce taxpayer compliance, it could be improved.... TIGTA recommended that the Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, ensure that management has sufficient information available to assess compliance with Section 2202 of the CARES Act and consider creating a Lead Sheet to assist examiners when reviewing cases for potential noncompliance. In their response, IRS management disagreed with both recommendations."  MORE >>

Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration [TIGTA], U.S. Department of the Treasury

Benefits in General

District Court Narrows Focus of Antitrust Suit Over $30 Billion Aon-Willis Merger

"A federal judge has narrowed the scope of a [DOJ] lawsuit blocking the proposed $30 billion merger of insurance brokers Aon PLC and Willis Towers Watson PLC, allowing the companies to finalize remedies for three of five issues raised by the antitrust regulator. The impending trial on the remaining issues, set to start in November, will focus on whether large U.S. businesses would face diminished competition when seeking two categories of insurance: property, casualty and financial risk coverage; and health-and-benefit coverage for employees[.]" [U.S. v. Aon and Willis Towers Watson, No. 21-1633 (D.D.C. Jul. 20, 2021)]  MORE >>

Reuters

Employee Benefits Jobs

View job as Senior Retirement Analyst
for Dunbar, Bender & Zapf, Inc. Senior Retirement Analyst

Dunbar, Bender & Zapf, Inc.

Remote / Pittsburgh PA

View job as Retirement Services Supervisor
for Alerus Financial Retirement Services Supervisor

Alerus Financial

Remote / MN / ND

View job as Retirement Implementation Coordinator
for Alerus Financial Retirement Implementation Coordinator

Alerus Financial

Remote / MI / MN / ND / NH

View job as 401(k) Consultant
for Creative Retirement Systems 401(k) Consultant

Creative Retirement Systems

Remote / Cincinnati OH

Selected New Discussions

Non-Resident Alien Contribution Restrictions

"Assuming a non-US citizen does not pass the substantial presence test and is classified as a non-resident alien for tax purposes, what restrictions/limitations may prevent them from contributing to a 401(k) and/or IRA? Please assume the individual maintains a US work visa and is seconded overseas while still being paid by the US entity, and they return to the US for short periods of time throughout the year."

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Participant Can Access Investment Advisor's Reports to the Plan Committee?

"A participant is angry about a fund replacement decision made by his plan's Investment Committee. He's has formally requested HR provide him with a copy of the report provided by the plan's investment consultant advising them to make the replacement. Would you provide him a copy of the report?"

BenefitsLink Message Boards

Press Releases

CAHC Joins US Chamber, Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers, and Vermeer in Coalition to Expand Jobs-Based Health Insurance Coverage

Council for Affordable Health Coverage [CAHC]

New American Equity Fixed Index Annuity Offers Paths to Protected Lifetime Income and Legacy Benefits

American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company

Webcasts and Conferences
(Retirement Plans / Executive Compensation)

What Will Be the Impact of Proposed Tax Reform on the Utilization, Design and Funding Strategies of Non-Qualified Plans?

July 28, 2021 WEBCAST

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

2021 Retirement and Disability Research Consortium Annual Meeting

August 5, 2021 WEBCAST

Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Navigating and Preparing for a DOL Audit: What Plan Sponsors Need to Know

August 24, 2021 WEBCAST

American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education Group [ALI CLE]

Last Issue's Most Popular Items

The Newest EPCRS: All Good News (Except When It's Not)

Ferenczy Benefits Law Center

New Requirements for Discretionary 401(k) Plan Matching Contributions

Foley & Lardner LLP

IRS Plays Musical Chairs With Voluntary Correction Programs

E is for ERISA

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

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