Jun. 8, 2022. "What's New: Specific user fee amounts are no longer listed on Form 8717. You must now enter the appropriate user fee when completing line 5. Notice 2011-86 is obsoleted."  MORE >>

"Under the pilot [Pre-Examination Compliance] program, the IRS advises the plan sponsor that it has 90 days to review the plan's compliance.... One of [this firm's] third party administrator clients has already received such a letter from one of their plan sponsors ... The letter specifies the primary issue that the IRS is interested in reviewing ... [but] clearly notes that the sponsor should be reviewing 'any other issues that exist.'... [The] best use of this 90-day window is to act quickly to get someone in to pre-examine the plan for issues that the IRS would discover in an audit if one were to take place, and to propose remedial action if anything untoward is found."  MORE >>

"Both supporters and opponents of greater disclosure on climate-related financial risk are urging the [DOL] to complete its current agenda before pursuing additional rules to protect retirement savings and pensions from climate risk. Despite differing rationales, parties in opposite camps are urging the department to avoid a scattershot approach that would overlap with the [SEC's] proposed climate risk disclosure rule."  MORE >>

"The Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg (RISE & SHINE) Act [S 4353] is the HELP Committee's version of a new round of retirement reforms building on the [SECURE] Act of 2019 ... The committee plans to review, modify and vote on the RISE & SHINE bill on June 14."  MORE >>

"The [Guaranteed Lifetime Withdrawal Benefit (GLWB) provides] the participant at least some access to those funds in the program; guarantees lifetime benefits and minimum account values, even in changing markets; while providing the participant the ability to grow that benefit with some sort of equity market exposure.... GLWBs almost sounds too good to be true, and you have to wonder how an insurance company can make this all work.... [S]ophisticated mathematics is at the heart of it all."  MORE >>

14 pages. "[O]ver the past five decades, employees have become less likely to be covered by a DB pension and more likely to be covered by a DC pension.... Multiple types of DC plans may be available to employers ... Some policy analysts note that certain policies toward pensions may need to be reexamined because many were created in the early 1970s -- when most workers with pensions participated in DB plans." [R47152 Jun. 8, 2022]  MORE >>

"Participants holding company stock within a retirement plan that has decreased sharply in value may want to consider resetting the cost basis of that stock by selling the stock within the plan and repurchasing it shortly thereafter inside the plan.... A bigger gap between the cost basis -- what you paid for the stock -- and the potential growth from that point forward creates more opportunity to apply the [net unrealized appreciation (NUA)] rule in the future."  MORE >>

"[There are] lessons that can be learned from Morgan Lewis's masterful dismissal motion. These defense tactics apply to many of the illegitimate purported excessive fee lawsuits based on exaggerated and inaccurate data.... The only potentially legitimate excessive recordkeeping claim is if it is based on the rule 408b2 or 404a5 fee disclosures, and compared to the accurate fee disclosures of other companies with similar recordkeeping services. But the vast majority of lawsuits use deceptive Form 5500 inflated data." [Morales v Capital One Fin. Corp., No 21-1454 (E.D. Va. May 27, 2022)]  MORE >>

"[T]he 2101h open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) will be held on July 18-20, 2022.... The three-day meeting will take place at the [DOL offices in Washington DC]. The meeting will also be accessible via teleconference and some participants, as well as members of the public, may elect to attend virtually.... The purpose of the open meeting is for Advisory Council members to hear testimony from invited witnesses and to receive an update from [EBSA]. The Advisory Council will study the following topics: [1] Cybersecurity Issues Affecting Health Benefit Plans, and [2] Cybersecurity Insurance and Employee Benefit Plans."  MORE >>

"The vote failed 49-51, with all 50 Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voting no. Mr. Schumer voted no for procedural reasons and immediately filed a motion to reconsider the nomination."  MORE >>

"The [SEC on June 8] reopened the comment period on proposed rules for listing standards for recovery of erroneously awarded compensation, and the staff of the Commission released a memo [and fact sheet] that contains additional analyses and data that has the potential to be informative for evaluating the proposals."  MORE >>

"One perceived advantage of an RSU, especially for private companies, is that there is no requirement to establish fair market value at the time of grant, unlike a stock option grant ... One challenge associated with the design of RSUs is navigating the deferred compensation tax rules under Section 409A."  MORE >>