"Before the IRS released Notice 2022-33, retirement plans with a calendar year plan year and IRAs generally were required to amend their plan documents to reflect those law changes by December 31, 2022 (although governmental plans and collectively bargains plans were subject to a later deadline); now, that deadline generally is December 31, 2025."  MORE >>

"The extended amendment deadlines apply to both interim and discretionary amendments to preapproved qualified plans. IRS expects to include provisions of the SECURE, Miners and CARES acts in the cumulative list for the fourth remedial amendment cycle for preapproved DC plans ... Changes on the 2023 [required amendment] list will generally have the same amendment deadline as the new deadlines for the SECURE, Miners and CARES acts, allowing employers to adopt all amendments for all three laws at the same time."  MORE >>

"Boeing delegated to the Investment Committee its authority to: [1] Invest, reinvest, and manage assets of all Boeing employee benefit plans. [2] Select and monitor investment options for the ESOP.... Boeing retained certain responsibilities under applicable securities laws and ERISA with respect to the offering of company stock under the ESOP.... [T]he Seventh Circuit held that the mere exercise of some authority over Boeing employee benefit plans did not mean that Boeing was exercising fiduciary authority over the investment choices and holdings of the ESOP." [Burke v. The Boeing Company, No. 19-2203 (7th Cir. Aug. 1, 2022)]  MORE >>

"[The Sixth Circuit held that while] in the end the Funds' claim may fail for the reason the district court gave (no live contract), that goes to the merits, not to the court's jurisdiction to hear the dispute. The court reversed the district court's dismissal of the Funds' claim for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and remanded for further proceedings." [Operating Engineers' Local 324 Fringe Benefit Funds v. Rieth-Riley Constr. Co., No. 21-1229 (6th Cir. Aug. 8, 2022)]  MORE >>

"All businesses face succession eventually. The more control the owner has in the succession plan the better for all parties involved. The succession plan needs to include the possibility of a future sale, potential unforeseen events, scenarios directed towards the associates within the firm or family members, and any other potential outcomes. This article includes some questions that need to be answered when putting together a business succession plan."  MORE >>

"Public pension assets posted a median return of -8.86% for the second quarter and -7.91% for the year ended June 30, according to a report ... by Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service. The pension funds still beat returns for all plan assets tracked by Wilshire, which posted a median return of -9.63% for the second quarter and -10.59% for the year."  MORE >>

"A group of 19 Republican state attorneys general have written a letter to BlackRock stating that the asset manager is using state pension fund assets in environmental, social and governance investments that 'force the phase-out of fossil fuels, increase energy prices, drive inflation and weaken the national security of the United States.' "  MORE >>

"After years of higher-fee plans with actively managed investment options facing imprudence challenges, this next chapter in the long war against large-plan fiduciaries represents a cynical and meritless attack against low-fee plans that must be dismissed as implausible under the federal pleading standard.... These lawsuits are manufactured imprudence claims designed to profit off the high risk and cost of defending high-stakes litigation, but that is exactly why faithful application of the pleading standard is crucial to protect fiduciaries who have done nothing wrong in their service to plan participants."  MORE >>

"As stock prices fall, public pensions may need taxpayer help.... [G]overnment pension funds suffered their biggest losses since 2009 this year, which will likely mean higher taxes for the citizens of Illinois, New Jersey and California."  MORE >>

"The establishment of an NQDC plan for your HCEs provides an almost unlimited pre-tax deferral opportunity for your HCEs.... The refunds from a 401(k) can be eliminated if you establish a lower deferral percentage for HCEs that will ensure compliance with the ADP and ACP tests. The excess dollars that an HCE would have normally deferred to the 401(k) plan will now be deferred by your HCEs to the NQDC plan."  MORE >>