"Currently, Form 5558 is used by a filer to request an extension of time to file Form 5500 series, Form 8955-SSA as well as the Form 5330, Return of Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans. Form 5558 does not extend the time to pay the excise taxes. Any tax due for Form 5330 filers must be paid with Form 5558 for the application for an extension of time to file Form 5330.

"The DOL EFAST2 system will not take the IRS tax payment. Thus, the IRS will revise Form 5558 to remove the items about the extension of time to file Form 5330. This will allow DOL to electronically collect the form. The Form 5558 will be used to solely request extensions on the Form 5500 series and Form 8955-SSA. The payment information from Form 5558 will be incorporated into Form 8868. The Form 8868 will be revised to allow extensions for Form 5330 and payment of excise tax due. Form 8868 will only allow for the extension to file, and will not extend the payment of the excise tax."  MORE >>

"This decision solidifies that companies like Principal, who offer fixed-income investment products, can create fiduciary responsibilities when they deduct from investment returns and set participant rates." [Rozo v. Principal Life Ins. Co., No. 21-2026 (8th Cir. Sep. 2, 2022)]   MORE >>

"A September 27, 2022 decision by the Southern District of New York addresses several key theories recently advanced by the plaintiffs’ bar in ERISA-based lawsuits against plan service providers.... [T]he decision ... marks something of a setback to DOL in its multi-year effort to expand the scope of those deemed to function as investment advice fiduciaries in a manner that would broadly include providers of rollover recommendations ... The decision also further develops the nascent body of case law addressing the status of participant data as a plan asset and the potential consequences of uses of that data by service providers[.]" [Carfora v. Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, and TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC, No. 21-8384 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 27, 2022)]   MORE >>

"The judge noted that Home Depot ... did not do a survey of plan fees, nor engage in a competitive bidding process ... However, the plaintiffs did not prove that they actually suffered any loss ... [T]he judge ruled that even though some funds underperformed comparators briefly, keeping underperforming assets as part of a long-term strategy is not imprudent, and their underperformance in hindsight is not the basis for a claim[.]" [Pizarro v. The Home Depot Inc., No. 18-1566 (N.D. Ga. Sep. 30, 2022)]  MORE >>

"This article offers a quick hit on where we have been, provides a high-level summary of the range of QDIA offerings in today's marketplace, identifies key assessment and decision points, and provides insight for plan sponsors to consider when evaluating their current QDIA relative to the range of newer offerings in the marketplace."  MORE >>

"Historically, the 401(k) has been nearly opaque in its complexity, but technology, automation, and the desire to make the 401(k) a much simpler benefit for small businesses is in full swing. Here are some of the areas where that simplicity is playing out for startups."  MORE >>

"The purpose of this article is to illustrate the provisions that allow owners of small businesses to get the most in return for what they are willing to contribute on behalf of their non-owner employees.... Many of these provisions will even be of interest to sponsors of plans not required to make a top-heavy minimum contribution."  MORE >>

"Of those surveyed, the median retirement savings were valued at $128,000 and more than half (55%) of respondents reported their financial situation as fragile or being just able to get by financially. Going by the old 4% rule, that equates to just $5,120 per year that the majority of retirees could safely withdraw from their investments to supplement other retirement income sources."  MORE >>

"There are real issues with ESG investment products that aren't limited to encouraging retirement savers to invest in them. In fact, there may be more typical and more urgent issues that regulators might be overlooking because politics has encroached into the arena.... The impact of this political ping pong makes ESG risky for 401k fiduciaries. Still, there is a way to have it both ways."  MORE >>

"We need a practical solution that respects the types of reasonable fiduciary arguments made by the plan fiduciaries and the recordkeeper in this case, but provides a solution for innocent participants. The obvious solution is to require plan fiduciaries to seek contractual indemnification from the recordkeeper to guarantee participant account security, or require the recordkeeper to maintain insurance coverage for cyber fraud." [Disberry v. Employee Relations Committee of the Colgate-Palmolive Company, Alight Solutions, LLC, and the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, No. 22-5778 (S.D.N.Y. complaint filed Jul. 7, 2022)]  MORE >>

"Kentucky Deferred Comp ... [is] one of the most impressive state-run supplemental savings programs available to public school teachers ... [It's] not just an impressive 457(b). It's also an impressive 401(k), Roth IRA and traditional IRA. Both the 457(b) and the 401(k) plans are automatically available to all Kentucky school employees.... [A] K-12 school employee in Kentucky [has] exactly ZERO reasons to contribute to a 403(b)."  MORE >>

"The proposed regulations increase both the enrollment and renewal of enrollment user fees for enrolled actuaries from $250.00 to $680.00. The proposed regulations affect individuals who apply to become an enrolled actuary or seek to renew their enrollment."  MORE >>

"On September 29, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the [Employee and Retiree Access to Justice Act (part of HR 7780)] ... [which] seeks to amend ERISA's civil enforcement provision (ERISA Section 502) to make any arbitration provisions in ERISA plans invalid and unenforceable ... [unless] the participant or beneficiary consented in accordance with particular rules ... Additionally, the Act would eliminate discretionary authority for claim administrators and allow only de novo review of a benefit claim in court."  MORE >>

"Executives and other key employees with equity compensation ... often cannot sell company shares because they possess ... material nonpublic information (MNPI), i.e. knowledge of confidential company info that will affect the stock price when made public.... A 10b5-1 plan is a prearranged stock-trading plan ... that provides an affirmative defense against charges of insider trading when you later sell or buy stock while you know MNPI about your company. Created when you do not know MNPI, the plan is set up in advance to make automatic, periodic sales and/or purchases of your company's stock."  MORE >>