"The Puerto Rico Treasury Department has issued guidance for special disaster distributions from Puerto Rico qualified plans and Puerto Rico Individual retirement accounts and annuities resulting from Hurricane Fiona as they did for Hurricane María ... The window period for Eligible Distributions will run from October 6, 2022 through December 31, 2022."  MORE >>

"These amendments would significantly impact entities that rely on the QPAM Exemption, as well as plans, plan fiduciaries, counterparties to transactions involving QPAMs and others. The amendments would impose significant compliance burdens and costs on QPAMs, including the need to amend existing agreements to comply with the conditions. Additionally, the indemnification and hold harmless provisions are likely to increase the potential liabilities of a QPAM that becomes disqualified."  MORE >>

"[PBGC] has approved the application submitted to the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program by the Freight Drivers and Helpers Local Union No. 557 Pension Plan.... The plan, based in Baltimore, Maryland, covers 2,273 participants in the transportation industry. The Freight Drivers Local 557 Plan will receive approximately $192.8 million in SFA, including interest to the expected date of payment to the plan. The plan was projected to run out of money in 2023."  MORE >>

"Under its interpretation of ERISA's functional fiduciary guidelines, the court held that the funds taken out of the ERISA plans for rollover purposes were no longer plan assets and 'TIAA's pitch to plan members to roll assets out of their plans and into Portfolio Advisor necessarily did not create a fiduciary relationship.' ... With regard to TIAA's use of participants' personal information gleaned through its position as administrator of the ERISA plans, the court concluded that 'plan assets' include money and invested capital, but not participant information." [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 decision, consistent with other case law, makes clear that plan sponsors who use an independent fiduciary in this way effectively insulate themselves from these types of claims.... [T]he biggest value to using an independent fiduciary in this context is that it dramatically increases the likelihood that a plan fiduciary, sued for the drop in value of employer stock held by employees in a benefit plan, can end the case at the motion to dismiss stage." [Burke v. The Boeing Company, No. 19-2203 (7th Cir. Aug. 1, 2022)]  MORE >>

"There are several themes that ... transcend corporate culture and there is no better time than the present to remind your employees how much you care about them. [1] No matter how your 401(k) investments are doing, your pension continues to grow ... [2] While inflation may affect your ability to save in your 401(k), your pension still continues to grow.... [3] DB plans are designed to provide lifetime income ... [4] You're not anti-401(k); you're pro-DB."  MORE >>

"90% of funds have increased their stress test budget and all believe industry spending will rise over the next three years. But just 37% believe pension funds are well-prepared to meet challenges of inflation and climate change."  MORE >>

"The majority of public pension plans recovered their pre-recession asset levels within six years ... Discount rates ... have broadly decreased from eight to seven percent for the median public pension plan ... Generational mortality tables ... have been broadly adopted by nearly all large public plans ... Many public plans have shortened amortization periods ... The intense focus on public plan investment programs since the Great Recession misses the more important structural changes that generally have had a larger impact on plan finances and the resources necessary for retirement security."  MORE >>

"One can make a strong case for getting rid of the Roth version of both 401(k)s and IRAs. While having two forms of retirement saving is lovely for young professionals who know their tax rates will be higher in the future than today, this opportunity is swamped by the mischief they create.... [1] Federal budget gimmick.... [2] Tax dodge for high rollers.... [3] Obstacle to fairer tax incentives."  MORE >>

152 pages. "The purpose of this publication is to provide the specifications for filing of Forms 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, and W-2G electronically with the IRS including the requirements and specifications for electronic filing under the Combined Federal/State Filing (CF/SF) Program. Additionally, this publication provides specifications to submit an automatic 30-day extension of time to file certain information returns ... Beginning in September 2022, FIRE Transmitter Control Code (TCC) holders who submitted their TCC Application prior to September 26, 2021, will need to submit and complete the IR-TCC Application.... Your TCC will remain active for use until August 1, 2023, after that date, any FIRE TCC that does not have a completed IR-TCC Application will be dropped and will not be available for e-file."  MORE >>