"[Defined contribution plans that] have participant accounts that have not been forfeited, but should have been ... are encouraged to take advantage of the transition relief and forfeit amounts and allocate/use such forfeitures by the end of the 2025 plan year.... [T]here is no express anti-cutback relief for these regulations and therefore plan amendments prior to the effective date may be in order if changes are being contemplated."  MORE >>

"Safe Harbor 401(k) plans help small businesses pass nondiscrimination testing, but are costly because employers must make 401(k) contributions. Small businesses can avoid the costs of Safe Harbor by simply getting high participation and high savings rates.... Tax credits provided by Secure Act 2.0 may cover up to 100% of employer costs, and up to $1,000 of the employer contributions for the first few years."  MORE >>

"In order for an Indian tribal plan to be exempt as a governmental plan, substantially all of the participants in the plan must be employees who perform services that are [1] essential government functions and [2] not in the performance of commercial activities. Because the tax and fiduciary/labor law rules are significantly different for retirement plans of ITGs and their commercial activities, it makes sense to segregate, design, and administer a tribe's 'governmental plans' apart from the retirement plans covering employees in its commercial activities."  MORE >>

"The [DOL] has decided against appealing a federal court's decision vacating a piece of guidance that established rollover recommendations as fiduciary investment advice, according to the American Securities Association, the lawsuit's plaintiff." [American Securities Association v. DOL, No. 22-0330 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 13, 2023; notice of appeal filed Apr. 14, 2023; 11th Cir. No. 23-11266)]   MORE >>

"The most common focus of DOL investigations of defined benefit pension plans in the last few years has been reviewing plan fiduciary efforts to identify and locate 'missing participants.' ... A new and growing DOL investigatory topic is cybersecurity.... [A] lack of policies and procedures may be cited as proof of an inadequate fiduciary process ... The DOL will often review a plan's process for handling plan participant claims and appeals."  MORE >>

"Average annuity purchase interest rates in May stayed on current trend with the average duration 7 rate at 4.50% and average duration 15 annuity purchase rate at 4.55% ... Preliminary data suggests there was a significant interest in annuity purchases in the first quarter, totaling over $6 billion in premium.... [P]lan termination annuity purchases dominated the market during the first quarter of the year."  MORE >>

22 pages. "This report covers how the Social Security program is financed and how the Social Security trust funds work. The report also covers the projected financial operations of the trust funds using data from the 2023 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees. The 2023 annual report reflects the trustees' understanding of the OASDI program at the start of 2023 and presents projected program and financial information for a 75-year period (2023-2097)." [RL33028, updated May 16, 2023]  MORE >>

18 pages. "This report ... covers the origins and a brief history of the program; Social Security financing and the status of the trust funds; how Social Security benefits are computed; the types of Social Security benefits available to workers and their family members; the basic eligibility requirements for each type of benefit; the scheduled increase in the Social Security retirement age; and the federal income taxation of Social Security benefits." [R42035, updated May 16, 2023]  MORE >>

"How is Social Security financed? ... Who qualifies for benefits? ... How are benefits computed? ... Who is receiving benefits? ... How much do beneficiaries receive? ... What is Social Security's status?" [IF10426, updated May 16, 2023]  MORE >>

"The initial complaint asserted a false recordkeeping fee that was easily rebutted by plan fee disclosures. The amended complaint then asserted the correct fee, but with lower purported benchmarks to allege fiduciary imprudence.... [The] motion to dismiss is worth studying, as it exposes the con game of the plaintiffs' excess fee bar, particularly when they sue low-fee plans like the U.S. Bancorp plan." [Dionicio v. U.S. Bancorp, No. 23-0026 (D. Minn. motion to dismiss filed May 2, 2023)]  MORE >>

"[A plan sponsor's] reluctance to offer annuities is generally some variation of the following: [1] Distrust of the annuity industry ... [2] The impact of the costs and fees typically associated with annuities, resulting in a potential breach of a plan sponsor's duty of prudence.... [3] The difficulty and/or inability of plan sponsors to perform the legally independent investigation and evaluation of a product required by ERISA.... [4] The frequent inclusion of certain complicated and confusing provisions within annuity contracts that protect the annuity issuer's interests at ... an annuity owner's expense, resulting in a breach of a plan sponsor's duties of loyalty and prudence."  MORE >>

"For plan sponsors with U.S. based operations and exclusively U.S. controlled groups, there is, generally, a healthy awareness of the rules as operations are typically centralized in the U.S. and frequently a single third-party administrator is used for all retirement plans of the controlled group. For foreign based corporations with U.S. subsidiaries ... each company in the U.S. controlled group may have their own retirement plan and cafeteria plan with completely different benefits and separate third-party administrators and none of the parties are aware that a controlled group exists.... The ownership thresholds triggering application of these rules are much lower for [affiliated service groups] than for controlled groups."  MORE >>

"Employers should revisit their existing benefits strategy and update it to reflect the current economic environment and meet their employees' needs.... Benefits can supplement salaries ... Set goals for your benefits program ... Benefits should promote overall well-being ... Make packages appealing to all ages ... Benefits go beyond insurance, retirement."  MORE >>