"Beginning on January 1, 2024, you can file Form 5558 electronically through the DOL EFAST2 system, or File paper Form 5558 with the IRS and mail ... Form 5558 is no longer used to apply for an extension of time to file Form 5330 ... instead, use Form 8868 ... Signatures are not needed for extension of time to file Form 5500 series or Form 8955-SSA.... May use a single Form 5558 to extend the Form 5500 and Form 8955-SSA filed for the same plan."  MORE >>

"What's New: The repayment period for a qualified 2018 disaster distribution ends 3 years and 1 day after the distribution was received. This is particularly important if your qualified 2018 disaster distribution was received in 2020."  MORE >>

"On November 3, 2023, the [DOL] published a new set of regulatory proposals in its long-running effort to expand the circumstances under which a person will be considered an investment advice fiduciary for purposes of ERISA and the parallel provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, and to change the landscape of prohibited transaction exemptions available to those fiduciaries. [Groom Law Group has] prepared detailed materials describing the proposals:

• DOL Proposes Major Changes to Fiduciary Advice Definition
• DOL Adds Conditions to PTE 2020-02
• DOL Proposes to Upend Annuity Sales With PTE 84-24 Changes
• DOL Curbs Use of Many Product Specific Exemptions
• DOL Appears Headed for More Fiduciary Rulemaking Litigation"

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"The greatest impact of the changes, if finalized as is, will be on insurance agents, particularly independent producers. Insurance companies issuing the life insurance policies and annuity contracts will also see increased compliance burdens. For all of the types of financial professionals, the most impactful change will likely be that one-time investment recommendations to private sector retirement plans and their participants, and to IRA owners, will be fiduciary advice. That includes rollover recommendations."  MORE >>

"The Proposal explicitly rules out the possibility of utilizing disclaimers as an end-run around fiduciary status under ERISA. In particular, it notes how written statements disclaiming status as a fiduciary under ERISA or the Internal Revenue Code, or disclaiming the conditions [described in this article] will not control to the extent they are inconsistent with the advice provider's oral communications, marketing materials, applicable state or federal law, or other interactions with the retirement investor."  MORE >>

"The innovation in this case is that the plaintiffs are claiming -- and the court agrees with them -- that because the plan-recordkeeper relationship is a per se prohibited transaction, it must comply with the exemption available for that specific prohibited transaction, which (among other things) requires that the recordkeeper's compensation, both direct and indirect, be 'reasonable.' And, in determining whether it is reasonable, plan fiduciaries must take into account/review the indirect compensation the recordkeeper is receiving from the participant advice provider." [Bugielski v. AT&T Servs., Inc., No. 21-56196 (9th Cir. Aug. 4, 2023; pet. for rehearing filed Sep. 1, 2023)]  MORE >>

"AI can accurately reproduce a person's voice (as well as writing style, photo, or video).... High-profile lawsuits from participants over security breaches ... have the attention of recordkeepers, advisors, sponsors, and the industry as a whole.... AI could make it that much more complicated."  MORE >>

48 pages. "Almost six in 10 women (57%) agree with the statement, 'I don't have enough income to save for retirement,' compared with 50% of men ... Women workers (74%) are less likely than men (78%) to be offered a 401(k) or similar plan.... Among those offered a 401(k) or similar plan, women's participation rate lags that of men (76%, 81%, respectively).... One-third of women have tapped into retirement savings."  MORE >>

"[On] a national basis, contributions made by employers -- states and local governments -- in 2022 accounted for 78 percent of all contributions received by public pension plans. The remaining contributions were paid by public employees.... [Of] the $10+ trillion in public pension revenue received during the 30-year period since 1993, 37 percent, or more than $3.8 trillion, came from contributions paid by employers and employees."  MORE >>

"The Actuarial Approach ... is a dynamic, two-bucket approach that requires the household to distinguish between expenses that they consider to be either essential or discretionary. Matching the present value of future essential expenses with the present value of low-risk, or lifetime guaranteed assets is part of the Actuarial Approach's recommended Liability-Driven Investment (LDI) strategy."  MORE >>

"PRC supports both the preservation of [defined benefit] plans and the development of new plan designs that take the best of defined benefit plans -- with guarantees and lifetime income -- and combine them with the transparency, portability and ease of 401(k) plans.... The Pension Rights Center ... [has] a list of protections we are asking Congress and the [DOL] to adopt, among them requiring that insurance companies, when they take over pension benefits, must replicate all ERISA protections."  MORE >>

"It is only upon the issuance of stock that the RSU holder is taxed. Therefore, a Section 83(b) election is not possible or necessary for RSUs, unlike restricted stock.... Some RSU plans may provide for a cash payment to the recipient equal to the value of the stock on the date of vesting. A recipient is taxable on such cash as compensation income."  MORE >>