"What's New: The repayment period for a qualified 2019 disaster distribution ends 3 years and 1 day after the distribution was received.... Repayments reported on 2023 Form 8915-D can be used to reduce the income reportable on your 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023 tax return, as applicable ... Roth SEP and Roth SIMPLE IRAs have been added to the list of eligible retirement plans as of January 1, 2023." [Also available: 2023 Form 8915-D]  MORE >>

"[1] Plan administration changes are required now -- but plan amendments can wait.... [2] How to identify LTPT employees.... [3] Catch-up and Roth deferrals.... [4] No requirement to provide LTPT employees with employer contributions.... [5] Special vesting rules for employer contributions allocated to LTPT employees.... [6] Exclusion of LTPT employees from nondiscrimination testing.... [7] Elapsed time plans.... 8. 403(b) Plans."  MORE >>

"[E]mployers should consider the pros and cons of amending their plan's eligibility requirements to avoid the application of the LTPT employee rules.... [T]he proposed regulations provide that employers may change their eligibility requirements in operation and generally need not formally amend their plans for such changes until the end of the 2025 plan year, when other amendments for SECURE 2.0 are required."  MORE >>

"Many plans provide for the application of the actual hours method for hourly employees and an equivalency method for salaried employees. One would expect the typical LTPT employee to be paid on an hourly basis, but the plan sponsor should apply the service crediting method it would normally use based on the classification of the potential LTPT employee."  MORE >>

"[T]he key point to be derived from the second definition of covered recommendations is that the DOL is taking a very broad approach to the types of recommendations that will be fiduciary in nature. In other words, for those types of recommendations to private sector retirement plans and participants in those plans. As a result, advisers and agents will need to engage in prudent processes to develop recommendations that are informed and in the best interest of the retirement investors."  MORE >>

"Managing cybersecurity risk will move up plan sponsors' priority list in 2024, according to a new report from Mercer ... Mercer encouraged record keepers to migrate to the cloud and integrate AI capabilities into the analysis and provision of comparative plan information. Vendors that fail to do this will 'struggle to engage plan sponsors,' the report warned.... Mercer ... also anticipates that plan sponsors will continue to outsource components of DC plan management, if not all aspects of it."  MORE >>

"A group of academics set out to test time-honored investing advice that says a diversified portfolio of bonds and stocks is the best way to save for the future. What they found across a sample of three dozen countries over 130 years was that a mix of half domestic, half international equities actually beat blended portfolios in both money made and capital preserved."  MORE >>

"[I]mplied interest rates (rates of return) on SPIAs have generally increased somewhat in the past three months and are higher than they have been for some time.... [Tables] show monthly life annuity quotes for males of different ages per $100,000 of premium ... as of December 10, 2023 and September 17, 2023."  MORE >>

"With the requests to testify and the hearing agenda for Dec. 12 and 13 posted on the agency's website, [the authors] gathered excerpts from the most substantive preview filings by panel participants.... The testimony reflects a wide spectrum of views on the potential changes to the definition of 'fiduciary' advice to 401(k), IRA and other retirement savers in rollover transactions and certain insurance sales."  MORE >>

"The IRS, [PBGC], Social Security Administration, and [CMS] have issued 2024 cost-of-living adjustments for retirement, health and fringe benefit plans; Medicare; and Social Security and Supplemental Security income. Puerto Rico's Treasury Department has not yet announced 2024 limits for retirement plans qualified in Puerto Rico, but those figures are tied to US limits."  MORE >>

"A cybersecurity breach affecting the U.S.-based division of ... Infosys BPM Ltd., shut down some national providers of nonqualified compensation plans and insurance providers starting November 2. At least some of those accounts are fixed and back online now[.]"  MORE >>

"[This checklist] summarizes what you need for comprehensive year-end and year-start planning with stock compensation and company stock holdings."  MORE >>