"[T]he IRS is soliciting comments concerning the burden associated with the salary reduction simplified employee pension-individual retirement accounts contribution agreement.... Form 5305A-SEP is used by an employer to make an agreement to provide benefits to all employees under a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) described in Internal Revenue Code section 408(k). This form is not to be filed with the IRS, but is to be retained in the employer's records as proof of establishing a SEP and justifying a deduction for contributions made to the SEP."  MORE >>

"To be eligible for a Terminally Ill Distribution, an individual must be certified by a physician as having an illness or physical condition that can reasonably be expected to result in death in 84 months or less after the date of certification.... [T]he Terminally Ill Distribution provision of the Act is an exception to the 10 percent additional tax, not the distribution restriction requirements of 401(k) or 403(b) plans. For such a plan to allow Terminally Ill Distributions, it must first permit in-service distributions or hardship distributions."  MORE >>

8-page chart lists and describes SECURE 2.0 provisions and effective dates.  MORE >>

"The lawsuit ... said the pension plan executives used out-of-date mortality tables to calculate benefits, thus underpaying retirees.... [The plaintiff] said the [plan's joint and survivor annuity] shortchanges married retirees because pension executives use mortality tables that are over 50 years old in preparing the payment formula." [Bennett v. Ecolab, Inc., No. 24-0546 (D. Minn. complaint filed Feb. 21, 2024)]  MORE >>

"This is the seventh lawsuit filed against a plan sponsor, all filed by the same plaintiffs' firm in federal district courts throughout California. In some of the prior lawsuits, plaintiffs have alleged that the governing plan documents explicitly provided that plan sponsors could use forfeitures to lower contributions owed to the plans. The Tetra complaint is devoid of such allegations." [Yagy v. Tetra Tech, Inc., Case No. 24-1394, (C.D. Cal. complaint filed Feb. 21, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The Sheltering Arms organization shut down in 2023, and the PBGC seeks to become its defined benefit plan's statutory trustee." [PBGC v. Sheltering Arms Children and Family Services, Inc., No. 24-1608 (E.D.N.Y. complaint filed Mar. 4, 2024)]  MORE >>

"The primary goal of cybersecurity is to achieve the CIA triad: maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and systems ... This means protecting sensitive data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from unauthorized access, ensuring its accuracy and reliability, and ensuring that critical systems are available when needed. One way to achieve the CIA triad is by leveraging virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) services[.]"  MORE >>

"The maximum participant plan balance that a plan sponsor can force out of a plan was increased by SECURE 2.0 to $7,000.... SECURE 2.0 also approved automatic portability generally so that a 401(k) plan sponsor could also automatically move a participant's small account to a new employer's plan when a participant changes jobs."  MORE >>

"Advocates of defined-benefits plans and proponents of defined-contribution plans once again squared off at a Senate committee hearing [on Feb. 28]. And, as usual, no consensus developed about the best direction to go, as policymakers struggle to find ways to increase Americans' retirement savings."  MORE >>

12 pages. "While private-sector single-employer pension plan security has been sustained over the past half century, PBGC premiums have contributed to the significant decline in the number of covered plan participants, which can be regarded as a major systemic failure. PBGC's strong funding level provides an opportunity to rethink the premium structure to better align it with all aspects of its mission."  MORE >>

"After a quiet January, pensions enjoyed a strong month in February, as higher interest rates accompanied higher stock markets. Both model plans ... gained ground last month: traditional Plan A improved 5% and the more conservative Plan B gained more than 1% during February."  MORE >>

"The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate pension plans increased by an estimated 3.4 percentage points in February, ending the month at 109.4% ... This month's change in funded ratio can mostly be attributed to a 2.8 percentage point decrease in liability value and a 0.2 percentage point increase in asset value. The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have increased by 4.4 and 8.3 percentage points year to date and over the trailing twelve months, respectively."  MORE >>