Updated Feb. 3, 2025 to add two new Q&As: "[1] What should people do now that the Social Security Fairness Act is law? ... [2] Why did I receive a request from SSA regarding my pension amount?"  MORE >>

72 pages, Feb 3, 2025. "What's New ... [1] A new fact sheet addressing frequently asked questions on qualified disaster distributions for 2021 and later disasters is available ... [2] Update to Appendix D of Form 8915-F instructions." [Also available: 2024 IRS Form 8915-F]  MORE >>

"Required testing and 5500 ... Required automatic enrollment of employee deferral contributions ... Required offering of employee deferral contributions to part time employees ... What to avoid regarding front loading employee deferrals and per payroll match ... Required minimum distribution (RMD) reminders ... Inherited RMD reminders ... 529 to Roth rollover reminders ... Retirement plan tax credits available ... Your 403(b) plan requires most employees to participate in employee contributions immediately.."  MORE >>

"Ultimately, the new administration must now work its way through the proposed, and now suspended, regulations and PTE issued by the prior administration to determine what, if anything, will be kept on reissuance (if any). Practitioners, in the meantime, are left with the prior, antiquated guidance and significant uncertainty."  MORE >>

"A fair amount of the 35-page opinion was devoted to outlining not only the history, but the process behind the fund selection, including a specific desire by the committee (in the wake of the 2008-09 financial crisis) to choose target date funds that were more conservative.... The relative underperformance of that selection during the period in question was acknowledged, but -- having been presented with no factual basis to support claims of imprudence beyond that -- the judge here saw no reason to let the case proceed to trial." [Cutrone v. Allstate Corp., No. 1:20-6463 (N.D. Ill., Jan. 27, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Higher stock markets improved pension finances in January for both model plans ... Traditional Plan A improved more than 1% last month, while the more conservative Plan B gained a fraction of 1%:"  MORE >>

"The aggregate funded ratio for U.S. corporate pension plans is estimated to have increased by 1.8 percentage points in January, ending the month at 105.4% ... The aggregate funded ratio is estimated to have increased by 8.8% over the trailing twelve months."  MORE >>

"The potential fiduciary exposure for which SECURE's Annuity Safe Harbor solved is really about the nature of an insurer's practices in creating these new types of guarantees.... Effectively, the safe harbor entitles fiduciaries to rely upon the well-developed state regulatory schemes governing insurer solvency.... Now, it will be challenging, at best, to bring a successful 'safest available annuity' claim against those DC fiduciaries in selecting insurers under their DC Lifetime Income programs."  MORE >>

"Many life insurance policies are not funded with adequate premiums to keep coverage in force until death. In recent years, the risk of underperformance for many policies has been shifted from the life-insurance carrier to the policy owner and the trustee as a fiduciary."  MORE >>

"If the proposed regulations are ultimately issued in final form, they will require publicly held corporations to take additional steps to determine their covered employees under Section 162(m) for tax years beginning after December 31, 2026. Given the multi-year structure of many compensation arrangements for executives and other highly paid employees, consideration of the impact of the ARPA changes should begin well before that effective date."  MORE >>

"Decision-making moments come at you fast when you have stock options, restricted stock units, an employee stock purchase plan, or other forms of company equity comp.... What grants do you expect? ... Job changes ahead? ... Tax planning for withholding ... ESPPs ... Tax returns ... Special issues for incentive stock options."  MORE >>

"Despite the high stakes, it is remarkably common to encounter owners who rely on informal practices to assure loyalty and solid performance.... At an earlier stage, when the value of their business is low, many take a penny-wise approach that later costs key employees massive tax benefits when the business succeeds."  MORE >>