What's New - 8/96

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8/30: Pension Simplification, from Deloitte & Touche -- an explanation of the pension provisions in the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996. Thanks to Christopher Trapatsos of Benefits Management, Inc. for suggesting this link!

8/30: Benefits Trendletter is a digest for senior managers on new trends in compensation, health care and retirement planning, as reported in the pages of Employee Benefit News

8/30: RIA Pension & Benefits Page -- worth a look. Contains well-written brief stories about developments; seems to change every week or two, but no archive or index.

8/29: The Value and Pitfalls of Funding Waivers for Companies In Chapter 11, by Reish & Luftman, P.C. (originally distributed 3/95)
Does a company which has filed Chapter 11 and which has insufficient cash to make the required contribution to a pension plan have any options? Does that company have to face the unsatisfactory choice of either coming up with all the cash for the minimum required contribution in one year, or terminating the plan with the hope of avoiding the year's full minimum contribution and the resulting excise tax? No --the company can avoid making the full contribution, while at the same time keeping the plan and avoiding the excise tax for underfunding. With proper guidance, a plan may get a waiver of the minimum funding requirement through the IRS. Once a plan receives a waiver, the amount of the minimum contribution required for that particular year is then amortized over as many as five years.

8/27: Thanks to attorney Susan Rupp of Cincinnati, who reported a bug with the White Pages registration form -- it has been fixed. Susan's practice includes the drafting of documents for self-funded health plans. Interesting! Please let Dave Baker at BenefitsLink know of any bugs or missing links you find!

8/22: Fringe Facts® is a comprehensive, professional software system that allows you to produce personalized employee benefit statements for employees showing them each of their benefits and how much those benefits are worth. These statements help the employee understand what their benefits are and what they are worth. This leads to improved morale, lower turnover, increased productivity and greater profits! From Benefit Software, Inc.

8/16: Supreme Court Decision in Lockheed Corp. v. Spink Settles Case, But Raises New Questions About Settling Claims With Assets, from Thompson Publishing Group

8/16: Are TSA Assets Protected From Bankruptcy After Patterson v. Shumate?, a CCH comment by attorney Lynn Witte of Reish & Luftman, Professional Corporation

8/16: Employee Benefits -- ERISA and the Bankruptcy Code, by attorney David Levin of Reish & Luftman, Professional Corporation, covers:
- The importance of the decision of whether to terminate a plan during the bankruptcy case or continue it, and that decision's effect on the debtor's obligations to the IRS and the PBGC.
- The variety of actions a debtor must take concerning deferred compensation plans.
- When pension benefits of individual debtors can -- and cannot -- be excluded or exempted from the bankruptcy estate.

8/15: ERISA Controversy Report for July, 1996, from Reish & Luftman, Professional Corporation!
- More on Protection of Retirement Benefits From Creditors
- Recognizing the Problem Client and Protecting Yourself

8/15: Controlled Group Liability: The Broad Grasp of Pension Plan Obligations, by David Levin of Reish & Luftman, Professional Corporation

8/9: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Includes medical savings account provisions, elimination of many pre-existing condition exclusions, and much more of interest to employers and employees.

8/7: DOL issues final regulations on plan assets definition under ERISA -- when 401(k) contributions by employees must be contributed to the plan's trust fund.

8/6: How long must COBRA records be kept from the date of the qualifying event? Check the COBRA Q&A Column to find out!

8/6: An illegal immigrant falsely stated on his job application that he had a work permit, and he was hired. After becoming a health plan participant, the employer learned that it was illegal to employ the worker, who was then fired. Is the misrepresentation on the job application "gross misconduct" disqualifying the worker from COBRA coverage? Check the COBRA Q&A Column to find out!

8/4: Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, as passed by the House and the Senate on Friday, August 2, and sent to the President for signature. Includes repeal of family member aggregation rules, creation of "SIMPLE" retirement plans, repeal of section 415(e), and much more of interest to retirement plan sponsors and advisors. BenefitsLink has excerpted the text of all of the benefits-related parts of the legislation, followed by the Conference Committee explanation.

8/1: 401(k) Plans From The Employer and Employee Perspective, a "Study Guide Quizzer" from Commerce Clearing House.

8/1: 401(m) Audit Guidelines issued by the IRS in 1994, which tell agents how to check the "ACP" test that applies to qualified plans that have matching contributions (such as most 401(k) plans) or employee after-tax contributions. In hypertext, by BenefitsLink.

8/1: 401(k) Audit Guidelines issued by the IRS in 1994, which tell agents how to check the "ADP" test and other aspects of operation of a 401(k) plan. In hypertext, by BenefitsLink.

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