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Government Affairs
The “Gray Book,” a compendium of questions actuaries pose to the IRS and the answers to them, will no longer be produced. The Conference of Consulting Actuaries (CCA), which had produced the book with the American Academy of Actuaries, recently made the announcement.The CCA said that it has taken...
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Will more corporations need to file Form 4010 with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for their pension plans for federal fiscal year (FY) 2016? Jeffrey Kamenir, Principal and Consulting Actuary in the Chicago Office of Milliman USA, Inc., addressed the possibility of increased...
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The Garden State will have a new state-run retirement plan for private sector workers — though not the one that might have been expected.The state Assembly voted after 1:00 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12 to cooperate with Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) conditional veto of a bill creating a state-run retirement...
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The American Retirement Association (ARA) submitted a comment letter Jan. 15, 2016 to the Department of Labor (DOL) concerning a proposed regulation under which an individual retirement account (IRA) plan, if established and maintained under a payroll deduction program mandated under state law,...
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The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently issued exposure drafts proposing accounting and financial reporting guidance related to fiduciary activities and pension issues.The Exposure Draft “Fiduciary Activities,” issued Dec. 8, would establish guidance regarding what constitutes...
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The Nutmeg State has taken another step toward the creation of a state-run retirement program for private sector workers with the release of a lengthy report detailing the potential elements of such a program.In 2014, Connecticut enacted legislation creating the Connecticut Retirement Security...
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The IRS has issued an updated version of Publication 575, “Pension and Annuity Income,” for use in preparing 2015 returns. It made changes to the exception to the tax on early distributions from a governmental plan for qualified public safety employees and to the rules regarding rollovers to SIMPLE...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Jan. 5 announced that it is ready to accept electronic premium filings for plan years beginning in 2016. It has completed work to prepare its “My Plan Administration Account” (My PAA), a secure Web-based application that enables pension plan...
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The New Jersey Senate Budget Committee has approved a bill creating a mandatory retirement program for private-sector workers without employer-sponsored plans in the Garden State.The Secure Choice Savings Act (S2831) would require companies with at least 25 employees that don’t already offer...
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Just before Christmas, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2029, a massive year-end spending and tax bill containing a number of provisions affecting health and retirement plans. Here’s what you may have missed.H.R. 2029 — now Public Law 114-113 — includes both an omnibus appropriations bill that...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Dec. 23 sent the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for its approval of a revision to its collection of information on locating and paying plan participants. OMB’s approval of the current procedures expires on Dec. 31, 2015.The PBGC...
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The IRS Employee Plans office, in the latest issue of Employee Plans News, has issued reminders and links to other information especially useful to plans as the old year ends and a new year begins. It sent Issue 2015-14 on Dec. 21.The latest issue includes: A link to the 2015 Cumulative List of...
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One of the most-cited sources of government data regarding income sources in retirement has revamped its methodology, but in the process led to questions about its reliability of those findings.A new report from the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) explains that the Annual...
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Often, correction of a plan’s disqualifying defect(s) can be done only with IRS approval. The IRS may have discovered the defect during an audit, requiring that the problem be resolved through an IRS-approved closing agreement. Or the defect may have been submitted to the IRS for resolution under...
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A bipartisan group of lawmakers last week introduced legislation that they say will “ensure retirement advisors serve their clients’ best interests and preserve access to quality financial planning.” It would also require an affirmative vote of Congress before the final fiduciary rule from the...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued the 2016 comprehensive premium filing instructions. The Office of Management and Budget has approved the instructions, and has posted them on the PBGC website.The PBGC says that it made few changes from the 2015 filing instructions when it...
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Those hoping that the Department of Labor's (DOL) fiduciary rule would be derailed in congressional budget negotiations found coal in their pre-Christmas stockings instead. Published reports had indicated that some lawmakers had tried to attach a rider to the omnibus spending bill that would...
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Those who have been concerned about the Labor Department’s recent extension of authority to state governments to run so-called “open” MEPs may now have an opportunity to compete more effectively with that alternative.In November, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued Interpretive Bulletin (IB) 2015-...
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The IRS on Dec. 14 issued the 2015 Cumulative List of Changes in Plan Qualification Requirements. The list, contained in Notice 2015-84, is to be used by plan sponsors and practitioners submitting determination letter applications for plans during the period beginning Feb. 1, 2016 and ending Jan....
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The House on Dec. 11, and the Senate on Dec. 10, passed a short-term spending bill that will keep the government funded through Dec. 16. Whether budget legislation ultimately will include provisions affecting the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule remains uncertain.The Hill reports that the...
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