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Regulatory Compliance
The IRS has made available the updated Form 5500-EZ and its instructions for 2015 reporting. The form and instructions replace the version the IRS had made available Feb. 18.New for 2015 ReportingThe IRS made the following changes to the Form 5500-EZ for 2015 reporting.Participant Information....
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A lawsuit brought against the IRS over its handling of a company’s application to fix errors under the agency’s Voluntary Compliance Program (VCP) is advancing.According to Bloomberg BNA, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Richard J. Leon on March 2 in Information Systems and...
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A majority of plans are looking for ways to improve their funding. But the reason is not just the need to make retirement benefits more secure for current and future retirees — they’re also doing so in order to avoid impending Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) premium hikes, according to...
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IRS Employee Plans Division (EP) Director Robert Choi on Feb. 23 issued a memo to EP determinations and examinations employees that sets forth interim guidelines they are to use in reviewing multiemployer collectively bargained plans that provide for a normal retirement age (NRA) earlier than 62,...
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It may be worth considering a review of hybrid plans to make sure they are in compliance with the final rules the IRS issued late in 2015. The IRS issued the rules in November.Towers Watson in its Feb. 19 Insider provides an early reminder that plans have until New Year’s Eve this year to make any...
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The latest issue of IRS Employee Plans News includes reminders regarding the compliance questions that had been added to the Form 5500, mid-year amendments to safe harbor 401(k) plans and notices and the 2015 reference lists.Issue no. 2016-3 of Employee Plans News, which the IRS issued on Feb. 29,...
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Another testing season has come and gone, and it is time for ASPPA’s IRS Q&A Subcommittee to start gathering questions. Did you and your colleagues come across a brain-teaser of a situation while doing testing? Are you facing a conundrum on a last minute or delinquent PPA restatement?Chances...
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Even as the publication of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule nears, the GOP is gearing up to undermine the funding for its implementation.House Republican leaders are urging rank-and-file GOP lawmakers to back a budget resolution that provides $1.07 trillion in discretionary spending...
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The IRS on March 3 issued an alert concerning a phishing email scheme that requests personal information concerning employees. The alert is especially intended for payroll and human resources professionals, but retirement plan administrators and service providers would do well to heed the alert as...
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Add to the list of plan fiduciary concerns, cyber-related threats to plan assets and participant personal information.These days much of that information lies in the hands (or, more accurately, the computers) of recordkeepers and third-party administrators (TPAs), though an analysis by attorneys at...
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There are plenty of laws and regulations governing defined benefit plans, and that includes what needs to be included in a plan document. Even so, there is some flexibility regarding how to meet those rules and standards. A recent paper suggests that it is best if the plan document reflects not...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) is planning to study how retirement planning strategies and decisions evolve — and it would like to know what you think about the effort.The DOL’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments on the usefulness of a forthcoming information...
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In-plan Roth rollovers (IRRs) have been touted as the latest great tax-planning device for retirement. An upcoming ASPPA webcast will cover the intricacies involved in effecting an IRR.In “Roth Conversions: Understanding the Rules and When They Make Sense,” a webcast to be held on Wednesday, March...
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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on March 1 received a proposal from the Department of Labor (DOL) to revise the Form 5500. The proposal is part of a long-term strategic effort the DOL is undertaking with the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to modernize and improve...
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been looking into replacement rates — and it’s got some suggestions for the Department of Labor (DOL).The GAO report, prepared at the request of Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and...
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On Jan. 29, the IRS released proposed regulations that are expected to significantly affect the design and economics of defined contribution plans that test for nondiscrimination on the basis of equivalent benefit accrual rates. These plans are often referred to as “new comparability” or “cross-...
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On Feb. 23, 2016, the American Retirement Association (ARA) filed a comment letter with the IRS suggesting enhancements that can be made to the IRS pre-approved plan program for plans subject to Internal Revenue Code Sections 401(a) or 403(b). The letter also requests a meeting to discuss the ARA...
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If you thought things were going to be quiet between now and the anticipated publication of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule next month — well, you’d be wrong.Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has now weighed in on the issue, claiming that “the bureaucrats bullied it through.”...
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On Feb. 22, 2016, the American Retirement Association (ARA) filed a comment letter with the IRS regarding the new compliance questions to be added to the Form 5500, potentially for the 2016 plan year reports.In the letter, the ARA requested a meeting with the IRS to collaborate on how to make the...
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A staff report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs sharply criticizes the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal and what it described as a “flawed process” in handing down that rule.
The report, “The Labor Department’s Fiduciary Rule: How a Flawed...
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