Advertisement
Regulatory Compliance
The Obama administration’s final budget wasn’t a complete retread of its prior retirement plan proposals, but there wasn’t much good news for employer-sponsored retirement plans.Small business owners and small business retirement plans were once again targeted by a proposal that would limit the...
READ MORE
Wrapping up a first week of February with action on legislation designed to block, slow or thwart the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule, the U.S. Senate finally got into the act with two pieces of legislation.Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and...
READ MORE
Do you sometimes feel like you have spent your precious time performing tests that no longer seem relevant or meet an arbitrary deadline? Have you ever come across a nonsensical rule that continually trips up you or your staff and you think to yourself: “it would be so much easier if…”?We all know...
READ MORE
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made suggestions in a recent paper for ways to bolster the private-sector retirement system.The keys to strengthening the system, says the Chamber, is to strengthen the current retirement structure, address the demographic changes and retirement needs of an evolving...
READ MORE
The Winter 2016 issue of Plan Consultant magazine is now available on ASPPA Net.The Winter issue, mailed to all ASPPA members in January, marks the start of ASPPA’s 50th anniversary year with a cover story that recaps ASPPA’s first half century and offers insights into the birth and development of...
READ MORE
The latest issue of Employee Plans News, a periodic IRS newsletter with retirement plan information for retirement plan practitioners, highlights recent developments concerning the IRS Employee Plans Determination Letter Program, as well as links to recent guidance and updated forms and...
READ MORE
The latest issue of Employee Plans News, a periodic IRS newsletter with retirement plan information for retirement plan practitioners, highlights recent developments concerning the IRS Employee Plans Determination Letter Program, as well as links to recent guidance and updated forms and...
READ MORE
The Department of Labor (DOL) has filed suit against the International Association of Machinists National Pension Fund (IAMNPF) and its board of trustees for multiple violations of ERISA. The DOL seeks a court order requiring the defendants to restore any losses the fund suffered due to the alleged...
READ MORE
When an employee retires, that’s the end of the connection between the ex-employee and the former employer’s plan. Right? Not necessarily, say researchers at PIMCO.In “Turning Defined Contribution Assets into a Lifetime Paycheck: How to Evaluate Investment Choices for Retirees,” Stacy Schaus and...
READ MORE
As the Department of Labor (DOL) moves forward with its new fiduciary standard, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are working on legislation to address concerns that the final DOL proposal will harm access to retirement savings advice.The House Committee on Education and the Workforce...
READ MORE
The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Jan. 28 on “Helping Americans Prepare for Retirement: Increasing Access, Participation and Coverage in Retirement Savings Plans.” Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) noted in his opening remarks that the hearing would allow the full committee to hear more...
READ MORE
The IRS on Jan. 29 issued guidance on mid-year changes to a safe harbor plan under Internal Revenue Code Sections 401(k) and 401(m). It provides that a mid-year change either to a safe harbor plan or to a plan's safe harbor notice does not violate the safe harbor rules just because it is a mid-year...
READ MORE
Tomato, tomahto. Split an atom, terminate a pension plan. A recent blog post suggests they may not be as different as they seem.In “The Big Bang Theory and Pension Plan Terminations,” a recent post in Retirement Town Hall, Javier Sanabria argues that both will gradually go away if left alone — but...
READ MORE
Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night — could keep the Department of Labor (DOL) from getting the updated conflict-of-interest/fiduciary regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.That’s right, despite the massive snowstorm that hit the Washington, D.C. area last week,...
READ MORE
In a Jan. 25 telephone interview with reporters, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said that the Department of Labor (DOL) hopes that work on the proposed fiduciary rule will be completed “in the coming months.”According to ThinkAdvisor, Perez also said that the DOL is reviewing the high number of...
READ MORE
The IRS has issued a proposed rule on the determination of whether the normal retirement age under a governmental pension plan under Internal Revenue Code Section 414(d) satisfies the requirements of Code Section 401(a) and whether the payment of definitely determinable benefits that begin at the...
READ MORE
The point has often been made that retirement plan tax “preferences” are a deferral of taxes, not a deduction — and now the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that impact on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).The CBO’s “The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2016 to 2026” acknowledges...
READ MORE
A recent Supreme Court ruling may have implications for retirement plan overpayment recoveries.Now, the payments made in the case of Robert Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan, case number 14-723 (U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 20, 2016) weren’t made from a...
READ MORE
Employers with pension plans seek to control costs. But what approach should they take? A recent report offers some suggestions.In “Managing Pension Costs — Some Solutions Are Time-Sensitive,” PriceWaterhouse Coopers argues that controlling costs can best be accomplished by: understanding plan...
READ MORE
The IRS has updated the information it provides concerning the data analysis verification projects its Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) is pursuing.The IRS says that a review of Form 5500 Series returns showed that on some of the forms filed, the pension feature code(s) were missing,...
READ MORE