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Regulatory Compliance
Harkening back to a brief reference to benefit portability in the State of the Union address, the Obama Administration has announced its desire to extend Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) access to the private sector.These so-called “open” MEPs are single retirement plans involving two or more unrelated...
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Over the past several years, we have heard from our members that the IRS had taken issue with “412(d)(2)” plan amendments in the determination letter application review process — but an internal memorandum from the IRS contains some good news.Some plan sponsors were being told that the amendments...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) is pushing to get the revised version of its fiduciary rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by the end of January, according to published reports.The DOL needs to finalize the rule by April or mid-May at the latest to prevent Congress from exercising its...
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The IRS Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) has updated the information it provides on its Q&A page concerning handling certain erroneous filings. The EPCU develops compliance projects and analyzes data to better identify potential non-compliance with IRS rules. It ordinarily contacts...
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This is the time of year when resolutions for the cessation of bad behaviors and the beginning of better ones are in vogue. Here are mine for plan sponsors.Put your fund menu on a diet.Though it is a point often made with jellies and ice cream, a long-standing behavioral finance tenet is that more...
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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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“Just skip those optional questions,” says Form 5500 expert and author Janice M. Wegesin, who has been getting daily inquiries for her opinion as to whether filers should complete the new compliance questions that appear on the 2015 Form 5500. While the “optional” nature of a number of items is...
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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 Employee Plans subgroup of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT) is conducting a project on the IRS’ decision to eliminate most determination letters for individually designed plans, and is looking for practitioner input.As part of the project, the ACT has...
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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 IRS has updated, for 2016, “Instructions for Forms 1099-R and 5498: Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, Etc., and IRA Contribution Information.”The instructions outline the following as changes that affect 2016 reporting....
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Retirement plan accounts benefited from higher deferrals and fewer plan loans in 2014, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA). The PSCA, in its 58th Annual Survey, found that plan participants increased their deferrals and took less from their accounts through plan loans that year....
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The Internal Revenue Service wants to encourage plan sponsors to correct certain plan failures — and they’re offering some financial incentives to do so.To encourage employers that sponsor 401(a) qualified retirement plans and 403(b) plans to correct plan failures through its Voluntary Correction...
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The Internal Revenue Service wants to encourage plan sponsors to correct certain plan failures — and they’re offering some financial incentives to do so.To encourage employers that sponsor 401(a) qualified retirement plans and 403(b) plans to correct plan failures through its Voluntary Correction...
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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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It is something of a tradition this time of year to look back, to reminiscence about past events and lessons learned, and sometimes to look ahead. Here are some insights that should help lay the groundwork for a productive and prosperous 2016.Things Everyone Who Works With/For Retirement Plans...
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The IRS on Jan. 4 said it will issue guidance on revisions to the employee plans determination letter program regarding Cycle A elections, determination letter expiration dates, and extension of deadlines for certain defined contribution pre-approved plans.The IRS made the announcement in in Notice...
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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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Every plan, and every investment committee, is unique — and yet, conducted properly, there are inevitably areas of commonality.Here are some questions that could enhance the discussion, if not the outcome, of your next meeting.1. Do we really need to have all these funds on the menu?We know that...
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