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Regulatory Compliance
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on June 19 issued an interim regulation to implement the partition provisions of the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. The regulation makes it possible for financially troubled multiemployer pension plans to apply for PBGC...
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A House bill would stop the Department of Labor’s fiduciary proposal by cutting off funding to implement the measure.The measure was included by the House Appropriations Committee in the draft fiscal year 2016 Labor, Health and Human Services funding bill, and the Labor, Health and Human Services,...
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The June 17 Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee hearing provided ample illustration that the debate on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary proposal is far from over. DOL Secretary Thomas E. Perez appeared before the subcommittee of the House Education and the Workforce...
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The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration has announced that it will hold public hearings on the fiduciary proposal on Aug. 10, 11 and 12 — and 13, if necessary. It also has extended the period for submitting comments on the proposed rule and exceptions to July 21.The...
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The Department of Labor intends to finalize its re-proposed rule defining a fiduciary in May of next year, Groom Law Group Chairman Steve Saxon said on June 8. Saxon made his remarks at the SPARK Institute’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.That timing is fueled by political considerations....
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ASPPA’s Government Affairs Committee (GAC) on June 8 filed comments with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to express concern about the IRS estimates of the cost burdens reported to OMB associated with new questions on the 2015 Form 5500 series, including the new Form 5500-SUP. ASPPA GAC...
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The Internal Revenue Service has provided a new, permanent program for late filing Form 5500-EZ.The program, outlined in Revenue Procedure 2015-32, replaces last year’s one-year pilot program – which ended Tuesday, June 2, 2015.The permanent program generally follows the requirements of the pilot...
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The IRS has updated guidance on master and prototype, and volume submitter, plan applications for opinion and advisory letters.The IRS has highlighted the following changes as important in Revenue Procedure 2015-36: extending the application deadline for pre-approved defined benefit plans from June...
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Bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives June 4 would allow pension plan participants to be automatically opted in to electronic delivery of documents. And a recent study suggests that the sponsors of the bill have good timing. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) introduced...
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For those keeping score at home, a total of 36 individuals and organizations submitted comments on the Department of Labor’s April 14 fiduciary proposal during the first month of the comment period.The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has created a “public comments” page on its...
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Will the third time be the charm? House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) in a June 2 letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez have again repeated a request for additional information...
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ASPPA is always providing information and insights that will be valuable to its members! Following is a summary of upcoming webcasts and events. Live WebcastsNew Mortality Tables — Their Use and Application Tuesday, June 23, 20152:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET Speakers: Raymond D. Berry, MSPA, ASA, MAAA,...
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The Bipartisan Policy Center convened what at least one participant termed a “policy wonk throwdown” in the nation’s capital May 27. The subject? The Department of Labor’s fiduciary proposal.The actual title of the event was “Champions, Critics and Consequences of a New Fiduciary Standard,” and it...
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The recent Department of Labor (DOL) study finding deficiencies in audits of employee benefit plans does not translate to a statement about how viable those plans are, says the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). In a May 28 statement, AICPA said that “none of the quality issues identified by the...
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Physician, heal thyself. A study the Department of Labor (DOL) did of its audits of employee benefits plans shows that the department needs to improve the quality of those audits.In fact, such audits today are more likely to be deficient than they were a decade ago. Bloomberg BNA reports that the...
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On May 20, President Obama announced his intent to nominate a number of individuals to key Administration posts, including the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).Assuming the Senate concurs, W. Thomas Reeder, Jr. is the President’s choice to head the nation’s private pension insurer. The...
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Employers, plan administrators, third party administrators and others associated with multiemployer plans have received reassurance regarding the scope of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s proposed rule on mandatory e-filing for certain multiemployer notices.The PBGC issued a clarification...
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ASPPA Executive Director and CEO Brian Graff opened ASPPA’s first-ever virtual conference May 14 with a discussion of “the elephant in the room” — the Department of Labor’s (DOL) reproposal concerning the definition of who is a fiduciary.Graff noted that the proposed regulation is “mammoth,” but...
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ASPPA’s first-ever virtual conference on May 14 provided its 600+ attendees more than critical information on important issues — it also afforded them an ideal opportunity to gain the expert speakers’ insights on particular situations and matters.DOL Fiduciary RuleIt’s no surprise that the...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a brief extension of the comment period on its fiduciary reproposal — and has set a date for a public hearing.The comment period for what the DOL calls the Conflict of Interest Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been extended by 15 days — from 75 to 90...
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