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Regulatory Compliance
The Washington Update at Actuarial Insights was necessarily fast-paced. SECURE 2.0 includes dozens of new retirement plan-related provisions and we wanted to give an overview of as many as time permitted.
SECURE 2.0 included several provisions of particular interest to defined benefit plan ...
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The IRS has released private letter ruling (PLR) 202305001, which concerns whether amending a pension plan to expand employee eligibility for health benefits to include certain employees eligible to begin receiving retirement benefits when reaching age 59½ will affect the plan’s qualified status...
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Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing is nothing if not controversial — especially with its use in retirement plans.
The Trump-era ESG rule, issued in the waning days of the last administration, was said by some to have a “chilling effect” on sustainable investing, something recent...
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The White House has announced that Julie Su will be nominated to serve as Secretary of Labor, replacing Marty Walsh who recently announced his intention to step down to take a position with the NHL Players Association.
Su has been serving as Deputy Labor Secretary — the No. 2 post at the...
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The IRS has updated the information it provides concerning plan loan offsets. Specifically, it has added issue indicators and audit tips.
The IRS on its website provides basic and background information concerning plan loan offsets.
Plan loan offset defined. A plan loan offset, the IRS says,...
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How does the Biden Administration’s ESG rule differ from its predecessor?
Tim Hauser, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Program Operations of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), tells American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff that the new rule was careful not to go overboard...
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Total costs for 401(k)s, once again, declined for both small and large retirement plans, with investment fees leading the decline — though smaller plans are still paying slightly more.
This is according to the 23rd edition of the 401k Averages Book, which reveals that total investment costs...
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The Labor Department has weighed in on an excessive fee case on behalf of the participant-plaintiffs — asserting that the district court made a bad call on the burden of proof.
The case under appeal involves Home Depot, and a decision last fall by Judge Steven D. Grimberg in the U.S. District...
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The U.S. Department of Labor, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation on Feb. 23 released changes to the 2023 Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF. These are the third — and final — revisions that implement a Sept. 2021 regulatory proposal, which included changes related to provisions in the...
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The IRS has issued an update to the 2022-2023 priority guidance plan.
The IRS had released the initial plan on Nov. 4, 2022, setting forth guidance priorities for the 12-month period from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023 (the plan year).
To Be Done
The IRS says in the updated list...
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In the inaugural episode of the DC Pension Geeks podcast, American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff sits down with Lisa Gomez, the Department of Labor's Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).
In her first major interview since her confirmation, Gomez...
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Labor Secretary Marty Walsh confirmed expectations that he will leave the Biden Administration for the private sector. Walsh will join the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) as its executive director. In a sign of the times, he took to Twitter on Thursday to elaborate on his decision.
“Earlier this...
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On Feb. 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) closed the comment period for its controversial late-processing proposed rule to combat an issue first raised nearly 20 years ago.
The proposal would require open-end funds to use “swing pricing,” the method to allocate costs from inflows...
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A financial services trade group prevailed Monday in a key portion of its suit against the Department of Labor's fiduciary guidance involving rollovers.
The United States District Court’s Middle District of Florida sided with the American Securities Association. It ruled that the DOL overstepped...
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On January 30, the final rule titled “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights”—a.k.a. the “ESG rule”—became effective. American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff recently sat down with the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Tim Hauser to...
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The Labor Department has weighed in on an excessive fee case on behalf of the participant-plaintiffs — asserting that the district court made a bad call on the burden of proof.
The case under appeal involves Home Depot, and a decision last fall by Judge Steven D. Grimberg in the U.S. District ...
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The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is resoliciting comments on its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) for input on changes mandated by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.
Also cited were comments to the proposed amendment to Prohibited Transaction...
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The plaintiffs in an excessive fee suit are pressing for consideration of a settlement, arguing that recent decisions against claims similar to theirs don’t bode well for their case.
Now, in fairness, that’s not precisely their argument[1]. But these plaintiffs (Reichert et al. v. Juniper Networks...
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The IRS said on Feb. 8 that it will be issuing opinion letters for pre-approved defined benefit plans that were updated for changes in plan qualification requirements listed in Notice 2020-14 and that were filed with the IRS during the third six-year remedial amendment cycle for pre-approved DB...
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There are few things more disruptive to the peace or clarity of a 401(k) plan than a switch in recordkeepers.
Let’s face it — change — even change for the better — is frequently disruptive to the human psyche. Most of us tend to drift into comfortable “ruts” of pattern, or perhaps habit — places...
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