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Regulatory Compliance
It’s a big year for the implementation of certain SECURE 2.0 provisions. While many of the items are optional, it represents an excellent opportunity to explain what they mean and their potential impact.
“There are two that are the big standouts,” Kevin Gaston said when asked about the provisions...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued a final rule adjusting for 2024 the civil penalties for failure to provide certain notices or other material information and for failure to provide certain multiemployer plan notices. The PBGC is required to amend its regulations annually...
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The U.S. retirement system is a success—but we still can do better. That was the message from an expert panel that recently examined the gaps in that system and made suggestions regarding how to fill them.
Pete Swisher, Managing Partner at Group Plan Systems, and Annie Messer, President, Member...
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The IRS has issued initial guidance to help employers with implementation of pension-linked emergency savings accounts (PLESAs).
Authorized under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, PLESAs are individual accounts in defined contribution plans—designed to permit and encourage employees to save for...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule on Jan. 9 that it says will help employers and workers better understand when a worker qualifies as an employee and when they may be considered independent contractors. It will take effect on March 11, 2024.
The rule provides guidance under the...
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“If this is the law, then that would be news to Congress and the regulatory agencies, which have declared for decades that forfeitures can be used in this manner,” says a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging a fiduciary breach in offsetting employer contributions with forfeitures.
The motion to...
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While many financial services firms and related trade groups have expressed their opposition, several high-profile firms have come out in support of the latest iteration of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed fiduciary rule, officially known as the "Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an...
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The IRS has updated the instructions for Form 8606, which is used to report contributions and distributions, as well as conversions, from IRAs—including Roths.
Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs, is used to report:
Nondeductible contributions to traditional IRAs;
Distributions from traditional,...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has updated the instructions for filing premiums as well as the portal through which they can be filed.
Rules Are Rules
Sections 4006 and 4007 of ERISA and the PBGC’s Premium Regulations require that premiums be paid to the PBGC; every plan covered...
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The IRS has announced that it is postponing electronic filing of the Form 5558, Application for Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan Returns, through the Department of Labor's (DOL) EFAST 2 system until Jan. 1, 2025.
The IRS attributes this to administrative issues concerning EFAST-2....
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In our comment letter submitted to the Department of Labor (DOL) on Jan. 2, 2024, the American Retirement Association (ARA) expressed support for—yet specific issues with—the department’s proposed definition of “fiduciary investment advice” and amendments to PTE 2020-02.
The rulemaking package,...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has work to do in order to accomplish its mission and better serve plans and participants, says a just-released report by the PBGC Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate.
The 2023 Annual Report of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate Pension...
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A billion-dollar plan has come to terms—cash and non-monetary terms—with participant-plaintiffs represented by Capozzi Adler that had made claims the plan paid $77 per participant, when plans of similar sizes were paying as little as $25 per participant.
The suit had been filed against Advance...
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New year, new forms. The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on Jan. 1 released the Form 5500, Form 5500-SF, and Form 5500-EZ for reporting concerning the 2023 plan year.
The DOL released informational copies of these forms on Nov. 17; they were intended to...
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A number of lawsuits have recently been filed regarding the alleged misuse of forfeitures—but just a couple of months ago a plan was sued—and lost—a case brought by the Labor Department for not following the plan document’s forfeiture provisions.
According to the Labor Department, on Dec. 27, 2017...
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Call it the not so Solo 401(k). We’ve received questions from some American Retirement Association (ARA) members regarding the impact of the long-term part-time employee rules (LTPTE rules) on Solo 401(k) plans. Many sponsors of Solo 401(k) plans were given advice, and established plans with the...
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Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are more than regulatory requirements—they affect real people. In its latest issue of Employee Plans News, the IRS provides a refresher concerning the application of the RMD rules regarding plan beneficiaries.
Spousal Beneficiaries
Spousal beneficiaries...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) reports that in 2023 it changed its actuarial valuation methods, but at the same time a report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) warns that the PBGC has more work to do with its financial recordkeeping.
Actuarial Changes
The PBGC in its...
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The IRS has updated Form 8881, Credit for Small Employer Pension Plan Startup Costs, Auto-Enrollment, and Military Spouse Participation, for 2023 filing to reflect provisions in SECURE 2.0 intended to expand coverage and increase retirement savings.
The revisions to Form 8881, under the SECURE 2....
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The IRS has issued a reminder that people born before 1951 need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from funds held in IRAs and other retirement plans by the end of the year. And in so doing, it provides an opportunity to in turn remind participants as well as clients whose participants...
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