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Regulatory Compliance
The direct final rule that the Department of Labor (DOL) issued on March 19 containing fiduciary requirements for disclosure in participant-directed individual account plans went into effect June 17. But the DOL has built flexibility into the rule, and has built in two additional months in which to...
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The Senate Appropriations Committee on June 25 in a 16-14 vote approved the fiscal year 2016 Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) funding bill, which denies funding that would enable the Department of Labor (DOL) to implement the fiduciary rule.Committee Chairman Thad Chochran (R-Miss.) hailed...
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For the first time in more than a decade, the IRS has published an update for its Audit Technique Guide for Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans.An analysis by Winston & Strawn LLP notes that the IRS ATG highlighted several key areas where the IRS continues to see problems — and which it...
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Appropriations subcommittees on Capitol Hill — in the House and now in the Senate — have taken a shot at blocking the Labor Department’s fiduciary proposal by denying funding for the measure.House BillOn June 24, the House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee approved a fiscal year 2016...
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The public comments the Department of Labor is receiving on its proposed fiduciary rule already are having an effect, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said at June 23 Brookings Institution forum in Washington, D.C.Perez said that among the comments they have received are expressions of concern...
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The IRS in Revenue Procedure 2015-34 has provided procedures by which multiemployer defined benefit plans that are in critical and declining status may apply for approval to suspend benefits. The IRS issued the revenue procedure on June 19, which is also the date on which the IRS began accepted the...
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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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