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Regulatory Compliance
They’ve been a while in coming, but they are here: the IRS on Sept. 26 issued final regulations on electronic filing of Form 8955-SSA and Form 5500-EZ in certain circumstances. The IRS had issued the regs in proposed form in August 2013.Under the final rule, contained in TD 9695, tax return filers...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation on Sept. 24 issued Technical Update 14-1, guidance on how the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 (HATFA) affects PBGC premiums. PBGC expects most plans with premium filings due in calendar year 2014 that haven’t already filed a 2013 Schedule SB...
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Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler has presented the legislature with recommendations for increasing Oregonians’ retirement savings, access to a retirement plan and ability to enroll in one. The recommendations are the work of the state’s Retirement Security Task Force, which the legislature...
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Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler has presented the legislature with recommendations for increasing Oregonians’ retirement savings, access to a retirement plan and ability to enroll in one. The recommendations are the work of the state’s Retirement Security Task Force, which the legislature...
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Treasury’s annual blueprint for the guidance it expects to issue in the coming year — the Priority Guidance Plan — is out for 2014-2015, and retirement plans are on its agenda. As is usually the case, it is an ambitious plan. Of course, the road to certain places is paved with good intentions, and...
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What happens to executive retirement benefits when employers close or freeze their defined benefit pension plans? What if that plan is a hybrid/cash balance? And what does that mean for advisors?Consultant Towers Watson recently conducted an analysis of how Fortune 200 companies in 2013...
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This summer, for the first time in more than 20 years, Hawaii was hit by a named tropical system. ays later, a second churned offshore. Hurricane Arthur splashed through North Carolina’s Outer Banks just before July 4. And the height of the Atlantic hurricane season is about to arrive. This...
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Is the Form 5500 worth filling out and filing in the first place? Not everyone is convinced, reports Benefitspro. But file they must, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has come to the rescue, offering suggestions in its recent report, “Private Pensions: Targeted Revisions Could Improve...
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The PBGC is stopping its enforcement efforts in open cases involving ERISA Section 4062 (e), and will not take on any new ones until after Dec. 31, 2014. In a July 8 press release, the agency said it is doing so to ensure that its efforts are targeted at cases in which pensions genuinely are at...
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According to Acting Director of IRS Employee Plans Thomas Petit, the IRS still lists 401(k) plans among its top examination priorities. Petit provided that confirmation to attendees of the ASPPA Regional Conference in Chicago.IRS EP Exam Projects and Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) projects...
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You were sure your filing with the IRS was accurate, but you double checked and found that you made a mistake. It’s tempting to stand pat and hope that the IRS won’t notice, but you know it could — and that could have negative ramifications. What to do? Remember that there is another option: the...
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Defined benefit plans, DC plans and 403(b) annuity arrangements, take note: July 31 is right around the corner. That’s the day by which most plans must file the dreaded and onerous Form 5500. The clock is ticking on filing the form that reports on 2013. The form must be filed by the end of the...
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Generally, federal law requires employee benefit plans with 100 or more participants to have an audit as part of their obligation to file a Form 5500. Note that some pension plans with fewer than 100 participants also may be required to have an audit if they fail to meet certain conditions relating...
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Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 412(d)(2) was originally enacted as part of ERISA over 40 years ago. (The language was moved to its current statutory location by the Pension Protection Act of 2006.) It provides that certain plan amendments adopted after the close of the plan year may be given...
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ASPPA has suggested ways in which the Department of Labor could improve the proposed amendment to the Section 408(b)(2) fee disclosure regulations. Click here to view ASPPA’s letter to John Canary, director of the Office of Regulations and Interpretations at the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security...
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Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) has asked Labor Secretary Tom Perez to look at potential conflicts of interest among pension consultants that recommend their own investments to clients, The Wall Street Journal reports. The trend is for consultants, whose margins are getting squeezed, to manage money...
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More than 90 percent of the plan sponsors that filed their final Form 5500 filings the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) examined in its “Final Return With Assets Project” had at least one error, the IRS reports. Final Forms 5500 are required even if a plan has been exempt from filing a...
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On May 15, the IRS issued Notice 2014-37 containing additional post-Windsor guidance for 401(k) or (m) safe harbor plans in response to an informal request by the ASPPA Government Affairs Committee. The guidance confirms that a mid-year amendment to a safe harbor plan will not affect the plan’s...
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The IRS will soon launch a new pilot program that will give relief to certain plan sponsors and administrators from penalties for filing the Form 5500 or Form 5500-EZ late. Only those who are not entitled to automatic relief under Title I of ERISA will be eligible under the pilot program. The IRS...
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Concerns about the impact and usefulness of the 408(b)(2) summary guide rule the DOL proposed in March are building and coalescing. Groups representing large plan sponsors and advisors have expressed concern about the proposal. And earlier this year, a coalition of industry groups that includes...
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