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Regulatory Compliance
Happy mid-December, all. Hope your Holiday Season is full of mirth!
I signed up for the 2024 virtual ASEA Actuarial Insights conference in January. Typically, I prefer in-person conferences and sit in one of the front rows to stop myself from checking work emails. But the agenda included topics I...
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The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is concerned about the ability of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) to exercise oversight and protect the integrity of benefit plans, particularly concerning audits. The OIG for the U.S. Department of Labor...
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Electronic filing of the Form 5558, Application for Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan Returns, for form year 2023 may not be available starting Jan. 1, 2024 after all.
It appears that the Department of Labor (DOL) has communicated to third-party software developers that the...
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Proposed guidance implementing the SECURE 2.0 Act’s provision providing an exemption for certain automatic portability transactions has moved one step closer to being publicly released.
The Department of Labor on Dec. 5 submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review a...
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American Retirement Association (ARA) CEO Brian Graff is scheduled to testify on the first day of a public hearing hosted by the Department of Labor (DOL) titled “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary.”
Graff will follow opening remarks from Assistant Secretary...
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A key theme that has emerged from Alight’s annual “hot topics” survey is that employers need more guidance on key provisions in the SECURE 2.0 Act before fully embracing them.
In looking at changes employers intend to make to their retirement and financial wellbeing plans in the coming year, the...
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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released the Fall 2023 Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) regulatory agenda, an update that enumerates proposed rules as well as those in final form.
Valuation Assumptions Rule
A highlight of the fall update is the movement of the rule on...
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The IRS on Dec. 8 announced that there will be no changes to the Required Amendments (RA) List for individually designed plans qualified under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Sections 401(a) and 403(b) for 2023. The IRS made the announcement in Notice 2023-79.
The RA List establishes the end of the...
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If you’re confused—and overwhelmed—about the Department of Labor’s (DOL) latest proposed rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary for purposes of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), you’re not alone.
The Biden Administration officially unveiled the Retirement Security...
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If you missed the live broadcast of the ASPPA Webcast, “Update on Long-Term Part-Time Employees - Insights from the Proposed Regulations,” it is still available! You can access it on demand through Dec. 1, 2024.
On Nov. 24, 2023, the Department of Treasury and IRS released a proposed regulation...
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The IRS has issued 2024 versions of Form 1099-R and 5498, as well as their instructions. These forms are used to report information concerning contributions and distributions, including those involving IRAs.
The IRS issued the forms as drafts—they are informational and not to be used for filing...
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In a positive sign that lawmakers are committed to fixing several errors contained in the SECURE 2.0 Act, the House and Senate have just released a draft technical corrections bill, including changes to allow catch-up contributions and provide parity for Starter 401(k)s championed by the American...
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The parties in an excessive fee suit have come to terms—on at least one aspect of the litigation, though the bulk remains to be appealed.
The suit in question involves Genentech’s $7.6 billion (33,693 participant) 401(k) plan. The plaintiff is one Matthew Wehner (represented by Shepherd, Finkelman...
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Like many of you, I have spent a fair amount of time over the past couple of weeks reading and analyzing the impact and import of the new fiduciary rule proposal—not to mention the legal pundits who seek to tell us what they think it means, or might mean, regardless of what the proposal actually...
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On Nov. 3, the Department of Labor published its proposal to (1) redefine an “investment advice fiduciary” under ERISA and (2) also modify the prohibited transaction exemptions available to such fiduciaries. That is, the proposal would (1) change who is an ERISA fiduciary and (2) the conditions...
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Happy Birthday, ERISA!
It’s been 50 years since the Congress passed landmark legislation that protected the savings of American workers and—arguably—created an entire industry. It’s now time for the golden anniversary.
The American Retirement Association announced that it and eight associations...
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The IRS has prepared the draft instructions for the Form 5329 for reporting additional taxes on qualified plans, including Roth and traditional IRAs and other tax-favored accounts from 2023.
Employers, plan administrators and retirement plan professionals may find it worthwhile to remind plan...
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The release of a proposed regulation that provides guidance on the “long-term part-time employee” (LTPTE) rules a mere 25 days before they’re effective places too great a burden on plan sponsors to comply, the American Retirement Association (ARA) wrote in a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (...
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The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on Nov. 28 published a final rule amending its regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for selecting the retirement rate category.
The new table will be used to determine the applicable expected...
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The guidance the IRS just issued in Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.) 2023-37 on qualified and 403(b) pre-approved plans made some significant changes in order to conform, clarify, and update the rules. Here’s a look at some of the key changes, which generally became effective on Nov. 21, 2023, with...
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