---

Today's sponsor is Benefit Software Inc.

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

---

(a) New Guidance Documents

IRS Rev. Rul. 2007-65: Deductions for Contributions to Welfare Benefit Funds Used as Premiums on Cash Value Life Insurance Policies (PDF)
13 pages. Excerpt: "For purposes of determining the limitations on an employer's deduction for contributions . . . if the benefit provided through the fund is life insurance coverage, premiums paid on cash value life insurance policies by the fund are not included in the fund's qualified direct cost whenever the fund is directly or indirectly a beneficiary under the policy within the meaning of § 264(a). . . . For purposes of determining the limitations on an employer's deduction for contributions to a welfare benefit fund under §§ 419 and 419A, if the benefit provided through the fund is other than life insurance coverage, premiums paid on cash value life insurance policies by the fund are not included in the fund's qualified direct cost whenever the fund is directly or indirectly a beneficiary under the policy within the meaning of § 264(a). However, the fund's qualified direct cost includes amounts paid as welfare benefits by the fund during the taxable year for claims incurred during the year." (Internal Revenue Service)

IRS Notice 2007-84: Trust Arrangements Purporting to Provide Nondiscriminatory Post-Retirement Medical and Life Insurance Benefits (PDF)
Describes trust arrangements involving purported welfare benefit funds that, in form, provide post-retirement medical and life insurance benefits to employees on a nondiscriminatory basis but, in operation, result in the owner or owners receiving all or a substantial portion of the post-retirement and other benefits, and all or a substantial portion of any assets distributed from the trust. (Internal Revenue Service)

IRS Notice 2007-83: Abusive Trust Arrangement Utilizing Cash Value Life Insurance Policies Purportedly to Provide Welfare Benefits (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "[Under these arrangements, it] is anticipated that after a number of years the plan will be terminated and the cash value life insurance policies, cash, or other property held by the trust will be distributed to the employees who are plan participants at the time of the termination. While a small amount may be distributed to employees who are not owners of the business, the timing of the plan termination and the methods used to allocate the remaining assets are structured so that the business owners and other key employees will receive, directly or indirectly, all or a substantial portion of the assets held by the trust." (Internal Revenue Service)

(b) News

Steelworker Retirees Set to Receive New Health Care Benefit
Excerpt: "Nearly 9,000 retirees, spouses and surviving spouses will be eligible to apply for lump sum payments of up to $600 in 2007 from a novel benefit trust fund established for former United Steelworkers (USW) and other union-represented employees of Kaiser Aluminum . . . ." (Managed Care Weekly Digest via Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)

(c) Summaries of Guidance; Filed Comments

Overview: California's Family Military Leave Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The statute does not address whether registered domestic partners are eligible for family military leave. The California Domestic Partner Act, which became effective January 1, 2005, provides that registered domestic partners are entitled to many of the same rights, protections and benefits afforded to spouses. Since the family military leave act establishes rights, protections, and benefits for spouses, registered domestic partners may also be eligible for family military leave." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated October 17, 2007, for Health and Welfare Plans (PDF)
9 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding health and welfare benefit plans. (Hewitt Associates)

Overview: Mass. Guidance on Employer Fair Share Contribution and Employer Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure Filing (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Massachusetts' sweeping health care reform law took effect on July 1, 2007. Although the new law does not mandate employer-sponsored health coverage, it requires an employer that has 11 or more full-time equivalent employees (i.e., 22,000 payroll hours) in Massachusetts to do the following . . . ." (Buck Consultants)

Overview: Cafeteria Plan and Dependent Care Regulations
Excerpt: "Most interesting is a listing of operational failures that will disqualify a plan, including offering nonqualified benefits such as transportation expenses as part of the plan or failing to comply with 'use it or lose it,' uniform coverage or substantiation rules. However, there is no correction procedure contained in the Regulations." (SunGard Corbel LLC)

(d) Trends, Surveys, Research

Bonus vs. Holiday Gift? Which Is Which?
Excerpt: "Lucky employees at thousands of small businesses will be getting cash from company owners in the next few months. Some companies will call the money a year-end bonus, while others will label it a holiday gift. Which is which? It depends more on the purpose of the money than what the dictionary says." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)

Short-Term Incentives Used More Often Than Long-Term
Excerpt: "Private companies rely more heavily on short-term incentives such as bonuses than long-term incentives to reward and motivate employees, while long-term incentives are mostly reserved for those in the upper echelons, according to the findings of a new study." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

A Profession Is Born to Help People Navigate the Health Care Maze
Excerpt: "Private health care advocacy is a new and growing field emerging at a time when an increasing number of Americans find themselves dealing with a chronic disease, aging family members or the bureaucracy of health insurance." (San Francisco Chronicle via HealthDecisions.org)

(e) Policy, Opinion, Advocacy

Press Release: Hillary Clinton's Agenda for Working Families -- Helping Parents Balance Work & Family
Excerpt: "Hillary's plan would set an ambitious goal for all states to implement a paid family leave program by the year 2016, and offer $1 billion per year in grants to encourage innovative paid family leave programs at the state level. Hillary would also extend the Family Medical Leave Act to cover 13 million additional workers across the country, and guarantee every American worker seven days of paid sick leave to help them deal with a health crisis faced by themselves or their children." (HillaryClinton.com)

Statement Before House Committee on the Budget on the Tax Code and Health Insurance Coverage (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "I'd like to focus on the potential and limitations of using tax credits to expand coverage, as that is the only feasible way to use the tax system to help lower-income households obtain health insurance." (Urban Institute)

Opinion: The Administrative Costs of Private Health Insurance
Excerpt: "Many advocates of a single-payer (government) system of health insurance argue that 'administrative' costs for private health insurance are much higher than those for such single-payer systems, such as Medicare. The adoption of a single-payer system for all Americans, they claim, would yield savings sufficient to cover all the uninsured." (National Review Online)

Opinion: Free-Market Alternative -- Sharpening the Health Care Debate
Excerpt: "The debate will be different this time around. When Hillary Clinton first attempted an overhaul of our health sector, she was no learned hand at politics. But the health plan that her presidential campaign released last month is much more politically attuned and lacks the hubris of those 1,342 pages of legislation the White House dropped on Congress 14 years ago. Today's talking points (at variance with the actual details of her plan) stress choice, affordable private insurance, and no new government bureaucracy." (National Review Online via Galen Institute)

---

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide for October 17, 2007, on Human Resources & Employment Law (PDF)
12 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding human resources and employment law. (Hewitt Associates)

Official Summary of the Offshore Deferred Compensation Reform Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Problem: There is a fundamental issue of equity between middle-class Americans who can elect to defer up to $15,500 of income into qualified plans and an additional $4,000 into their IRA's and higher-income U.S. taxpayers who can defer unlimited amounts offshore. Most recently, the issue has been highlighted by news accounts of U.S. hedge fund managers being able to defer billions of dollars of compensation offshore." (Rep. Emanuel/Sen. Kerry via American Benefits Council)

---

Newly Posted Events

ASPPA Fall 2007 Examination Window
Nationwide on November 1, 2007
presented by American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA)

How Qualified Retirement Plan Documents can be Reviewed for a Favorable Determination Letter
in Illinois on October 24, 2007
presented by John Marshall Law School, The

PENSION & BENEFITS CONFERENCE - NEWPORT BEACH, CA (ORANGE COUNTY)
in California on November 14, 2007
presented by The Waage Law Firm, APC

PENSION & BENEFITS CONFERENCE - SAN DIEGO, CA
in California on October 30, 2007
presented by The Waage Law Firm, APC

Required Minimum Distributions and Nonspouse Rollovers
Nationwide on November 15, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Web Seminar: Uncover and Manage Your 401(k) Plan's Expenses
Nationwide on October 25, 2007
presented by TRI-AD

---

Newly Posted Press Releases

Pension Reporter Government Forms System from DATAIR -- Year 2007 Forms Released
DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

TRI-AD Introduces 401(k) Full Fee Disclosure Guarantee
TRI-AD

Synapses Provides Corporate Benefit Advisors, Inc. with Plan-Level Analytics Tools and Participant Education Tools for 401(k) Customers
Synapses Inc.

---

Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
( Post a Job | View All Jobs | RSS Feed )

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Howard Simon & Associates
in IL

Consultant, Defined Contributions/401(k) Plans
for Aon Consulting
in NJ

DC/401(k) Plan Compliance Manager
for Associated Pension Services, Inc.
in IL

Compliance Coordinator
for JPMorgan Chase
in MO

Compliance Coordinator, QDRO
for JPMorgan Chase
in MO

Disability Benefits Analyst
for Standard Insurance Company
in NY

Senior Disability Benefits Examiner
for Standard Insurance Company
in NY

Retirement Plan Consultant
for Kibble & Prentice
in WA

---

Handy Links:

• View Today's Active Message Threads
• Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
• Employee Benefits Library

---

---

Subscribe to the BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, Too!

Sign-up form is at https://benefitslink.com/newsletter (free).

---

This newsletter is sent to you each workday except federal holidays.

This email has been published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151

David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor

Copyright 2007 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.

Anyone can receive these emails; just have them sign up at this web page: https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/

Other useful links:

• How to Sponsor an Issue
• Privacy Policy
• Archive of Previous Newsletters