Client Relationship Manager-Pensions
Nationwide
in GA

Field Service Rep - 401k Plans
Nationwide Retirement Services
in PA

Employee Benefits Specialist
Schechter Dokken Kanter
in MN

Account Executive - Benefits
HNI Risk Services
in WI

Account Administrator - Benefits
HNI Risk Services
in WI

Sr. ERISA Consultant
Great-West Financial
in WI

Account Manager
National Retirement Services, Inc.
in CA

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
Retirement, LLC
in OK, SD

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Properly Defining Retirement Plan Compensation
RECORDED
(IRS [Internal Revenue Service])

Is Your Wellness Plan a Lawsuit Waiting to Happen?
February 24, 2015 WEBCAST
(Lorman Education Services)

What Businesses Should Know About Health Care Insurance
March 12, 2015 WEBCAST
(Findley Davies, Inc.)

Employment Law Institute
March 12, 2015 in NY
(New York City Bar Association)

Medical Pharmacy Trend Report: Discover Your Hidden Specialty Drug Spend
March 19, 2015 WEBCAST
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc.)

Washington Legislative Update
May 4, 2015 in DC
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans [IFEBP])

View All Webcasts and Conferences

2015 Compliance Checklist for ERISA-Governed Retirement Plans (PDF)
44 pages. "The Compliance Checklist incorporates defined benefit (DB), defined contribution (DC) and ERISA 403(b) requirements and provides information on the materials that you will need to file, filing due dates and agencies to which the filings should be made." (Prudential)

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Plan Advisors Can't Miss the NAPA 401(k) Summit -- San Diego, March 2015

Learn from the best and add to your professional skill set by earning ASPPA and CFP CE's, networking with other exclusive financial advisors and TPAs, hearing from leading speakers on topics that matter to you most. The NAPA 401(k) Summit supports your needs!

2015 Compliance Checklist for Non-ERISA Retirement Plans (PDF)
20 pages. "The Compliance Checklist incorporates requirements for governmental and nonelecting church plans, non-ERISA 403(b) plans, 457 plans, and nonqualified executive benefit plans, and provides information on the materials that you will need to file, filing due dates, and agencies to which the filings should be made." (Prudential)

The One Chart that Explains 401(k) Fees
"Large plans (over $100m in assets) almost uniformly have fees below 1%. The largest plans are usually below 0.50%. The large end of the 401(k) marketplace is incredibly competitive. The small plan marketplace is a different story. Average fees for small plans is between 1.5-2%, with plenty of plans paying more than 2% a year in fees." (BrightScope)

Top Ten Reasons to Have an ERISA Litigator on Speed Dial (PDF)
"[1] The Supreme Court's heightened interest in ERISA ... [2] Increase in DOL investigations ... [3] New standards of fiduciary prudence ... [4] De-risking your pension liabilities ... [5] Disclosures matter ... [6] New definition of 'fiduciary' ... [7] Growing 'conflict of interest' claims in benefits litigation ... [8] Expansive remedies in litigation ... [9] The risk of attorneys' fees in lawsuits ... [10] The dangerous ERISA fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege." (Mayer Brown)

Competing Supreme Court Amicus Briefs Debate Effects of Plan Fee Litigation
"Groups taking an expansive view of workers' ability to challenge high-cost investments alleged that such litigation increased workers' retirement savings by driving mutual fund providers to compete with each other by lowering fees. Groups on the other side of the dispute argued that these plan fee lawsuits should be limited, because they imposed unclear burdens and substantial costs on plan fiduciaries.... Many of the amicus briefs supporting the plan participants disputed the idea that allowing participants to challenge older funds would increase the cost of plan administration or burden fiduciaries in any significant way." [ Tibble v. Edison International , No. 13-550 (9th Cir. Aug. 1, 2013; arguments scheduled Feb. 24, 2015)] (Bloomberg BNA)

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2015 SPARK National Conference -- June 7-9, Washington DC

The retirement services industry's leading event for top marketing, sales, administration and record keeping professionals. Comprehensive agenda is designed to meet the needs of 401(k) Plan Providers, Financial Advisors and Third Party Administrators.

Final EPCU Report: Final Form 5500 Return with Assets Project
"Over 90% of the responses showed that plan sponsors made errors when filing their Form 5500, mostly by: Checking the box indicating the return was 'the final return/report' when all assets were not distributed by the end of the plan year, or Not showing zero end of year assets when they had actually distributed all plan assets by the end of the plan year. For most of the cases, the EPCU was able to obtain compliance at various levels including securing: Delinquent returns (those due but not filed), and Amended returns." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

Final EPCU Report: Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuities (QJSA) Project
"The responses showed that mostly all of the sponsors in the sample were compliant with the QJSA notice and consent requirements. However, the EPCU did find a few plan sponsors that did not: secure spousal consent to the waiver of the QJSA, and/or have a plan representative or notary public witness the consent.... Some sponsors did not know that: direct rollovers need to comply with the QJSA requirements, and required minimum distributions (RMDs) are not subject to the QJSA requirements." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

Final EPCU Report: Money Purchase Pension Plan Contributions Project
"The Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) identified calendar year 2012 money purchase plans filing a Form 5500-SF as a small plan that reported no contributions and contacted a sample of the sponsors to determine the reason for the lack of contributions.... The majority of cases complied with the MPPP contribution requirement because they were either amended or set up with a 0% contribution formula. Some of the plans with no self-employment earnings or earned wages indicated that the participant(s) retired and they were holding the plan assets until they met one of the plan's allowable distribution events." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

Final EPCU Report: One-Participant Defined Benefit Plan Schedule SB Project
"More than 96% of sponsors responding had Schedules SB timely prepared and had retained them as required. Approximately 1% involved minor errors and we were unable to contact another 1%. Fewer than 2% warranted further review beyond the project." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

Final EPCU Report: Form 1099R-72(t) Project
"The majority of cases presented a valid exception to the 10% additional tax on early distributions or had timely rolled over the distribution. However, a substantial number of cases improperly noted an 'Other' exception to the 10% additional tax based on financial hardship alone resulting in amended return filings or referrals for additional review." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

Final EPCU Report: Hacienda Project
"In addition to continuing our partnership with the Puerto Rico taxing authority, the Hacienda, we recommended clarifying the instructions for the Form 5500 series return to provide a more detailed explanation of the Puerto Rico related pension feature codes.... Some sponsors provided incomplete or inaccurate addresses on the Form 5500 series return. Sponsors must provide correct information since they file the return under penalties of perjury and subject to other penalties Some sponsors incorrectly selected code 2C instead of 3C. Pension feature code 2C describes the money purchase plan, a type of defined contribution plan." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

Final EPCU Report: Virgin Islands Project
"The Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) designed the Virgin Islands Project (Project) to determine the level of compliance regarding Virgin Island plan sponsors on certain issues discovered during limited examinations of Virgin Island pension plans. The Project continues EPCU's focus on international issues involving pension plans maintained in U.S. Territories.... The responses showed that mostly all of the sponsors in the sample were compliant with their fidelity bonding and contribution deposit requirements." (Internal Revenue Service [IRS])

White House Budget Proposal Includes Many Retirement-Related Provisions
"If enacted as presented, the proposals would have a significant effect on current retirement-related tax incentives. The stated intention of the suggested changes is to simplify the Internal Revenue Code and use the resulting savings to pay for other reforms of the tax code. This [article] provides a summary of the retirement-related proposals[.]" (McDermott Will & Emery)

Silver City No More? Taunton's Reed and Barton Files for Bankruptcy
"Reed & Barton, the last and oldest silversmith company in a city still known as the Silver City, will cease all operations in Taunton [Massachusetts] no later than June.... Chief Executive Officer Tim Riddle confirmed Thursday that the 191-year-old family business had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ... Riddle blamed costly pension liabilities, ranging from $9.6 million to possibly $18 million, for sealing the fate of the historic business -- which since 1824 has been operating in [Taunton]." (Taunton Daily Gazette)

Illinois Enacts Retirement Program for Small Business Employees
"State interest in automatic IRA programs appears to be gaining traction and approximately 18 states (including, Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland and Oregon) have included the matter on their 2015 agendas for consideration. In the meantime, some employers seem to be leaning toward a federal policy, instead of varying state rules, to regulate an automatic retirement savings program. In Illinois, the program may not become effective if the U.S. Department of Labor determines that it is an employee benefit plan subject to ERISA or if it fails to qualify for favorable federal income tax treatment." (Barnes & Thornburg LLP, via Lexology)

Contribution Projections for New Jersey Public Employee Pensions
"Can New Jersey afford to annually pay $15.6 billion for a budget item that now stands at $700 million (in a good year)? Based on raw data provided by the state showing retiree monthly payouts for the years 2012 through 2014 (with partial data for 2011) that is what will need to be paid in 2024 to 423,000 retirees out of the state budget (the 'trust' fund having been long depleted by then) if the rate of growth on pension payouts from 2012 through 2014 continues. But that's still a best-case scenario." (Burypensions)

A Critical Appraisal of the Current State of ERISA Civil Procedure: How Courts Treat 'Civil Actions' Brought Under ERISA (PDF)
37 pages. "ERISA cases are uniquely adjudicated using procedures that deviate markedly from the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Surprisingly, since the Supreme Court has defined the meaning of 'civil action' on several occasions, ERISA cases are adjudicated more like administrative proceedings than other civil actions. Discovery is generally disallowed, and trials are essentially unheard of, while jury trials are simply out of the question.... [E]ven when claimants 'prevail,' victory is often hollow because rather than awarding benefits outright, courts generally remand claims for reconsideration by the same administrator that was found to have arbitrarily denied benefits. Neither the ERISA statute itself, nor the United States Constitution authorizes remands of ERISA cases; and the practice has proven problematic with respect to appellate review. Yet remands are today the norm in ERISA litigation." (Mark DeBofsky, via Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal)

How to Pick a TPA for a Nonqualified Plan: Seven Tips for Employers
"RFPs for nonqualified plans -- tax-deferred, employer-sponsored retirement plans that fall outside of ERISA guidelines -- are often triggered by mistakes made by a company's existing provider. Sometimes, a merger or acquisition forces a decision between two or more TPAs. And some companies just want to periodically test the market. Whatever the case, considering a change often involves a broader 'market' review." (CFO)

Case for Repealing the Investment Income Tax: Let Me Count the Whys
"Section 1411 of the Internal Revenue Code was inserted into the income tax system unannounced as an income tax. On the contrary, it was named as if it were a part of Medicare, and placed within the second of the two distinct acts which together have come to be called, colloquially, the Affordable Care Act.... [N]one of the proceeds of the tax are dedicated to the purposes of the [ACA], none of those revenues flows into the Medicare funds or contributes to Medicare in any way (its nomenclature as a 'Medicare contribution' notwithstanding), nor would section 1411 in any way impact the heath care provisions of the ACA were the tax to be repealed or ruled unconstitutional.... Little has been said in the legal literature, let alone in the broad press, op-ed commentary or public print generally, of the enormous complexity that this new statute has injected into the tax law of the Nation, and the inevitably resultant errors that will abound in all the places where its application will occur." (Alvin D. Lurie Esq.)

Qualified Plan Solutions, LC is Certified to Industry Best Practices Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

Dietrich & Associates Inc., Named a 2015 PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Adviser Dietrich & Associates, Inc.

U.S. Chamber Examines Potential Harmful Impact of Fiduciary Regulation on Investors U.S. Chamber of Commerce

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