Retirement Plans Newsletter

June 14, 2017

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Employee Benefits Jobs

Distribution Processor / Administrative Associate
Nicholas Pension Consultants
in CA

TPA Sales Consultant
Benetech, Inc.
in CA, DC, MD, TX, WA

Senior Account Analyst
Nolan Financial
in MD, TN, Telecommute

Pension Administrator
EJReynolds, Inc.
in FL

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Webcasts and Conferences

Basics of Cross-Testing
RECORDED
ASC

Correcting Failed Coverage & Nondiscrimination Tests
RECORDED
ASC

Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later: How Not to Run an Employee Benefit Plan
RECORDED
ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits [JCEB]

Current ESOP Events
June 27, 2017 WEBCAST
National Center for Employee Ownership [NCEO]

Benefits & Breakfast: Fiduciary Governance
June 30, 2017 in PA
Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Equity Compensation and Executive Compensation Issues for Partnerships and Other Privately Held Business
July 25, 2017 WEBCAST
ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits [JCEB]

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Discussions

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New Comments and Topics

All Topics , Grouped by Forum


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[Official Guidance]

Text of PBGC Interest Rate Update for Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans, July and Third Quarter 2017
"The third quarter 2017 interest assumptions under the allocation regulation will be 2.44 percent for the first 20 years following the valuation date and 2.74 percent thereafter.... The July 2017 interest assumptions under the benefit payments regulation will be 1.00 percent for the period during which a benefit is in pay status and 4.00 percent during any years preceding the benefit's placement in pay status."
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC]

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Does Front-Loading Taxation Increase Savings? Evidence from Roth 401(k) Introductions (PDF)
43 pages. "Using administrative data from eleven companies that added a Roth contribution option to their existing 401(k) plan between 2006 and 2010, [the authors] find no evidence that total 401(k) contribution rates differ between employees hired before versus after Roth introduction, which implies that take-home pay declines and the amount of retirement consumption being purchased by 401(k) contributions increases after Roth introduction.... Results from a survey experiment suggest two behavioral explanations: [1] employee confusion about and neglect of the tax properties of Roth balances and [2] partition dependence."
Harvard University and NBER

Claim of Miscalculated Military Leave Pension Contributions Can Go to Trial
"[T]he appellate court found that FedEx may have miscalculated [the employee's] contributions.... [He] claimed on appeal that FedEx should have calculated his military leave hours using the average of the hours he worked during the 12-month look-back period. The appellate court ruled that Savage had stated a legitimate issue that a jury would have to decide and reversed the judgment of the district court." [ Savage v. Federal Express Corp. dba FedEx Express , No. 16-5244 (6th Cir. May 10, 2017)]
Society for Human Resource Management [SHRM]

New Questions for Church-Affiliated Organizations After Supreme Court Addresses ERISA Church Plan Exemption
"Although Stapleton provides church-affiliated organizations with more freedom from ERISA's requirements, the decision raises new questions: What organizations are sufficiently church-affiliated to qualify as principal-purpose organizations for the exemption? ... Will plaintiffs pursue alternative state-law claims against church plan? ... Will Congress take action to narrow the church-plan exemption?" [ Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton , No. 16-74 (U.S. June 3, 2017)]
Lane Powell PC

Supreme Court Decision Offers Some Relief to Church-Affiliated Nonprofits Using ERISA Church Plan Exemption
"[C]hurch affiliates relying on the principal-purpose organization basis to classify their plans as church plans should review their plan governance structure to ensure that they can show that their plans are maintained by an organization that is controlled by or associated with a church and that has the principal purpose of overseeing employee benefit plans of churches or church affiliates. Control of a principal-purpose organization by a church can be shown by a church's control over the appointment of the organization's manager or majority of board members. Association with a church is a subjective analysis that considers whether the organization shares common religious bonds and conventions with that church." [ Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton , No. 16-74 (U.S. June 3, 2017)]
Ford & Harrison LLP

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A simple, illustrative guide for pension plan sponsors.

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How Outstanding Retirement Plan Advisors Help CFOs Mitigate the Adverse Effects of Workforce Aging on Company Financials (PDF)
"Strategies involve implementing High Deductible Health Plans and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and altering the retirement plan design.... [E]mployers that do not partner with an outstanding advisor are more likely to resort to early retirement programs ... Among employers who partner with an outstanding advisor, more than four in five have rolled out automatic enrollment to new AND existing employees."
Retirement Advisor Council

Thoughts and Questions on the DOL Fiduciary Rule and Its Impacts
"[M]ost of the problems exist when a person tries to wear two hats. In the end, you either represent the manufacturer of a product well (in an arms-length relationship, typically), or you represent the client well (as a fiduciary).... Do the factors you apply in selecting investment products (to implement your strategy) flow from either common sense or do they possess academic support? Are you examining all of the fees and costs of the fund at hand? Are you comparing the product to all others in the marketplace?"
Ron A. Rhoades, JD, CFP

[Opinion]

Why an RIA's Willingness to Get Fired by Clients Is a Mandatory Mindset
"Advisors prove their worth when they make good advice happen bolstered by the implicit, and sometimes explicit, threat that if something's gotta give, it's the advisor's lucrative arrangement with the client. You have two choices: Take my advice or fire me.... It's always been good business yet because of the DOL rule, managed assets under fiduciary care are set to skyrocket. It'll be better for advisors to grow a spine today than explain in court why they didn't later down the road."
RIABiz

Executive Compensationand Nonqualified Plans

Why Proper Disclosure of Executive Perks Is Important (PDF)
"Between 2009 and 2014, [MDC Parners Inc.] disclosed in its proxy statements some, but not all, of the perquisites paid to [former CEO, Miles S. Nadal] and on his behalf. The estimated $11.285 million worth of perquisites that MDC failed to disclose included private aircraft usage, club memberships, cosmetic surgery, yacht- and sports car-related expenses, jewelry, charitable donations, pet care, and personal travel expenses.... The SEC not only took action against MDC as an issuer, but also against Nadal individually since his compensation was not fully disclosed.... The SEC penalties may not be MDC's or Nadal's only legal problem."
King & Spalding

Discussions onthe BenefitsLink Message Boards

Tax Treatment of 'Supplemental Compensation' to Owner After Retirement
"One of the owners is retiring. The company has decided to pay him $50,000 per year for 10 years after retirement. If he dies during that time, the payments would continue to his spouse. The accountant says it will be taxable income but not subject to FICA or FUTA. Is that right?"
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Different Eligibility Provisions for Different Job Classes
"I know a plan can have secondary eligibility for people hired after a certain date, but can it have different eligibility provisions depending on job class? For example, bank tellers would be eligible to enter the plan after three months of service while loan officers would need to wait one year and have at least 1,000 hours of service."
BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Lois Baker, J.D., President
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor and Publisher
Holly Horton, Business Manager

BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter, ISSN no. 1536-9587. Copyright 2017 BenefitsLink.com, Inc. All materials contained in this newsletter are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., or in the case of third party materials, the owner of those materials. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notices from copies of the content.

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