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?Fiduciary Responsibility: Case Studies, Questions and Answers"
January 16, 2018 in CA
Western Pension & Benefits Council - San Diego Chapter

What You Need to Know about Practicing before the IRS
January 17, 2018 WEBCAST
IRS Office of Professional Responsibility

Tax Reform Impact on Your Company?s Compensation & Benefits Arrangements: The Public Company?s Perspective
January 11, 2018 WEBCAST
Baker & McKenzie

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Text of 2017 IRS Publication 915: Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits (PDF)
32 pages. "This publication explains the federal income tax rules for social security benefits and equivalent tier 1 railroad retirement benefits.... This publication covers the following topics. [1] Whether any of your benefits are taxable. [2] How to report taxable benefits. [3] How much is taxable. [4] How to treat lump-sum benefit payments. [5] Deductions related to your benefits, including a deduction or credit you can claim if your repayments are more than your gross benefits."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Online Learning Course: Fiduciary Responsibilities for ERISA Plans

Understand the requirements of ERISA, including penalties, vesting requirements, fiduciary responsibilities, plans covered by the PBGC, and the roles of the various enforcement agencies.

IRS Reduces Fees to Encourage Employers to File VCPs for Qualified Plan Errors
"The new VCP fees are based on the assets of the plan instead of its participants and are capped at $3,500.... Note that certain types of errors were previously eligible for reduced VCP fees. For example, a VCP covering only a small number of loan failures for non-key employees was eligible for a reduced fee of as little as $300. Most of these special fees have now been eliminated so that the [new fee schedule] will apply to most VCPs."
Mazursky Constantine LLC

PBGC Final Regs Expand Coverage of the Missing Participants Program
"The final regulations: [1] Expand the program to cover terminated defined contribution plans, small professional service defined benefit plans with 25 or fewer participants, and multiemployer plans covered by Title IV. The expanded program is voluntary for defined contribution and small professional service plans. [2] Streamline and reduce the burdens of the program for terminated single-employer defined benefit plans, which were already covered under the program."
Thomson Reuters Practical Law

How to Obtain or Re-Establish an EIN for a Retirement Plan Trust
"Retirement plan trustees shouldn't use the plan sponsor's EIN for their retirement plan trust.... To obtain an EIN for a retirement plan trust, the plan trustee or practitioner can either apply online, or mail or fax Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number to the IRS."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Will the Association Health Plans Regs Open the Door for 'Association MEPs'?
"It is highly unlikely that the DOL will be able to hold the line now against MEPs formed through associations meeting the criteria outlined [in the proposed regulations], or what I call 'AMEPS' (for 'Association MEPs'),... [T]here are likely to be a number of changes to the proposed regs before they become final, and there really are a number of issues related to the proposal which need to be answered.... [At] the very least, it does give us a strong basis to advocate the same treatment for association MEPS as AHPs. And for this, no statutory change would be needed."
Business of Benefits

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Mitigating Factors in Calculating a 403(b) Plan's Maximum Payment Amount Under CAP
"There are formally 10 different factors under EPCRS which the IRS takes into account when proposing the sanction amount. One of those elements ... is the 'Maximum Payment Amount' (the MPA).... This number in the 401(a) world can be a very large number -- even for a small plan -- especially when taken over a number of years. But it's interesting to see the effect on a 403(b) plan going through this process:"
National Tax-Deferred Savings Association [NTSA]

Accumulating Tax Deferrals in a Small-Employer DB Plan (PDF)
"[An illustration] shows how contributions to a defined benefit pension plan produce a net financial gain for the business owners with conditions that typically apply for a closely held business.... The employee group consists of two owners, both age 50s, with 10 non-owner employees having a wide range of compensation, past service, ages, and other factors.... The business owners hold $399,044 that otherwise would have been taken from their Form W-2 Wages or Earned Incom had they not diverted these amounts through a tax qualified defined benefit pension plan; and, they retain an extra $125,000 each year to fund pension benefits for the employee group including the owners."
H.C. Foster & Company

The Unexpected Resiliency of Assets During Retirement
"[On] average across all wealth levels, most current retirees still have 80% of their pre-retirement savings after almost two decades in retirement. Digging deeper, across all wealth levels measured, more than one third of current retirees actually grew their assets -- leaving a considerable amount of money on the table."
Seeking Alpha; free registration may be required

DOL Extends QPAM Relief to Five Financial Institutions
"As a result of the breadth of the QPAM disqualification, many large financial institutions have had to seek DOL relief in recent years. The five financial institutions that received the recent extended relief are JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup, Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, UBS Assets Management and Barclays Capital, Inc. and the length of the extensions range from three to five years."
Mayer Brown

Section 162(m) After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: What to Do Now
"Companies will have more freedom to design executive compensation programs that address pay for performance without complying with the strict rules of the qualified performance-based compensation exception under Code Section 162(m).... Companies may consider implementing longer vesting schedules for equity awards or extending the timing for cash payouts of awards or other compensation ... by spreading the payments over multiple years in an attempt to fit within the annual $1 million threshold[.]"
Skadden

Hardship Distribution Allowed When Plan Administrator Is Aware of Potential QDRO?
Participant is going through a divorce. Plan administrator has been contacted by the spouse's attorney regarding information on the participant's 403(b) account. Currently, there is no QDRO, although it's likely that one is coming. Participant claims she needs to take a hardship distribution from the plan. Is that permitted when the plan administrator knows that the participant's spouse may be entitled to a share of the account due to a potential QDRO?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Plan Must Honor Probate Court's Order 'Reforming' a Beneficiary Designation?
Our 401(k) plan just received a consent order from the state probate court ordering the reformation of a deceased participant's beneficiary designation from the estate to the trusts of the participant's three children. I've seen PLRs on this topic (e.g., 201628005) with respect to IRAs; the IRS has said "no" to reformation in the context of RMDs under IRC section 401(a)(9). Has anyone come across this? How did you proceed?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Error in Automatic Enrollment: 6% Deferred But Only 3% Requested
A participant in a 401(k) plan with automatic enrollment e-mailed her initial enrollment on 12/18/17 to her payroll department. She requested 3% deferral. The payroll administrator missed the e-mail and auto enrolled the participant at 6%. Payroll was processed on 1/2/18. So the participant's deferral was 3% more than requested. The plan does not allow for distributions when opting out of automatic enrollment. She also received a higher match as a result of the error. I know what to do if the deferral was missed, but in this case the deferral is too much. My thoughts are to keep the deferral as processed and make sure payroll is updated.
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