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AFC Pensions, Inc.
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Protecting Fiduciaries: Insurance, ERISA Bonding, and More
February 15, 2018 in NY
Worldwide Employee Benefits Network [WEB] - New York Chapter

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Text of 2017 Instructions for IRS Form 5500-EZ: Annual Return of One-Participant (Owners and Their Spouses) Retirement Plan (PDF)
Dec. 28, 2017. "What's New: ... The Principal Business Activity Codes, located at the end of these instructions, have been updated and revised to reflect updates to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)." [Also available: 2017 IRS Form 5500-EZ ]
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

Comprehensive answers to your retirement plan questions.

Our TAG experts have on average over 25 years of experience so you get your questions answered -- quickly. With TAG you also get access to a fully searchable database of over 4000 FAQs, quick reference tools and charts, and daily news. Learn more .

IRS Announces Changes to Voluntary Correction Program Fees
"Plan sponsors considering whether to submit an application under the VCP will need to factor in the changes in fees ... IRS confirmed it will not [1] apply the new fee structure to submissions made prior to Jan. 2, 2018, or [2] issue refunds for submissions made before Jan. 2, 2018, that are withdrawn and then resubmitted."
McGuireWoods

PBGC Finalizes Regulation Revising Missing Participant Program
"While the PBGC program only applies to terminating/terminated plans and there is no comprehensive guidance on the treatment of missing participants under ongoing plans, PBGC's (and DOL's related) guidance for terminated plans is in some respects, e.g., the definition of when a participant becomes 'missing' and what constitutes a 'diligent search,' considered by many to provide a framework for the treatment of missing participants under ongoing plans."
October Three Consulting

Tenth Circuit Diminishes Ability to Challenge Church Plan Status of Healthcare Organization's Retirement Plan
"The Tenth Circuit analyzed these open issues by answering three questions: [1] Is the entity offering the plan a tax-exempt nonprofit organization associated with a church? [2] If so, is the entity's plan maintained by a principal-purpose organization? That is, is the plan maintained by an organization whose principal purpose is administering or funding a plan for entity employees? [3] If so, is that principal-purpose organization itself associated with a church?" [ Medina v. Catholic Health Initiatives , No. 16-1005 (10th Cir. Dec. 19, 2017)]
Seyfarth Shaw LLP

401(k) Fees: Best Practices for Plan Sponsors
"Based upon guidance from the DOL, you should conduct an RFI or RFP process every three to five years for the providers you work with.... Use lowest-cost share classes ... Make sure you offer the right investment options ... Perform an annual investment fund review ... Evaluate service provider fees each year ... Consider replacing an advisor with an investment adviser ... Distribute required fee notices ... Seek balance in all things."
Lawton Retirement Plan Consultants

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Optimizing Retirement Income by Integrating Retirement Plans, IRAs, and Home Equity (PDF)
144 pages. "[T]he authors present a framework of analyses and methods that financial advisers, financial institutions, plan sponsors, and retirees can use to compare and assess strategies for developing lifetime retirement income.... [M]any middle-income workers will fall short of retirement income goals commonly advocated by financial planners.... The authors also identified one straightforward strategy that can be reasonably implemented in virtually any IRA or 401(k) plan without purchasing an annuity."
Stanford Center on Longevity

Tax Reform and Your IRA: Five Things You Need to Know
"[1] Recharacterization of Roth IRA conversions is gone.... [2] Rothification is not ready for prime time....yet.... [3] Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) are more valuable than ever.... [4] Medical expense exception to the 10% penalty is expanded.... [5] Long live the stretch IRA."
Slott Report

Proposed RETIRE Act Promotes Electronic Delivery of Retirement Plan Information
"The Receiving Electronic Statements To Improve Retiree Earnings (RETIRE) Act [ H.R. 4610 ] would allow plan administrators to use electronic delivery as the default delivery method for virtually any required plan document. Participants and beneficiaries could still opt to receive paper copies of this information."
Ascensus

Tax Expenditures for Retirement Plans
"Congress provides tax breaks for retirement plans as a way of encouraging employers and workers to save for retirement. Because retirement seems remote to many workers, people will often give priority to more immediate needs. Retirement tax expenditures provide incentives for employers to create retirement plans for their employees, and for employees to save for themselves through workplace plans and through IRAs."
Pension Rights Center

Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions for Q3 2017
"For the 100 largest public-employee pension systems in the country, assets (cash and investments) totaled $3,691.1 billion in the third quarter of 2017, increasing by 2.8 percent from the 2017 second-quarter level of $3,590.7 billion. Compared to the same quarter in 2016, assets for these major public-pension systems increased 9.0 percent from $3,386.4 billion."
U.S. Census Bureau

American Benefits Council Submits Recommendations for Standardized and Automatic Disaster Relief
"[We] encourage the Agencies to work together to develop their own standardized and automatic inter-agency disaster relief system for employer-provided benefits that can be triggered by a single announcement. For example, ... PBGC could agree to automatically make available certain relief, like extended premium deadlines, to employers already covered by the IRS's automatic disaster tax relief press release system. Similarly, DOL could agree to not treat any person as having violated Title I of ERISA solely for utilizing disaster tax relief offered by the IRS or PBGC." [Similar letters also sent to IRS and PBGC .]
American Benefits Council

Impact of Compensation-Related Litigation on Public Companies
"[C]ompanies must analyze the applicable facts and circumstances in order to determine whether a benefit is a perquisite, and significant gray areas remain.... Companies should review their award agreements and resolutions relating to net share settlement or share tax withholding provisions to ensure compliance with the Section 16 rules."
Skadden

Executive Compensation Performance Metrics Will Change Under Tax Reform
"To shareholders and compensation committees, it makes sense to shield financial performance measures from the tax change. However, the tax deductibility of executive compensation -- and/or the accounting for executive compensation -- could negatively affect the company."
Financial Executives International Daily

Deductibility of Contribution Made in Error
Profit Sharing Plan has a last day rule for allocation eligibility. Employer wanted to make a flat 3% contribution to all employees, so he plugged a formula into payroll and contributed 3% to each participant every pay period. A participant terminated during the year, and therefore didn't meet the allocation requirement to receive the profit sharing contribution. The profit sharing was paid out with his distribution. Can the employer deduct that overpayment?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Rollovers Made, But No Provisions in Plan Document
Back in 2008 a pension plan was terminated and some of the participants elected to roll over their balance to the 401(k) plan. Now it's determined that the 401(k) plan document doesn't provide for rollovers. How to fix?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Plan Provision Violated (Only One Loan at a Time Per Participant)
A 401(k) plan limits participants to one outstanding plan loan at any given time. Last year a participant took out 2 plan loans. Is this an operational failure? How is this corrected? VCP?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Early Distribution Penalty for This Loan Default?
Participant defaults on loan on March 31. Participant then turns 59-1/2 on July 1. 1099-R is issued after end of the year. Early distribution penalty?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Press Releases

Ascensus Announces Agreement to Acquire Polycomp Trust Company and Completion of Provident Trust Group Acquisition Ascensus

ECFC Welcomes New Board Members ECFC [Employers Council on Flexible Compensation]

Reinhart?s Philip O?Brien appointed Chair of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professionals Committee Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren S.C.

New Edition of ?Rescuing Retirement: A Plan to Guarantee Retirement Security for All Americans? Published by Economist Teresa Ghilarducci and Blackstone President Tony James Blackstone

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