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Employee Benefit Plan Voluntary Correction Programs: Fixing Costly Errors and Preserving Tax Benefits
January 24, 2018 WEBCAST
Clear Law Institute

Tax Reform and Your Employee Benefit Plans
February 2, 2018 WEBCAST
McDermott Will & Emery LLP

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Using Plan Assets to Pay 401(k) Fees? Reasons to Consider Payment by Plan Sponsor Instead
"Because so few 401(k) providers offer plan sponsors the opportunity to pay 401(k) administration fees themselves, many business owners don't know this option even exists. That's too bad because it's not just 401(k) plan participants that benefit when their employer pays 401(k) administration fees. Business owners also benefit by reducing their fiduciary liability, lowering their taxes, increasing their 401(k) returns and improving their plan's attractiveness to employees."
Employee Fiduciary

Fundamentals of Qualified Retirement Plans for 2018, Part 2

Join our webcast where John Griffin J.D., LL.M. will discuss Limitations on Contributions and Benefits, Compensation Definitions, General Nondiscrimination Testing, ADP/ACP Testing, Safe Harbor and Automatic Enrollment Plans. Register now!

New Excessive Fee Litigators Emerge
"The suit, which seeks class action status to represent more than 13,000 participants in the hospital's $714 million 403(b) retirement plan, accuses the plan's fiduciaries of committing what the defendants claims is 'one of the most common and well-known examples of an imprudent investment' -- purchasing a more expensive share class of a mutual fund when a less expensive share class is available. 'A prudent fiduciary does not make such an elementary mistake,' the plaintiffs state."
National Association of Plan Advisors [NAPA]

DC Retirement Plan Annual Deadlines, 2018 (PDF)
"[This] chart provides an explanation of key plan events and the deadline for each for Section 401(a) and 401(k) defined contribution plans with a plan year ending December 31, 2018. Off-calendar year plans should adjust the deadlines accordingly based on the time frames described in the chart." [The events in the linked chart are listed in the order of their deadlines. An alternate chart groups the events by topic (e.g., participant fee disclosures).]
VOYA Financial

Pensions Are Still Hiding from the Truth
"Funds have a choice to make when they set their return expectations ... [1] Shoot low, and require governments or companies to put more funding aside to fund the pensions, or [2] Shoot high and gamble on having strong enough returns to make up for under-funding their liabilities. Most funds have chosen the second option. This ... could lead to millions of retirees getting less than they were promised years from now when reality finally comes to call."
Young Research and Publishing, Inc.

Alcoa to Freeze U.S., Canada DB Plans by 2021
"Alcoa said it was making the changes to its defined benefit pension plans, and to other post-employment benefits, in a move to strengthen the company's balance sheet by reducing its liabilities. The company said that effective Jan. 1, 2021, salaried employees in the US and Canada will no longer accrue retirement benefits for future service under defined benefit pension plans. It added that the US and Canada account for Alcoa's largest portion of liabilities for pension plans and other post-employment benefits."
Chief Investment Officer [CIO]

Navigating the Compliance Challenges of Missing Participants

The DOL is coming ... Pension plan audits are on the rise with a specific focus on the Term-Vested population and RMD. Contact the pros at PBI to learn more about our new Term-Vested Audit & Remediation Service.

American Benefits Council Letter to Congress Supporting Legislation Permitting Open MEPs
"As the gig economy has grown, and gig workers continue to be largely uncovered by retirement plans, the time has come for all of us to act. Today, businesses cannot cover gig workers under their retirement plans because gig workers are not employees. But a new answer is right in front of us -- open MEPs[.]"
American Benefits Council

Will Work for No Benefits: The Challenges of Being in the New Contract Workforce
"[C]ontract work is booming, with 32 million Americans currently making their living that way. That trend is expected to accelerate over the next decade ... But that also raises big questions about the future of the safety net ... 51 percent of freelance and contract workers do not receive benefits common to many full-time jobs -- sick leave, unemployment insurance or retirement savings."
National Public Radio

Implications of the New Tax Law for Employee Benefit Plan Sponsors
"[1] The new tax law effectively eliminates the [ACA] individual shared responsibility penalty, but not until 2019. [2] Some changes were made to retirement plan rules, but many changes that were initially proposed did not make it into the final law. [3] The new tax law suspends from 2018 through 2025 the ability of an employer to deduct, and in some cases the employee to exclude from income, a number of fringe benefits. [4] A new employer tax credit was created for certain employers who provide paid leave under the [FMLA]."
Sibson Consulting

How the Tax Act Upsets the Dynamic Between the Board of Directors and the Executive Compensation Committee (PDF)
"From a corporate governance perspective, the significance of these new provisions carries the potential for recalibrating the relationship between the board and its executive compensation committee.... This is due not only to the new taxes being applied, but also due to ... the fact that [these provisions] are specifically targeted at executives of tax-exempt hospitals and health systems[.]"
McDermott Will & Emery, via BNA's Health Law Reporter

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: New Executive Compensation Rules
"Programs that were in place on November 2, 2017, and which therefore may be entitled to grandfathered treatment, cannot be 'materially' modified without losing that protection and becoming subject to the new rules. Until the IRS issues guidance concerning what constitutes a 'material' change, employers should approach such changes cautiously.... [E]xtending an option's exercise period, or altering the parameters of an incentive award, might be considered material changes."
Spencer Fane

Delaware Supreme Court Revives Lawsuits Over Directors' Compensation
"[W]hen stockholders have approved an equity incentive plan that gives the directors discretion to grant themselves awards within general parameters, and a stockholder properly alleges that the directors inequitably exercised that discretion, then the ratification defense is unavailable to dismiss the suit, and the directors will be required to prove the fairness of the awards to the corporation." [ In Re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation , No. 169, 2017 (Del. Dec. 13, 2017, revised Dec. 19, 2017)]
Winston & Strawn LLP

General Test Fails Despite Same Allocation to All Participants?
Plan has 2 participants. Participant A is an HCE because of ownership. He owns 100% of the company; salary is $50,000. Participant B is an NHCE and earns $100,000. I understand that the company can allocate a uniform dollar amount of profit sharing contribution among all accounts. Let's say the amount is $5,000 each... so that's 10% to HCE and 5% to NHCE. My administration software says the General Test fails! What to do? Not include the General Test at all in the reports, because the same dollar amount to everybody is a Safe Harbor definition?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Deadline to Set Up New Multiemployer DB Plan?
What is the deadline is for setting up a new multiemployer defined benefit plan? Example: Plan is intended to be effective July 1, 2017, and to be a calendar year plan. The employers all have fiscal years ending June 30. The plan is not finalized until January 20, 2018.
BenefitsLink Message Boards

After-Tax Contributions in Small Safe Harbor 401(k) Plan
Owner and spouse max out on pre-tax deferrals. They fund the basic safe harbor match. Owner exceeds 401(a)(17). Spouse makes $48,000. They're considering an amendment to the plan to add after-tax deferrals. Owner is attracted to the idea of contributing up to $73,000 per couple. They don't make a profit sharing contribution. Does the after-tax contribution kill this opportunity?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

Reduction in QNECs Required When an Election Form Is Misplaced?
A reduction in QNECs is required under EPCRS when a participant is not given the opportunity to defer. Does this apply when an election form is misplaced?
BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Press Releases

Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors, LLC is Certified for Fiduciary Excellence Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

Lockton Retirement Expands Nationally Lockton

Renaissance and Security Mutual Expand Insurance Product Lines Through Joint Agreement Renaissance Life and Health Insurance Company of America

OneAmerica Associates Help Local Boys and Girls Clubs Celebrate Birthdays OneAmerica

Voya Financial Premieres its Personalized Account Videos for Retirement Plan Customers Voya Financial

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