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19th Annual Fall ESOP Conference - On the Search for ESOP Knowledge
August 22, 2018 in KS
ESOP Association

ftwilliam.com's Regional One Day Conference
September 6, 2018 in DC
Wolters Kluwer

Plan Corrections: Fixing the Broken Plan Workshop
October 19, 2018 in OH
FIS Relius Education

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New Topics on the BenefitsLink Message Boards

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Text of IRS Final Regs: Definitions of Qualified Matching Contributions and Qualified Nonelective Contributions

"[On] January 18, 2017, the Treasury Department and the IRS ... proposed to amend Section 1.401(k)-6 to provide that amounts used to fund QMACs and QNECs must be nonforfeitable and subject to distribution limitations in accordance with Section 1.401(k)-1(c) and (d) when allocated to participants' accounts, and to no longer require that amounts used to fund QMACs and QNECs satisfy the nonforfeitability requirements and distribution limitations when they are first contributed to the plan. As a result, forfeitures would be permitted to be used to fund QMACs and QNECs.... [A]fter consideration of all the comments, the proposed regulations are adopted without substantive modification."
Internal Revenue Service [IRS]

SALGBA Regional Conference for public sector benefit professionals

SALGBA is holding a Regional Conference August 20-21 in Huntsville, AL. The conference is being hosted by the City of Huntsville. More information please visit www.salgba.org .

Legal Risks Associated with Lost Participants

"The [DOL] has asserted that a plan's inability to locate terminated participants can constitute a breach of duty on the part of the plan's fiduciaries, in violation of ERISA. Lost or missing participants can also lead to plan disqualification risks; for example, if 'required minimum distributions,' mandated under the Internal Revenue Code, cannot be made." Bond, Schoeneck & King

Missing the Match

"How does an employee miss the match? First, by not signing up to make a deferral out of their salary. Secondly, and most importantly, by not understanding the matching contribution that the employer is making on their behalf and how it is calculated.... [A] plan participant can miss the match ... by deferring too much out of each pay period early in the year in order to maximize their deferrals early on." TriStar Pension Consulting

Why Median Is Better Than Average When It Comes to Retirement Plan Account Balances

"[T]he average account balance statistic is a worthless number for most.... [It] is often heavily biased by a small concentration of mega-sized account balances at the top of the distribution.... A far better figure to use to determine the health of a plan is the median, which would be the middle number in the distribution of account balances.... The reason why some recordkeepers don't use the median in touting their retirement plan results? In most cases, it does not make them look very good." Cammack Retirement Group

How to Gauge Retirement Plan Effectiveness

"[It's] essential for sponsors to have a good idea of what makes their plan attractive (or not), how to measure it and the overall impact on employee satisfaction. Here's how to start tracking your retirement plan -- and its effect on the bottom line.... Perhaps the easiest metric to use in gauging overall plan success is participation rate.... A high contribution rate is a clear sign that the retirement savings plan offering is seen as valuable.... Perhaps the single most insightful piece of data available to plan sponsors though is what's often dubbed retirement readiness." PlanPILOT

AT&T Plan Hit With Class Action Over Early Retirement Benefits

"Two former employees allege AT&T owes them about $316,490 combined in early retirement benefits they should have received between their attainment of age 55 and the date they filed their pension application in 2017 ... They seek to represent between 40 and hundreds of individuals who may be entitled to retroactive, unreduced benefits under a 1997 plan amendment." Bloomberg BNA

Fidelity Backs Away from Being 'Point in Time' Fiduciary for 401(k) Plans

"Fidelity Investments no longer will serve as a fiduciary when it helps employers select investments for their 401(k) plans, moving away from a policy the firm adopted last year in response to the [DOL's] fiduciary rule.... Fidelity was the only record keeper that said it would adapt by providing services as a fiduciary under the new regime ... However, given the DOL rule's fate, the level of investment guidance is again considered non-fiduciary under ERISA, and Fidelity has distanced itself from the 'fiduciary' label as a result." Pensions & Investments

Text of Amicus Brief to 10th Circuit, in Support of Stable Value Fund Providers in Fiduciary Litigation

"The growth of stable value offerings has been an enormous boon to sponsors and participants, helping to safeguard retirement benefits for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, Plaintiff would turn one type of these valuable products into a magnet for wasteful litigation. Treating general account stable value fund providers as functional fiduciaries would severely curtail stable value funds and potentially drive those providers out of the market entirely. Such an outcome is not just bad policy but also bad law[.]" [Teets v. Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co., No. 18-1019 (10th Cir. July 17, 2018)] American Benefits Council

DailyVest and GuidedChoice Partnership Embodies Plan Health Trends

"At the start of 2017, 40% of firms within the Retirement Plan Monitor -- Institutional coverage set offered some sort of plan health tool.... Today, 73% of RPM-I firms offer a plan health tool or provide plan-health-specific data on plan sponsor sites. Firms looking to offer these resources often look to third-party vendors, such as fintech and analytics provider DailyVest, to integrate established platforms rather than build proprietary ones." Corporate Insight

New ERISA Regulations for Disability Claims and Appeals

August 13 webinar will explain what new practices to follow, how to change past practices to become compliant with the new regulations, and the risks of non-compliance. Discount for BenefitsLink readers .

Supreme Court Lets Stand Holding That Parties Under DOL Investigation Can Expressly Waive Time Limits on ERISA Claims

"The Court declined to review a holding of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit dealing with how much time the DOL has to initiate a civil action under ERISA. In denying a petition for certiorari, the Court left intact a holding that the statutory limit on DOL's window of time to initiate ERISA claims can be waived by the party under investigation." [ Secretary, U.S. Dept. of Labor v. Preston , No. 17-10833 (11th Cir. Oct. 12, 2017; cert. denied June 25, 2018)]
Eversheds Sutherland

Employee Benefits Apps Enhance the Employee Experience and Boost ROI

"How can HR be certain employees fully understand, appreciate and utilize their benefits? One way is to introduce an employee benefits app to provide fingertip access 24/7. Mobile access to benefits ... [1] Makes benefits accessible for employees ... [2] Increases employee engagement ... [3] Boosts employee retention ... [4] Consolidates data to contain costs." Hodges-Mace, via HR Dive

IRS Proposed Regs Modify Electronic Filing Requirement for Information Returns

"Under the proposed regulations, all information returns, regardless of type, must be taken into account to determine whether a person meets the 250-return threshold for the electronic filing requirement. Further, a person required to file information returns electronically would be required to file corrected information returns electronically. The new rules ... will not apply to information returns required to be filed before January 1, 2019." Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

SEC Provides Disclosure Relief, Considers Employee Stock Purchase Rules

"The SEC voted ... to provide disclosure relief for certain securities offerings related to employee compensation, and to seek public comment on ways to modernize its rules for employee stock compensation. Rules adopted [July 18] raised the threshold for the aggregate sales price or amount of securities sold in compensatory arrangements that require an issuer to deliver additional disclosures to investors ... from $5 million to $10 million for any 12-month period." Journal of Accountancy

SEC Eyes Equity Compensation Changes for 'Gig Workers'

"The SEC solicited public comment on potential changes to the regulator's treatment of equity compensation, tied to the emergence of the 'gig economy.'... Explaining the thinking behind its call for commentary, SEC highlights that equity compensation can be an important component of the employment relationship." planadviser

Rev. Proc. 90-49 Available Here? Sponsor Put Too Much into Trust for Termination Annuity Purchases

DB Plan subject to Title IV is terminating. Shortly before the termination date, the employer contributed way more than the amount ultimately needed to purchase the necessary annuities and pay lump sums (either high 6 figures or very low 7 figures). Can Rev. Proc. 90-49 be used in this situation to secure a disallowance of the deduction? 90-49 seems to be limited to a situation where the plan sponsor had made excess quarterly contributions towards minimum funding. Am I reading it too narrowly? BenefitsLink Message Boards

Testing for Existence of a Partial Plan Termination; Large Group of Employees Fired for Dishonesty

Plan has 100 participants. All had become participants on the effective date of the plan. Let's assume 6 year graded vesting. Two years in, everyone is 20% vested. Early in the third year, the employer fired 25 employees for dishonesty. Assuming the plan population has stayed at 100, is this a partial termination? In determining the ratio, since these terminations are employer initiated, it would seem like we would have 25 on top and 100 on the bottom. If it's a partial termination, must the plan vest the 25 dishonest former employees 100% in their accrued benefits? I would guess so, but it doesn't seem fair. BenefitsLink Message Boards

DOL Philadelphia Region Asking Plan Sponsors to Use VFCP Due to Issues Spotted on Forms 5500

Appears that DOL Philadelphia Region has started another round of letters inviting participation in VFCP based on transgressions reported on 5500s filed "within the past 2 years" ( sample attached ). They're also offering free webinar workshops on VFCP that are open to all and are well worth attending.
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MPS Loria Financial Planners, LLC Certified for Fiduciary Excellence Centre for Fiduciary Excellence [CEFEX]

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