"Plans that may want to avoid the LTPT rules by allowing all employees to make elective contributions immediately may find that, if they don't act quickly, some of their employees are already LTPT employees.... [U]nder the proposed regulations ... the plan will have to continue treating them as LTPT employees and vest after 500 hours even though other employees will not be credited with years of service for vesting purposes until they attain 1,000 hours."   MORE >>

"[S]end required notifications to all participants, including fee disclosures, benefit statements, and the summary annual report.... Remind your employees of their benefits ... Audit employee information.... Ensure required deposits are made by the deadline.... Keep well-organized records ... Review plan fees for competitiveness."   MORE >>

"While certain fiduciary duties only arise every several years such as contract negotiations and RFPs, many other duties entail regular attention and ongoing review such as regularly monitoring the performance of investment funds and diligently keeping minutes of fiduciary actions."   MORE >>

"SECURE 2.0 ... allow[s] sponsors to use a 'reasonable projection' of how plan assets are expected to perform, with that reasonable projection capped at 6%.... This new guidance helps alleviate concerns sponsors had on a variety of compliance-related fronts minimum participation rules, accrual rules, non-discrimination testing, and maximum benefits."   MORE >>

"[Proposed] legislation requires the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to coordinate financial regulators' response to threats to the stability of the markets posed by AI ... S 3554 would also require FSOC to identify gaps in existing regulations and exam standards that could hinder effective responses to AI threats and implement specific recommendations to address those gaps."   MORE >>

"Estimated competitive retiree buyout cost, as a percentage of accounting liability, decreased by 10 bps from 101.9% to 101.8% during November."   MORE >>

"[M]any prominent and influential public pension actuaries are rejecting this opportunity to educate their clients and the public about how much worse the funding of public pensions is versus what's commonly reported. Instead, these actuaries have aligned with major public pension advocacy groups in developing a toolkit as part of a campaign to help actuaries and public officials divert attention from the significance and implications of the new figure."   MORE >>

"[R]ecent hearings on the DOL's proposed fiduciary rules generated more heat than light because most participants failed to note that the word 'fiduciary' means and requires different things in different contexts.... [C]hanging the definition of ERISA-fiduciary to encompass virtually anyone who makes a recommendation about retirement savings is not an effective way to help consumers. It would actually water down the meaning of 'fiduciary' by forcing its application to salespeople who are not fiduciaries in other contexts."   MORE >>

28 pages. Reminders include: [1] Form W-4P and Form W-4R; [2] Disaster tax relief; [3] Moving expense reimbursements; [4] No federal income tax withholding on disability payments for injuries incurred as a direct result of a terrorist attack directed against the United States; [5] Electronic submission of Forms W-4 and W-4P; [6] Electronic submission of Forms W-4R, W-4S, and W-4V. MORE >>

"A funding policy can help achieve and sustain the long-term financial health of a pension or OPEB plan, especially by offering stability and guidance to decision making in periods of extreme economic volatility. A funding policy should be consistently applied, but it should also allow for the possibility of revisions should the need arise. Establishing and adopting a funding policy is one aspect of good governance."   MORE >>

"The agenda now includes the August 2023 Request for Information (RFI) entitled 'SECURE 2.0 Reporting and Disclosure' ... Two items also stemming from SECURE 2.0 have advanced to the Proposed Rule stage on the agenda.... Two proposed rules have advanced to the final rule stage.... Other items on and off the agenda."   MORE >>

"The disclosure regime under the rule would have made it more difficult for corporations to initiate a buyback program on the basis that their stock was undervalued. Similarly, the rule would have revealed if buyback programs were motivated by executive compensation schemes related to stock pricing." [ U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. SEC , No. 23-60255 (5th Cir. Dec. 19, 2023)]   MORE >>

"Approaches ... for down or volatile stock prices include harvesting capital gains and tax losses.... [O]ther strategies involve converting pre-tax IRAs to Roth IRAs.... [W]hen stock prices are down 'there may be opportunities such as exercising more incentive stock options (ISOs) without triggering the AMT.' ... Multi-year planning is key ... to consider whether to exercise stock options this year or next, and to know what RSUs are vesting or performance share grants may pay out."   MORE >>

"What is a phantom stock plan? ... Why is phantom equity more preferable than actual equity for a company? ... When should a company offer a phantom stock program? ... When should a company not offer a phantom stock program? ... How does a phantom stock plan work? ... How is the value of a phantom stock unit determined? ... When is payment of the value in the phantom stock made to the executive? ... What are the tax implications of phantom stock?"   MORE >>