"The information on Form 5498 is submitted to the IRS by the trustee or issuer of your individual retirement arrangement (IRA) to report contributions, including any catch-up contributions, required minimum distributions (RMDs), and the fair market value (FMV) of the account."   MORE >>

"Four key parts of the annual 401(k) compliance tests ... What's on the tests? ... Grading the 401(k) ACP test ... There's more than math to these tests ... About those after-tax contributions ... Fixing a failed ACP test."   MORE >>

"This decision ... may cause uncertainty in future withdrawal liability disputes by putting at issue how, why, and when a plan actuary changes such a crucial assumption, and whether information provided to a plan actuary after the year-end measurement date was influenced by knowledge available after the measurement date. The decision also creates a circuit court split on an issue that has nationwide impact on employers that contribute to multiemployer funds, and the funds themselves." [ Trustees of IAM National Pension Fund v. M & K Emp. Sols., LLC , No. 22-7157 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 9, 2024)   MORE >>

"The SEC's order finds that TC Services violated [Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI)] by, among other things, failing to disclose both that substantially equivalent, lower-cost share classes of affiliated funds were available in the brokerage window and the conflicts that created. According to the SEC's order, more than 94 percent of TIAA IRA customers invested only through the core menu. As a result, nearly 6,000 TC Services retail customers paid more than $900,000 combined in expenses that they could have avoided by purchasing substantially equivalent funds through the brokerage window."   MORE >>

"The owner was willing to contribute 5% of pay for his eligible staff.... [S]even different [plan] designs ... resulted in total owner contributions that varied from $17,250 to $76,500, based on the compensation cap and contribution limits applicable for the current year. In other words, there were far more dramatic differences in the results than the owner thought possible."   MORE >>

"[This article provides] an analysis of a specific de-risking issue for 2024: how higher 2023 interest rates may affect sponsor decisions to de-risk (or not de-risk) defined benefit plan liabilities via a lump sum window in 2024."   MORE >>

"Just 1 in 5 Americans earned a passing grade on a financial literacy quiz ... [Y]ears of educational efforts on the part of the advisory industry and retirement service providers appear to be falling short of their goals.... There are actionable outcomes from the survey. What's more, literacy is not necessarily 'the' driver of good outcomes, but it is associated with other key factors in improved outcomes, including the presence of an advisor."   MORE >>

"[K]ey risk management issues that plan sponsors should consider before including an in-plan annuity within their plan ... [1] Duplicative tax benefits ... [2] Lack of an ERISA requirement ... [3] Impact on participant fees ... Transparency and disclosure are the financial services industry's kryptonite. Such lack of transparency and disclosure is often deliberate to hide the conflicts-of-interest and unnecessary complexity ... Plan sponsors need to remember this in dealing with stockbrokers and insurance agents."   MORE >>

"The [IRS] provides standard mileage rates as optional methods for taxpayers to substantiate their transportation expenses. This Insight reviews how the standard mileage rates are set, who uses them, and a history of the rates." [IN12320 Feb. 16, 2024]   MORE >>

"The final rule adopts a multifactor economic realities test and returns to the pre-2021 totality-of-the-circumstances approach to determining whether a worker is properly classified as an employee or as an independent contractor. Classification under the final rule depends on 'whether the worker is economically dependent on the potential employer for work.' "   MORE >>

"Should a compensation committee ... want to explore alternatives to simplify their designs, here are some examples. [1] Eliminate LTI awards and provide only salary and annual incentives, but require a significant portion of the annual incentive to be deferred into restricted stock ... [2] Eliminate LTI and provide only salary and restricted stock, with shares vesting over a multi-year period. [3] Grant only one form of performance-based long-term incentive to reduce complexity. [4] Grant only stock options that provide a clear pay for performance relationship with shareholder returns, [5] Simplify the number of performance measures used in both annual and LTI awards."   MORE >>