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As more 401(k) plan participants look for retirement savings options that resemble traditional pensions, the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has proposed exempting DC-to-DB rollovers from maximum guarantee and five-year phase-in limits. The agency in early April proposed regulations that would amend its rules on allocation of assets and benefits payable in terminated single-employer plans to clarify […]
IRS on April 4 said rules that do not distinguish between same- and opposite-gender married couples in tax and federal retirement plan provisions will be in effect retroactive to June 26, 2013. This date is when the U.S. Supreme Court held in U.S. v. Windsor, S. Ct. 2675 (2013) that the lack of recognition of […]
A series of new decisions in Tussey v. ABB Inc. handed down by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 19 brought good news about allegations of excessive fees for all parties—the suing retirement plan participants, the employer plan sponsor and especially the administrator, Fidelity. The ruling did not provide a clear judicial […]
After hearing concerns from the retirement plan industry, the IRS issued modifications on March 25 to its pre-approved program for 403(b) plans, in Revenue Procedure 2014-28. These welcome changes will provide another year — until April 30, 2015 — to apply for the program and will increase the number of entities that can take advantage […]
How a company complies with health care reform should be determined by what kind of employer it is, how exclusive its workforce is, and how important its benefit package is seen as an aid to recruitment and retention. Only after that analysis should an employer look at whether gains can be made by, say, reducing […]
Employers struggling to decode the service provider fee disclosures from their retirement plans may be getting some relief. Nearly two years after the U.S. Department of Labor published a proposed rule requiring covered service providers to disclose the cost of what they do for employer-sponsored 401(k)s, the agency is requesting more help for plan sponsors […]
A federal appeals court agreed with a retirement plan plaintiff that he did not have to show “actual harm” to seek a retirement plan reformation after alleged inadequate communication about a change in his former employer’s defined benefit plan. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Geoffrey Osberg and other plaintiffs in Osberg […]
While most U.S. retirement plan participants age 60 or older move their assets out of employer plans within five years of leaving a company, they often don’t touch the funds for years after that, a new report by money manager Vanguard found. As a result, Vanguard suggests to plan sponsors, this tendency of older terminated […]
Employers may not feel much of an administrative burden from the new “starter” retirement savings accounts announced Jan. 28 in President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, but those opting to participate should be prepared for employees’ questions about the My Retirement Account or “myRA” program ahead of its launch late this year. While […]
A new type of “starter” retirement savings account for smaller balances that’s backed by the federal government but administered by employers was promised by President Barack Obama in his 2014 State of the Union address on Jan. 28. The president said he would use an Executive Order to direct the U.S. Treasury Department on Jan. […]