The SECURE Act: Significant Changes for Retirement Plans and IRAs
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – DOL: What’s ahead
While many provisions of SECURE 2.0 apply to various types of retirement plans, including 403(b) plans, this update will focus on those provisions of the Act that apply only to 403(b) plans....more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has finalized, together with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the third and final round of revisions to the Form 5500 Annual...more
A federal court in Wisconsin recently allowed a putative ERISA class action in Lucero v. Credit Union Ret. Plan Ass’n to proceed to discovery on the claim that a 401(k) plan paid excessive recordkeeping fees. This decision...more
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the long-awaited Secure Act 2.0 of 2022 (Secure Act 2.0 or the Act), adding another round of major retirement plan changes to those made by the first Setting Every...more
The non-statutory labor exemption might help some employers. On January 5, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission issued a proposed rule that, if implemented, would ban nearly all post-employment covenants not to compete...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced changes to Form 5500. For Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs), new codes have been added to Line 8a of Part II to identify different types of MEPs, such as pooled employer plans,...more
On July 6, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued the Final Rules (Final Rules) implementing the Special Financial Assistance Program (SFA) enacted by Congress as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021...more
The recently published final regulation implementing last year’s massive multiemployer pension plan bailout contains a very thin silver lining, but overall, more bad news for already overburdened employers....more
It’s no secret that the statutory deck under ERISA is stacked heavily in favor of multiemployer pension plans (MEPPs) and against employers contributing to (or withdrawing from) Taft-Hartley trust funds....more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of March 20, 2022 – March 26, 2022... March 21, 2022: The IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2022-07,...more
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released their final revisions to the Form 5500 and the Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan for the 2021 plan...more
I have worked with several associations in setting up a multiple employer plan (MEP) and even more associations that didn’t want to start one. ...more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final regulation (Final Rule) on December 29, 2021, updating the 2021 Form 5500 to reflect certain statutory changes included in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement...more
Although variable annuity pension plan (VAPP) designs have been permissible for decades, they have not yet seen widespread adoption—particularly in the Taft-Hartley multiemployer plan space. This post provides a brief...more
Multiemployer pension plans are collectively bargained defined-benefit employee benefit plans that are funded by several unrelated employers for the benefit of unionized employees. In recent years, the crisis of significantly...more
Many employers in the retail, construction, service, entertainment, manufacturing and transportation industries contribute to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans (MEPs) on behalf of their unionized employees. A large...more
Whether it’s a single employer plan, a multiple employer plan (MEP), a pooled employer plan (PEP), or a plan provider, they can always be a target for ERISA litigation....more
With January 1st past us, we knew that many plan providers were going to launch Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs). I know, because I helped launch four and still in the process of converting two multiple employer plans (MEPs) into...more
Multiple employer plans (MEPs) have become larger targets for litigation when they achieve a plan of substantial size....more
Even before COVID-19 changed everything, unions and participating employers held out hope for federal assistance for severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans, which threatened the payment of retirement benefits across...more
If I got $5 for every time an advisor or other plan provider told me they had an in with an association, I’d probably have enough to pay my mortgage. The problem. Having an in doesn’t mean that advisor or plan provider can...more
If there is one famous quote that’s landed me in trouble, it’s one from my favorite football coach Bill Parcells. Parcells was coaching the New England Patriots and he wasn’t getting along with the new owner Robert Kraft...more
I rarely talk about legislation because so many bills over the years get proposed with zero action by Congress. It took more than 4 years for Roth 401(k) plans to be a thing. However, I want to take time to talk about...more
In terms of the 401(k) plan business, I think the hype over pooled employer plans (PEP) will be the most over hype since the release of Crystal Pepsi....more
I'm a big fan of business history when it comes to brilliant business moves, as well as some pretty awful ones. In terms of bad business decisions, I always find it amusing when I can spot one when it's made and I could see...more