We are receiving requests from a few multiemployer pension clients to estimate their withdrawal liability as they contemplate getting out of the pension business. One common problem that these clients experience is that the withdrawal liability they get from the pension fund is not as current as they thought it would be. For example, a […]Read More… from Timing of Multiemployer Plan Withdrawal Liability Estimates
We’re starting to see a lot of interest from prospective cash balance plan (CBP) clients as we march towards the end of 2010. Small and midsize businesses are attracted to the large retirement deduction opportunities of CBPs. After explaining the technical details of these plans, prospective clients invariably ask the question: What are the fees […]Read More… from Cash Balance Plan Fees
One of the advantageous provisions of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) is that it removed some technical obstacles limiting the ability of certain plan sponsors to make large deductible contributions to their defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) retirement plans. The issue in question is the overall “25% of compensation” limit which is intended […]Read More… from Paying for PBGC coverage
In the retiree benefits world, there is a general consensus that several provisions in the Patient Protection and Access to Care Act (PPACA) may cause employer sponsors of retiree health plans to rethink those programs. These changes include: – Filling of the Part D “doughnut hole” (2010-2020) – Guarantee issue insurance with no pre-existing condition […]Read More… from PPACA Starting to Impact Retiree Health Plans
Despite the DOL’s rejection of a previous request by the American Benefit Council for automatic extension of time to file the 2009 Form 5500 until December 31, 2010, the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) has filed a similar request with the DOL and IRS. With less than two weeks until the filing […]Read More… from Another 5500 Extension Appeal
The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297) passed the Senate last week and is expected to be signed into law by the President. As we mentioned in a previous post, there are a couple of retirement plan changes included in this bill. They include: – Add a Roth option for 457(b) plans. This […]Read More… from Roth 401(k) Rollover Bill Update
Freezing a defined benefit (DB) pension plan has become common practice over the past decade. Plan sponsors give many reasons for freezing the DB plan, but one of the most common is that the funding requirements are too expensive and volatile. In a recent article, two actuaries from Milliman dissected a sample pension freeze and […]Read More… from To Freeze or Not to Freeze (A Pension Plan)
The IRS/SSA Reporter newsletter (Fall 2010, page 2) provides some preliminary details regarding the new Form 8955-SSA which will be used by employer-sponsored retirement plans to report participants with deferred vested benefits. This new filing is effective for 2009 plan years and replaces the Form 5500 Schedule SSA. Some highlights from the newsletter: There will […]Read More… from Form 8955-SSA Update
Employers (large and small) will want to be aware of a provision included in a Senate jobs bill last week: the potential to allow eligible rollovers from a traditional 401(k) plan into a Roth 401(k) plan. Business Insurance has a good summary of some of the details, and here are some of the highlights: The […]Read More… from Roth 401(k) Rollover Changes
A quick update on the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP): Over the past few months, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been busy gearing up for the implementation of the ERRP. As you may recall from our earlier posts (1, 2, 3), this is a program that’s part of the larger healthcare […]Read More… from ERRP Reimbursement and Website Update
