The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has already approved financial assistance to 32 troubled multiemployer retirement plans under the Interim Final Rule released in July 2021. The PBGC asserts that as of October 4, 2022, it has approved over $7.7 billion...
A new employee has a variety of forms to complete when hired. One of the most important forms new employees must complete is a beneficiary form for the company’s retirement benefit plans. It is essential the plan sponsor provide a beneficiary form to keep on file upon...
The IRS requires several annual nondiscrimination tests for defined contribution retirement plans, and the top-heavy test is one of those. A retirement plan is top-heavy when, as of the last day of the preceding plan year (the determination date), the total value of...
On June 3, 2022, the IRS announced a pilot pre-examination retirement plan compliance program beginning in June 2022. Under the pilot program, the IRS will notify a qualified retirement plan sponsor by letter that their retirement plan has been selected for an...
Retirement plan record retention rules are found in both the Department of Labor (“DOL”) Regulations and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), plus there are statutes of limitation concerns in relation to retirement plan sponsor liability for...
In July 2020, the IRS announced employers with pre-approved defined contribution retirement plans (401(k), profit-sharing, and money purchase plans) will need to have their retirement plan documents rewritten within the next two years. The deadline to do so is July...
Department of Labor (DOL) rules require that employers deposit retirement plan participant deferrals as soon as administratively possible. For small retirement plans (under 100 participants), this is typically a timeline of 7 business days. Large retirement plans (100...
A common operational failure for retirement plans is when plan sponsors fail to apply the correct definition of compensation for retirement plan testing and benefit allocation purposes. Using an incorrect compensation total can impact the average deferral percentage...
The first step for enrolling new participants in your retirement plan is to determine their eligibility and entry date. Per your retirement plan document, determine the age and service requirements to enter the retirement plan. Once employees have met all...
What Are Controlled Groups and Controlled Group Rules?Controlled group rules exist to prevent business owners from subdividing their company into two separate companies - one employing highly compensated employees (HCEs) with a retirement plan and the other employing...
Code section 402(g) limits the amount an individual can defer to a 401(k) plan during a calendar year, and it applies at an individual level, not at a plan level. An individual’s elective deferrals are the sum of all pretax and Roth deferrals to a 401(k) plan plus any...
To Bond or Not to Bond, That Is The QuestionMany public employer sponsors of pension and/or Other Post-Employment Benefit (OPEB) plans are considering issuing taxable Pension Obligation Bonds (POB) as a way of closing any funding gaps that might exist in their...