The Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) conducted a Voluntary Compliance Follow-Up project to determine if plan sponsors completed the corrections they agreed to in their Voluntary Correction Program (VCP) compliance statements. When you find errors in your plan’s form or operation, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) encourage you to fix them using one of their
The Internal Revenue Service announced October 23, 2014 the cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2015. Many of the pension plan limitations will change for 2015 because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. However, other limitations will remain unchanged
As detailed in an article by Greg Stohr, 401(k) Fees at Issue as Court Takes Edison Worker Appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider giving 401(k) participants more power to sue their plans over investments that impose excessive fees, accepting an appeal tied to a wave of suits against employers. The appeal, filed by Edison International
The DOL recently issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2014-01 which details procedures fiduciaries should take to find missing participants and properly distribute account balances. The Bulletin suggests that fiduciaries use certified mail, check related plan and employment records, ask the designated plan beneficiary, and search the Internet to find missing participants. Fiduciaries should consider more expensive approaches
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) publicly released on July 29, 2014 a report on managed accounts in defined contribution plans. Below is the summary of the report (GAO-14-310). Why GAO Did This Study 401(k) plan sponsors have increasingly offered participants managed accounts— services under which providers manage participants’ 401(k) savings over time by making investment and
Congress has passed, and the President is expected to sign, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 (the Act). Included in the Act is a revenue-raising provision which expands the use of 25-year smoothing for pension plan funding purposes. The Act should provide some funding relief to many defined benefit plans, although special rules
Rules provide for greater security by giving American families more flexibility to plan for retirement and protect themselves from outliving their savings On July 1, 2014, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued final rules regarding longevity annuities, which can help retirees manage their savings and ensure they