NICHOLAS J. WHITE, October, 2018 Research shows that student loan debt is now second only to mortgages in consumer debt. More than 44 million Americans owe collectively $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, with the average student in the Class of 2016 owing over $37,000. Many of these individuals cite their outstanding student loans (or […]
Retirement Plans
ANGEL L. GARRETT and EMILY L. GARCIA, October, 2018 In January 2017, we informed you that fiduciaries of 12 university retirement plans had recently been hit with lawsuitsalleging defendants breached their fiduciary duties to their 403(b) retirement plans by offering what plaintiffs described as overly expensive, poorly performing funds, and/or by allowing their plans to […]
J. MARC FOSSE and ANGEL L. GARRETT, January 11, 2018 New section 83(i) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) permits eligible private corporations1 to adopt qualified equity grant plans for issuing stock options or restricted stock units (RSUs) to eligible employees to obtain “qualified stock” (as defined below) in exchange for the performance of […]
YATINDRA PANDYA and JAHIZ NOEL AGARD, December, 2017 On November 24, 2017, the Department of Labor (DOL) delayed the applicability of the final rule which revises the regulations governing disability benefit claims (the “Final Rule”) to April 1, 2018, from the original January 1, 2018, effective date. Published in the Federal Register on December 19, […]
CALLAN G. CARTER, December 27, 2017 I talked with Diane Wasser of EisnerAmper LLP, a national certified public accounting firm with a practice group specializing in the audit of retirement plans, about common issues that Diane and her team discover during their audits of retirement plans. Diane is the Partner-in-Charge of the firm’s Pension Services […]
J. MARC FOSSE, December 27, 2017 The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) recently signed into law affects many employer-provided benefits and employee compensation, beginning as soon as next week. This alert highlights the affected benefits and provides a short summary of how the Act will change the tax treatment of those benefits and […]
J. MARC FOSSE and YATINDRA PANDYA, December 20, 2017 On December 8, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) released Notice 2017-75 (the “Notice”), which provides limited relief from certain penalties under section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for tax payment distributions from a Code section 457A nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement (a […]
KEVIN E. NOLT, November 2017 Recent guidance by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) impacts the funding rules applicable to defined benefit pension plans. As described below, the guidance changes the mortality tables used for minimum funding (and other) purposes and the process used to modify a plan’s funding methods. We recommend that plan sponsors and […]
SHANNON OLIVER, November 2017 On October 19, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2017-64, containing the cost-of-living adjustments applicable to retirement plan limitations under the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). These changes will take effect on January 1, 2018, and are based on the fact that the Consumer Price Index increased by 2.2% last year. […]
ADRINE ADJEMIAN, August 2017 On Thursday, August 31, 2017, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) published a proposed extension of the transition period and applicability date for the fiduciary regulation’s (the “Fiduciary Rule”) best interest contract exemption (the “BICE”) and the principal transaction exemption. The DOL proposed amendment would also extend the applicability date of […]
ARIEL GAKNOKI, June 2017 There have been numerous instances of high-profile cybercrime cases over the past couple of years spurring lively discussions in the ERISA community about the potential threat this type of crime poses to plan assets and personal data of plan participants and beneficiaries. Except when there has been a high profile […]
T. KATURI KAYE, June 2017 On May 18, 2017, California State Treasurer John Chiang and Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) issued a press statement announcing that California remains on track to implement the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program (“Secure Choice” or the “Program”), a state-sponsored program requiring employers that […]
NICHOLAS WHITE, ROBERT GOWER and ADRINE ADJEMIAN, May 2017 Following months of uncertainty stemming from a February 3, 2017, Presidential memorandum ordering the Secretary of Labor to conduct a review of the final fiduciary advice regulatory package (the “Final Rule”), including a 60-day delay in its applicability date, it seems all but certain the […]
BARBARA PLETCHER, February 2017 On December 28, 2016 (at the end of the Obama administration), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1 (IB 2016-1) to document DOL views regarding shareholder rights such as voting of proxies and shareholder activism/ engagement. This Interpretive Bulletin also addresses maintenance of and compliance with investment […]
FREEMAN L. LEVINRAD, January 2017 On January 18, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) broadening the definition of employer contributions that will qualify as qualified nonelective contributions (“QNECs”) and qualified matching contributions (“QMACs”). This broadened definition allows for the use of forfeitures to fund QNECs and QMACs. QNECs […]
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