The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
Under Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), the SEC imposes a best interest standard on account recommendations by broker-dealers. This is because recommending an account type is viewed by the SEC as recommending an investment...more
7/21/2023
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fiduciary ,
Investment ,
Investment Adviser ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Regulation Best Interest ,
Regulation BI ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Let’s take a break from my SECURE 2.0 series of articles to discuss what is going on with the DOL’s fiduciary rule.
As background, in the preamble to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02, the DOL re-interpreted...more
In 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02 to provide an exemption to most prohibited transactions resulting from nondiscretionary fiduciary advice to retirement plans...more
5/30/2023
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Florida ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
PTEs ,
Retirement Plan ,
State and Local Government
Most employees who work for large and mid-sized employers have the opportunity to defer money from their paychecks into a savings-based retirement plan. That is not the case with many small employers, though, where large...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
5/8/2023
/ 401k ,
Biden Administration ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Credits
Starting with tax years beginning after December 31, 2022, a small employer can take advantage of significant tax credits under SECURE Act 2.0 (the “Act”) for establishing a new retirement plan. Under the Act, the tax...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
The Broker-Dealer Regulation & Litigation Digest is a periodic compilation of the most read blog posts published on the Broker-Dealer Law Blog during the last few months. Here you can catch up on what you missed or re-read...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
Prior to the SECURE Act 2.0 the only financial incentive for a participant to make a deferral was a matching contribution.
However, the new law permits “de minimus” non-cash incentives for beginning participation or...more
The Department of Labor (the DOL) expanded its interpretation of fiduciary advice in its guidance issued in connection with Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2020-02. As a result, many more broker-dealers and registered...more
3/23/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Florida ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Registered Investment Advisors ,
Retirement Plan ,
State and Local Government
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
3/14/2023
/ Business Expenses ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employer Contributions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Small Employers ,
Startups ,
Tax Credits
The current DOL fiduciary rule says that a broker-dealer and its registered representatives (advisors) are fiduciaries to a plan under ERISA if a functional 5-part test is satisfied. This same 5-part test applies to...more
2/22/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
IRA Rollovers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Regulation ,
PTEs ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Retirement Plan
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
2/6/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Deferred Contributions ,
Employer Contributions ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Plan Participants ,
Repeal ,
Retirement ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act ,
Taxation
The SECURE Act 2.0 permits plan sponsors to give participants the option of receiving employer contributions on a Roth basis.
This provision is effective on the date of enactment, December 29, 2022.
However, the...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022. SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some mandatory and some optional; some...more
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022—the “enactment date”.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor; some are mandatory and...more
Registered investment advisers, including dual registrant broker-dealers (collectively “advisers”) who provide discretionary investment management services to individual retirement accounts (IRAs), are fiduciaries under the...more
1/17/2023
/ Broker-Dealer ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Standard of Care
The President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included SECURE Act 2.0, on December 29, 2022—the “enactment date”.
SECURE Act 2.0 has over 90 provisions, some major and some minor. One of the most...more
Now that 2022 is behind us, the final steps in compliance with PTE 2020-02 must be satisfied. Those steps are (i) conducting the annual retrospective review and the resulting report (within six months) and (ii) correcting any...more
Both the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) include prohibited transaction provisions that literally prohibit certain transactions (unless exempted by statute or by a...more
The Department of Labor considers a rollover recommendation to be a recommendation to liquidate the investments in a participant’s 401(k) account or to transfer (and change) securities.
In addition, as explained in...more