PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What a Relief! 403(b) Plan Developments
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
DOL Clarifies Timing of Lifetime Income Disclosures in Benefit Statements
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Back to the Future: SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0
Three Timely Benefits Items Everyone Should Know
Videocast: Asset management regulation in 2020 videocast series – SEC enforcement
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Student Loan Benefits
Pension-Linked Emergency Savings Accounts (“PLESAs”) are a special retirement plan feature created under SECURE ACT 2.0. PLESAs were first permitted to be made available to participants as of January 1, 2024. PLESAs, which...more
The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance on various aspects of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, commonly referred to as SECURE 2.0. Below is a summary of key provisions...more
This newsletter provides updates employers should be aware of heading into 2024, including an outline of the updated 2024 retirement and welfare plan limits, instructions related to the “gag order” attestation requirements...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) significantly changes the legal and administrative compliance landscape for U.S. retirement plans. Foley & Lardner LLP is authoring a series of articles that take a “deep dive” into key...more
Collective investment trusts (“CITs”) have become an increasingly popular choice for 401(k) plan investment menus over the past decade, consistent with a trend toward lower-cost investment options that has been driven, in...more
The wait is over for SECURE 2.0, a long-awaited (and debated) package of retirement plan reforms. Today, Congress passed the “SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022” as part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act; President Biden is...more
The DOL published on July 27, 2022 a proposed change to the QPAM Exemption (“Proposed QPAM Amendment”) that may require retirement plan sponsors to update their collective trust agreements in order to satisfy the new DOL...more
Since 1996, the US Department of Labor granted more than 1,200 individual exemptions from the ERISA prohibited transaction rules. One of the distinctive features of ERISA is its prohibition, in ERISA section 406 as a...more
Participants do not always prefer the investment choices retirement plans offer. Whether participants want additional ways to diversify their portfolios or have other reasons, participants are asking retirement plan sponsors...more
Carlton Fields tax attorney Lowell Walters discusses three timely employee benefits issues: using employee benefits to reduce expenses; helping retirement plan participants in an inconsistent investment market; and, the...more
The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will...more
On December 20, 2019, after months of uncertainty, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act finally became law. The SECURE Act makes numerous changes to both the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and...more
On Thursday, December 19, the Senate passed two spending bills to fund the government through September 30, 2020, one of which (H.R. 1865, the “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020” or the “Act”) contains the...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019. The SECURE Act (the “Act”) is intended to incentivize employers to offer retirement plans, promote additional...more
On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (the “Appropriations Act”), a comprehensive government funding bill that includes substantial employee benefits-related...more
The Ingredients Of A Good Retirement Plan - It's in the sauce. Like cooking and baking, the key to a good retirement plan lies in the main ingredients. The main ingredients for a good retirement plan isn't a secret,...more
Much has been written about the Department of Labor’s final rule regarding disability benefit claims procedures (the “Final Rule”), which took effect on April 2, 2018. And by now, most employers – and all disability insurance...more
The landscape surrounding retirement plans maintained by institutions of higher education has been changing in recent years, although certain critical responsibilities that are imposed on plan sponsors have been in place...more
I always say that as bad as 401(k) plans may be, 403(b) plans are in much worse shape. It didn’t help that the Internal Revenue Service only issued regulations that governed them only 30 years too late, back in 2008. It also...more
Once upon a time, our retirement plan worries were primarily generated by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DoL”) or the Internal Revenue Service and their regulatory and enforcement efforts. In more recent times we have seen...more
In January 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that final regulations affecting how some ERISA plans process claims and appeals will apply beginning April 1, 2018. As explained below, the final regulations...more
In the past 10 years, there have been an increasing number of lawsuits asserting Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) fiduciary claims. These have been accompanied by an increased focus by the Department of...more
After a brief hiatus, Proskauer's ERISA Newsletter is back with a brand new look. We hope you like it and find it is easier to navigate. In addition to implementing our new format, we have moved to a quarterly publication...more
Most employers are generally aware of their fiduciary status as a “plan sponsor” of an ERISA-governed retirement plan (e.g., 401(k) and 403(b) plans). In fact, the employer’s hiring of a service provider is in and of itself a...more