PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Back to the Future: SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0
NOWOTNY KNOWS SQUAT! Part IV Using Post-Retirement Medical Plans to Raise AUM and Sell Life Insurance
NOWOTNY ON DEATH AND TAXES EPISODE 35 USING POST-RETIREMENT MEDICAL PLANS TO RAISE AUM
KNOCK YOURSELF OUT - RESUSCITATING TAXPAYERS WITH BUYER'S REMORSE!
Coronavirus-Related Retirement Plan Distributions, MPPPs, and Governmental 401(a) Plans
Blakes Continuity Podcast: COVID-19: The Regulatory Impact on Pensions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2019 Year-End Checklist
From the 2010 outset of its project to extend ERISA fiduciary status broadly to financial intermediaries, including insurance agents, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has consistently relied on the evolution of the private...more
The June Monthly Minute highlights recent DOL guidance on annuity provider selection for defined benefit plans and IRS Q&As that provide details on SECURE 2.0’s optional emergency and domestic abuse victim distributions for...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has finalized, together with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the third and final round of revisions to the Form 5500 Annual...more
As part of our ongoing series on SECURE 2.0, this post discusses three significant changes to corrections of common retirement plan errors: (1) New rules for correcting overpayments, (2) expansion of the Self-Correction...more
The principles governing how ERISA plans determine a participant’s beneficiary haven’t changed much since the country singer George Strait sang “Write this down” in 1999. In short, the participant has to write it down … on...more
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations on benefits and contributions for retirement plans generally effective for Tax Year 2022 (see IRS Notice...more
Days are getting longer, temperatures are getting warmer, plants are looking greener, schools are letting out, Brood X cicadas are emerging…it can only mean one thing…5500 season is approaching. However, unlike the...more
Deadlines are a large part of employee benefit plan administration. The past 12 – 18 months have contributed to potential confusion about standard deadlines and added new deadlines plan administrators will not want to...more
IRS Notice 2020-35 is a follow-on to Notice 2020-23 that provided for a wide range of pension filings and actions that were otherwise due between April 1 and July 14, 2020 that were extended until July 15, 2020. ...more
As previewed in our prior blog post, the recently enacted SECURE Act includes many changes that affect employer-sponsored benefit plans and require the attention of plan administrators. Among these changes, effective for...more
On March 6, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2019-18 (Notice), announcing that it is retracting its previous position that prohibited pension plan sponsors from offering lump-sum cashouts to retirees who...more
After a long period of relative stability enjoyed by sponsors of qualified retirement plans, several significant modifications have been made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Act), following closely on the heels of...more
Last year, in Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a special type of “church plan,” intended to be exempt from Title I of ERISA and many Internal Revenue Code requirements, does not...more
Employer-sponsored retirement plans come in many varieties. For example, under 401(k) and other defined contribution plans, employees and, often, employers may make specific contributions to an employee’s plan account...more
Throughout my career as an ERISA attorney, I’ve come across actuarial third party recordkeeping firms that push the envelope in cash balance and defined benefit plan designs. I can’t forget the actuaries who still push for...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) publicized last year its stepped up enforcement efforts inquiring about procedures used by larger defined benefit plans for locating, and then beginning payment of benefits to, terminated...more
Until recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor (DOL), and federal courts seemed to agree that a retirement plan established and maintained by a church-affiliated organization generally qualified...more
Bundled vs. Unbundled 401(k) Plan Providers: The Choice Is Not Clear. Not an easy choice. In our lives, there are times when we have two important choices. It's Coke vs. Pepsi, Mac vs. PC, Xbox vs. PlayStation...more
Editor's Overview - As the summer draws to a close, this month's Newsletter previews three cases that the U.S. Supreme Court already has agreed to hear that ought to be of particular interest to ERISA plan sponsors and...more
Major Revisions to Qualified Plan Determination Letter Process Announced - Effective January 1, 2017, the staggered five-year determination letter remedial amendment cycles for individually designed plans will be...more
The IRS issued Notice 2015-49 (the "Notice") on July 9, 2015, effectively ending the ability of sponsors of qualified defined benefit pension plans ("DB Plan") to "de-risk" their plans by offering participants in pay status...more
On July 9, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2015-49 to announce it intends to prohibit retirees who are receiving annuity payments from a defined benefit pension plan from electing a lump sum in lieu of the...more
Two federal appeals courts issued contradictory rulings on the validity of subsidies for the purchase of health insurance under the federal marketplace established pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On July 22, a...more
The practice of offering lump-sum distributions has become increasingly popular among defined benefit plan sponsors looking to decrease volatility or other defined benefit plan risks. In some situations, plan sponsors offer...more
"Church plans" are pension plans (including defined benefit or defined contribution plans) exempt (without an irrevocable election) from many of the legal requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)...more