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
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
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of April 24, 2022 – April 30, 2022... April 25, 2022: The IRS issued a news release, soliciting...more
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) published a final rule (Final Rule) on September 9 providing that effective January 1, 2021, it will use the interest and mortality assumptions under Internal Revenue Code...more
The Internal Revenue Code requires plan administrators of qualified retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans and ESOPs), 403(b) plans, and eligible 457(b) plans maintained by a governmental employer to...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of December 16 – 20, 2019. December 16, 2019: The IRS released a notice extending the phase-in...more
The Internal Revenue Service announced on Wednesday, November 6, that several contribution limits in qualified retirement plans will increase next year. The IRS announced the increases as part of an annual adjustment for...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Many of the limitations that apply to tax-qualified plans, including 401(k) plans, are subject to cost-of-living increases. The IRS just announced the 2020 limits. 401(k) plan contribution limits are...more
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue announced the 2020 dollar limitations for benefits and contributions that apply to retirement plans. Most limits have increased, while a few remained the same. The Social Security...more
Due to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) change in course published in Notice 2019-18, plan sponsors may now offer retirees lump-sum windows as another pension “de-risking” option. Plan sponsors considering pension de-risking...more
Defined benefit pension plans can be troublesome for sponsoring employers to maintain. The long-term liability for funding pension benefits coupled with unpredictable investment returns creates volatility. Companies...more
Given that a variety of qualified retirement deadlines are approaching, we thought a refresher on the subject would be helpful, especially for plans that utilize a calendar plan year. This article is intended to alert plan...more
One de-risking tool for employers with defined benefit pension liabilities is to allow participants to receive lump-sum distributions. Although lump sums result in a short-term cash drain, they reduce the plan’s long-term...more
Pension plan sponsors have been looking for opportunities to manage their growing pension liabilities for many years now. In 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) closed the door on sponsors who were considering offering...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
An independent physician practice that does not have access to a hospital’s retirement plans has several retirement plan options to consider. Doctors who are employed by hospitals will usually be able to participate in the...more
On April 7, 2017, the IRS issued a memorandum relating to cash balance retirement plans. A cash balance plan is a defined benefit pension plan which looks like a defined contribution plan because participants have individual...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued its annual update regarding dollar limitations on contributions and benefits applicable to tax-qualified retirement and welfare plans for 2017. ...more
A qualified retirement plan (hereinafter a “Plan”) must satisfy the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) in form and in operation. In other words, the documents establishing and governing the Plan must satisfy...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has recently implemented an initiative to investigate the manner in which defined benefit plans of large employers comply with the required minimum distribution rules set forth in Section...more
In Notice 2015-53, the IRS provided updated static mortality tables for use by defined benefit pension plans under Section 430(h)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code. The new tables apply for purposes of calculating the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued two significant notices for employers that sponsor defined benefit pension plans, particularly those considering lump-sum windows as a “de-risking” option for their plans....more
Many defined benefit plan sponsors are looking for ways to reduce the on-going liability and the volatility of the annually required contributions to their defined benefit plans, which is sometimes referred to as...more
On July 21, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Announcement 2015-19 (the Announcement), which ends the five year remedial amendment cycles for individually designed plans effective January 1, 2017. For remedial...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