DOL Update Participant Fee Disclosure Deadline Extended During second quarter, the DOL released final regulations to permanently extend the annual participant fee disclosure time frame, effective this year. The original regulations require plans to provide a disclosure of plan and investment information, including an investment comparative chart, to participants once every 12 months. The first [...]
401k Supreme Court Update Ongoing Fiduciary Duty to Monitor Plan Investments Under ERISA, the plan fiduciary (typically the plan sponsor or a plan committee) has a fiduciary obligation to monitor plan fees and pay only reasonable fees from plan assets. The DOL has focused significant attention on this fiduciary responsibility through its fee disclosure mandates. In [...]
401k Legislative Update State-Based Retirement Plan Initiatives While Congress has been unable to reach a consensus regarding whether automatic IRAs should be mandated for employers that do not offer retirement plans, a number of states have moved forward on this initiative, passing their own state-based retirement savings programs. Recently, 26 Senators wrote a joint letter to [...]
Whether your 401(k) plan currently offers this feature or its addition to the plan is just being considered, why not take the following quiz to test your knowledge of this provision that continues to grow in popularity? Test Yourself on Roth 401(k): The income limits that apply to Roth IRAs also apply to Roth 401(k) [...]
IRS UPDATE IRS Tips on Correcting Plan Mistakes The IRS has compiled a list of common plan mistakes it encounters during examinations and in its voluntary correction programs. It may be helpful for plan sponsors to be familiar with these common mistakes and IRS tips for self-correction to avoid making similar mistakes. On the IRS [...]
Investment Menu: Best Practices Due to regulatory changes, market instability and large numbers of investment options, plan sponsors have been devoting more attention to their plans’ investment menus. A recent commentary from Vanguard identifies five best practices to assist plan sponsors in evaluating their menus while effectively communicating their plans to participants. To develop a [...]
Sponsors of 401(k) plans have been permitted to amend their plans to accept Roth (after-tax) contributions since 2006. Plan participants can benefit from having their Roth contributions grow with tax-free earnings, and their contributions can be distributed to them at retirement with no future income tax liability. Unlike a Roth IRA, participation has no income [...]
DOL UPDATE New Participant Fee Disclosure Timing Relief Under the DOL’s fee transparency regulations, plan administrators must provide a disclosure of plan and investment information, including an investment comparative chart, to eligible employees and beneficiaries once every 12 months. The original disclosures were due by August 30, 2012, and each annual disclosure thereafter would be [...]
More than 75% of those contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan receive matching contributions, and more than three-fourths of those participants contribute enough to receive the full match, according to TIAA-CREF’s Perfect Match Survey. But, only 72% of women and 64% of workers earning less than $35,000 annually receive the entire match. Many people [...]
President’s 2016 Budget Proposal The president released his fiscal year 2016 budget proposal during first quarter. Unlike other retirement plan-related proposals introduced this year, the president’s budget proposal appears to combine retirement savings provisions with tax reform initiatives that would reduce the revenue impact of retirement savings. Retirement savings tax incentives are the second biggest [...]
