Newsletter Articles

2020 has been a difficult year with many unexpected challenges. For companies that sponsor retirement plans, some of these challenges came in the form of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. While the CARES Act provided much needed relief to plan sponsors and their participants, the relief also brought new complexity to retirement plan compliance.

As the end of the year approaches, our to-do lists become longer but our bandwidth becomes condensed. To compound matters, when you sponsor a retirement plan, you know you will be in close contact with your TPA firm about the various year-end notices that must be distributed to plan participants.

Approximately every six years, the IRS requires that pre-approved qualified retirement plans update (or restate) their plan document to reflect recent legislative and regulatory changes. Plan restatements are divided into staggered six-year cycles depending on the type of plan (e.g. defined benefit plans or defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans).

On October 26, 2020, the IRS announced the Cost of Living Adjustments affecting the dollar limitations for retirement plans. Contribution and benefit increases are intended to allow participant contributions and benefits to keep up with the “cost of living” from year to year. Here are the highlights from the 2021 limits.

On June 29, 2020, the IRS issued Notice 2020-52 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic providing welcome relief to plan sponsors who are considering suspending safe harbor contributions and also to those who may already have regardless of whether the employer is...

On May 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced the publication of a final rule that will allow employers to communicate the required retirement plan disclosures and other plan information...

  On Friday, March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), a massive relief bill for those suffering as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, was signed into law. Besides the generalized financial relief afforded to...

On December 20, 2019, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was signed into law.

The SECURE Act represents some of the most significant changes to retirement plan law since the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, over thirteen years ago.

On Sept. 23rd, the IRS published a final rule that relaxes several existing restrictions on participant hardship distributions from defined contribution plans.

Some of these changes are mandatory, requiring employers to make the changes by Jan. 1st, 2020, while others are optional.

Being the bearer of bad news isn’t fun.

When the third-party administration firm relays that aspects of the annual compliance testing have failed causing many of the company’s executives to receive taxable distributions from the plan, it isn’t a great day for the HR manager.