I cringed in horror as I listened to the Supreme Court debate on health care reform, and not for the reasons you may otherwise suspect. What concerned me greatly, and which is something which ultimately has an impact on the retirement industry, was the common reference by SCOTUS (Supreme Court of
March 2012
Using the IRS Interim 403(b) Document Audit Relief
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b)
I have expressed several times my sense that the 2007 403(b) regulations were unfortunate in a number of different ways. Though they sought to address some very real compliance issues, they did so in a heavy handed and often complicated way which virtually ignored the difficulties inherent in transitioning from a statutory and commercial system…
The 403(b) SPARK Standard Is Not a DOL Disclosure Solution
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b)
The 403(b) regulations replaced the "contract exchange" rules under Revenue Ruling 90-24 (which allowed the tax free transfer of 403(b) contracts between different vendors, including that of different plans, as long as certain, minimal conditions were met) with a new scheme of exchanges and transfers. After September 24, 2007, the former "90-24 transfers" between unrelated…
ERISA Traps Related to “Retail” Annuities Purchased by 401(k) Plans
By Robert Toth on
Posted in Fiduciary Issues, Lifetime Income
With the current attention being paid to annuities by the recent activity of Treasury, those plan sponsors and their advisors who may be interested in annuities in their 401(k) plans may also be tempted to take a close look at the wide array of annuities that are available for the IRA and individual marketplace for…
The Party-In-Interest Threshold to the “Edges” of 408(b)(2)
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 408b2, Complex Prohibited Transactions
If plan assets are used to purchase a typewriter at Office Depot for the exclusive use by the plan in its administration by the plan sponsor (and the plan sponsor is not Office Depot, an affiliate, or its not a plan also covering Office Depot’s employees), the purchase is merely a direct expense of the…