403(b)

Subscribe to 403(b)

DOL’s new Field assistance Bulletin, 2019-01 is designed to correct common MEP Form 5500 filing issues. The most telling stories about this FAB is that (1) it establishes the data  groundwork that both the DOL and the IRS need to determine what requirements will need to be imposed when RESA and SECURE (or their successors) eventually pass; and (2) for those who argued that this data is somehow an unwarranted imposition of an administrative burden on MEP operations need to be prepared, I think, for a substantial new set of regulations over time designed so that the agencies have sufficient information to fulfill their mandate.
Continue Reading DOL’s Unexpected New MEP Field Assistance Bulletin 2019-01: A First Housekeeping Step in Getting Ready for New MEPs and Group Arrangement Rules

It is a very common practice in the 403(b) market for an employer to specifically identify the percentage of compensation it will deposit as an employer contribution to their 403(b) plan: percentages as high as 8, 10 or 12% are not uncommon, especially in higher education. There had been a raging debate in the past as to whether or not this practice of identifying a specific percentage of compensation as the employer formula made the plan a “money purchase plan.” It has been typical for 401(a) plan sponsors to treat plans with set percentage of compensation as “Money Purchase Plans”, where the employer has not reserved the right to, instead, make it a discretionary profit-sharing contribution. But does this rule apply to 403(b) plans?
…
Continue Reading Dealing With the Legacy of the 403(b) “Money Purchase” Plan

The Portman-Cardin Bill, the “Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2019,” introduces sweeping changes to 403(b) plans by expanding their investment universe. These changes, however, also required modification to the Securities Laws otherwise applicable to 403(b) plans in order for them to work. A few, critical, issues have gone unanswered in the legislation, and there are a number of transition issues which we will have to be addressed.
Continue Reading Sweeping 403(b) Changes in Portman-Cardin Legislation Leaves Unanswered Questions

One of the more curious results of the failure of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 to amend 403(b)(11) to provide for the same hardship relief that was granted to 401(k) plans is that the “hardship” distribution of QNECs and QMACs aren’t really hardship distributions.

This has a very real practical and operational effect.
Continue Reading The 403(b) Hardship Distribution Which is Not a Hardship Distribution Under the Proposed Regulations…..

There is a difficulty, which is inherent to bulk IRA programs: IRAs are individually owned investment contracts, which are under the control of the former participant-even though they are set up by the former employer. Using negative consent triggers fiduciary status. This also demonstrates that there is a whole range of other laws which come into play when dealing with IRAs. …
Continue Reading DOL RCH Advisory Opinion Illustrates the Difficulties Inherent to Bulk IRA/Auto Portability Programs

The SEC proposed Rule 30e-3 3 this past June which will fundamentally rework the manner in which mutual fund prospectuses and other fund reports are delivered to shareholders. This proposed rule, if made final, would effectively make electronic delivery of these reports the default-much in the same way as currently being proposed for the electronic delivery for required ERISA notices.This impacts 403(b) and 401(a) operations, as well as efforts to make ERISA e-delivery a default.
Continue Reading SEC Proposed “Modernization” Of Fund Report Delivery Rules Impacts Both 403(b) and 401(a) Plans

One of the continuing confusions in how 401(a) rules apply to 403(b) plan  involves the reporting rules related to the correction and reporting on the 5500 of one of the most common errors in any elective deferral plan: the late deposit of those deferrals into the plan.  Neither non-ERISA or ERISA 403(b) will ever file a Form 5330. Ever. Even when the VFCP program is being used to correct the late deposit.

Adding to the confusion is that the Form 5500 instructions do not differentiate between 403(b) plans and 401(a) plans. It simply states that  all “defined contribution” plans need to file the Form 5330 for late deposits, and pay the penalty tax. …
Continue Reading Ignore Those Form 5500 Instructions: 403(b) Plans DO NOT Use Form 5330 For Late Deposits

There is a little noticed change in the IRS’s recent update of Publication 571 (which is the IRS’s 403(b) technical guide). In a highlighted box on page 4 is the following, under how the limits on “annual additions”-otherwise known as the 415 limits- apply: “More than one 403(b) account. If you contributed to more than one 403(b) account, you must combine the contributions made to all 403(b) accounts maintained by your employer. If you participate in more than one 403(b) plan maintained by different employers, you don’t need to aggregate for annual addition limits.” This innocuous seeming statement is actually pretty outstanding, finalizing a quiet morphing over a generation of the way the IRS applies a regulation in a way we rarely see.
Continue Reading A 403(b) “Pseudomorph”: The IRS’s Gradual Shift On Applying 415 Limits to 403(b) Plans

A 403(b) MEP is really complicated when you get down to it because-like anything 403(b), it seems-of the devil that exists in the details.  For example, besides  having to deal with the DOL 2012 Advisory Opinion on all MEPs; and  the fact that the Tax Code Section governing 401(a) MEPS does not apply to 403(b) plans (which means you can never really have a 403(b) MEP for tax purposes); and that the ERISA Section governing all ERISA MEPs (including 403(b) MEPs) requires compliance with that Tax Code Section which doesn’t cover 403(b) MEPS; you still have to deal with the complications of dealing with those legacy contracts of the various participating employers in the MEP. Then there is the issue of dealing with those combination of ERISA and non-ERISA 403(b) plans commonly sponsored by a 403(b)participating employer. These require use of traditional state law agency rules to make them work.
Continue Reading The IRS Has a 403(b) MEP Problem

The application of the Spousal Consent and Joint and Survivor Annuity rules is one such issue which we need to consider. In the 401(a) space, dealing with this issue is pretty straightforward. The rules apply uniformly to all 401(a) plans through 401(a)(11) and 417, which is well coordinated with ERISA’s requirements under Section 205. As long as the default form of benefit under the plan is not a J&S benefit; and the spouse is entitled to the survivor benefits upon the participant’s death unless the spouse consents otherwise; the rules are met. If, however, the plan is a money purchase plan, or holds money transferred in from a money purchase plan or a defined benefit plan, or the plan’s default distribution is an annuity payment, the spouse must consent to a lump sum distribution-or even to a loan. Many will remember the efforts we went through years ago cleansing those annuity payment requirements from plans and products, just so no spousal consent would be required for lump sum distributions or loans. Now, though, we have to deal with documenting these rules as they apply to 403(b) plans. Its not so simple…
Continue Reading Spousal Consent/J&S Issues Under 403(b) Plans May Trigger Document Conflicts