IRAs, for whatever reason, are stealthily changing the retirement future. When you look closely at their structures, they can be designed to be incredibly flexible (though often “off-the-shelf” IRAs are not). There are a number of major “houses” which provide the technical and legal support for “plug and play” investment arrangements (though, admittedly, there are a few SEC rules which need to be changed to make them really work well). They provide a personal platform through which retirees can consolidate their assets in a way which can better serve their retirement in ways an employer sponsored DC or DB plan cannot.
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The Most Effective Proposed MEP Legislation Happens Not To Be MEP Legislation
This legislation could fundamentally change the MEP landscape, and even lessen the contention over state run MEPs. It would do this by opening the market for the advantageously pooling of the resources of small employers which would have otherwise been reserved to the State programs. It also could minimize any need for new federal MEP legislation, and promote models which are a lot less risky than the MEP.
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Managing Critical 403(b) Issues through Proper Allocation of 3(16) and 3(21) Fiduciary Responsibility
The complex nature of handling 403(b) plans-and, in particular, the unique manner in which the fiduciary rules apply to them-make these plans uniquely suited to customized fiduciary services. It is well beyond the skill set of many 501(c)(3) organizations to make sense of their often complicated 403(b) programs, and to put them into some kind of sensical order. This must be done all the while applying a number of rules intended for the 401(k) market (with their centralized recordkeeping systems) in a plan which may have significant assets held by multiple vendors under a variety of contracts with differing terms.
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ERISA and Mom: Sláinte!!
We have done this post a number of years in the past as an “Almost Annual Mother’s Day” piece; our attempt to put a very personal twist to the things we do, with a larger and hopeful light on many of the mundane tasks that make up much of our business. We now post it
403(b)’s “Limitation Year” Rules Demonstrate their “Individual” Nature-and Their Potential Value of the Universal Platform of the Future
The 403(b) limitation year is determined on a person by person basis, it is not a plan wide rule. Only the individual can change the limitation year, and only for its contracts. To change the year, the individual must attach a statement to his or her income tax return filed for the taxable year in which the change is made. To change a plan’s limitation year, the administrator would need each employee to make that 1040 filing.
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Correcting the “best guesses” on 403(b) Plan terms by using the first 403(b) Remedial Amendment Period under Rev Proc 2017-18
The IRS decided to handle this “best guess” period by announcing that any 403(b) document could be corrected under a new, special 403(b) Remedial Amendment Program, by that new RAP’s end date. It announced that the beginning of the RAP was the required adoption date for 403(b) plan documents (generally, January 1, 2010). The end of the RAP would be announced once the IRS approves its first set of pre-approved 403(b) documents. Once those first pre-approved documents are released, the IRS promised to announce the “end date.” It has now done that, with Rev Proc 2017-18 announcement of March 31, 2020 as the end of the RAP-which also suggest that the pre-approved documents will be released by that date.
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The Fiduciary Underpinnings of Plan Loans
It is easy to forget that the fiduciary’s exclusive obligation is to provide retirement income from these plans. ERISA is pretty clear that even 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans are actually meant to provide retirement income. They are “employee pension benefit plans” under ERISA Section 3(2)(A) which each “provides retirement income to employees, or results in a deferral of income by employees for periods extending to the termination of covered employment or beyond.” In the day to day operation of a plan loan program, this raises a troubling issue- particularly when a plan design forces an loan default offset of a participants accrued benefit following an involuntary employment (such as a layoff, death or disability), where the retirement benefit is lost under difficult circumstances where there is little chance to recover.
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When Is an Organization a “Church” that Sponsors a Retirement Plan?
We may know what is a “Qualified Church Controlled Organization” (which we refer to as QCCOs), and even what a “Non-Qualified Church Controlled Organization (or Non-QCCO), but nothing ever defines just what qualifies as a “church.” In the 403(b) world we often refer to them as “steeple churches,” but that seems just to beg the question as well.
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The IRS Tightens Plan Examination Process With New Rules for Plan Sponsors and IRS Examiners
With the IRS’s focus on “black belt” business practices, it announced on November 21, 2016 a new process for its retirement plan audits. These rules center on the timing of the “Information Document Requests” (IDR), which are central to an audit. The problem, as tends to be the problem with many such structured business process improvement efforts, is that-as good as they may appear to the designer on paper-they often leave little room for the actual business experience.
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A Potential Impact of the 403(b) University Lawsuits on 401(k) Self Directed Brokerage Accounts
There is a potential impact of the 403(b) University Lawsuits on the ability of 401(k) plans to maintain self-directed brokerage accounts. These 403(b) plans, with their wide variety of investments which are subject only to the control of the participants, are essentially structured in the same manner as SBDAs (without many of the security law protections that are given 403(b) participants). Should the plaintiffs succeed in their calms that it was imprudent to permit employees the ability to invest in a wide range of securities without fiduciary oversight, this may well be the death knell of SBDAs.
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