The 403(b) annuity “policy loan” is much different. The cash from the loan is obtained from the insurer’s general account, and no investment funds are ever liquidated from the participant’s annuity contract. An amount equal to the value of the outstanding value of the loan remains as a “restricted” investment held in one of the annuity contract’s investment funds, or in a separate account specially designed to pay a special rate of interest on that investment. The participant has no access to those funds, and the funds are released over time as the loan (with interest) is repaid to the insurer
Continue Reading The “Balancing Problem” in Reporting “403(b) Policy Loans” on the Form 5500 Schedule H
About Reporting Those Late Deposits to 403(b) Plans…….
Though late deferrals to an ERISA 403(b) plan do need to be reported under the Compliance portion of the Form 5500 Schedule H or Schedule I, Form 5330 cannot be filed-in spite of the silence in the Form 5500 instructions. This is because the Tax Code’s prohibited transaction rules, Section 4975, do not apply to 403(b) plans-even if it is an ERISA 403(b) plan. Form 5330 is only for plans to which 4975 applies.
Continue Reading About Reporting Those Late Deposits to 403(b) Plans…….
Complications for 403(b) Plan Fiduciaries Under the TIAA Class Action: The Striking Impact of LaRue and the Cy Pres Notice
A little noticed class action law suit first filed against TIAA-CREF in 2009 is finally coming home to roost for many fiduciaries of 403(b) plans-without many affected plans even having a clue that they have become members of that class action.
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Aggregation Models, Plan Loan Insurance, Lifetime Income Patents: Addressing Retirement Security by “Looking Through the Wrong End of a Telescope”
In an almost stealth-like way, innovation is creeping into the marketplace and creating ways to address critical retirement issues, even without an incubator. Though these programs can do little to address what I view as the basic retirement inadequacy issue-that is, employers are generally moving away from the traditional notion of building adequate retirement programs into their employment models-they are making progress toward making the best of what we’ve got.
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Using an Aggregation Program as a Solution to the Multiple Employer Plan Risk
Multiple Employer Plans continue to be an issue for not only PEOs, but for a number of organizations which has successfully used the MEP method in the past to provide “scale” which is otherwise unavailable in the smaller end of the 401(k) marketplace.The DOL Advisory Opinion 2012-04 has caused us to take a closer look at how to otherwise achieve this scale. Scale in investments and services, we find, is still possible without using MEP, and in ways which tend to have a lower risk profile for both the MEP sponsor and participating employers.
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Bringing Some Sanity to Calamity: 403(b)’s New Document Rules
When considering these new plan document rules and the new EPCRS together, there is a massive volume of sometimes difficult detail in the guidance. Much of it is thoughtful, some of it controversial and, I would venture to say, some of it innovative. For example, it ventures into the world of effectively requiring pre-approved plans while staying within its regulatory bounds (as we’ll be discussing in future blogs). The most striking aspect of this effort, however, is what seems to be a newly institutionalized view that 403(b) plans are, in fact, much different than 401(a) plans, and often demands much different treatment.
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The Dueling Fiduciary Shadows of 12b-1 Fees
Fund distributors are contractually entitled to the 12b-1 payment, not the plan, and for very specific distribution purposes. The mutual fund’s Board has already had to make a fiduciary determination that the fee is reasonable, in the best interest of the mutual fund shareholders, and that its payment complies with Rule 12b-1. Separately, the ERISA plan’s fiduciary can only permit the purchase a mutual fund which has a 12b-1 program if the amount of the 12b-1 fee is reasonable from the plan’s point of view, regardless of whether the mutual fund feels its reasonable.
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The “Stable Value” Guaranteed Separate Account; Greetings to the TE/GE Councils Annual Meeting
There are many insurance separate accounts which really are invested like stable value funds from collective trusts, for example. But if it has guarantees of principal or interest-the “guaranteed separate account”-the risk just moves down a level, and the investor in the guaranteed separate account is still subject to an insurer’s insolvency risk. So, instead of the insurer standing up for the value of the guarantees, and how well the insolvency risk is managed and priced into the product, the risk is instead hidden and not discussed.
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The Continuing Efficacy of Commission Disclosures Under PTE 84-24 After 408(b)(2)
Though disclosure may make the sales comp reasonable under 408(b)(2) (that is, if you view sales as a service), it still does relieve the 406(b)(2) adversity problem. To make any sense of this, it looks like you still need to comply with PTE 84-24 in addition to the 408(b) 2 disclosures.
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The “Best Efforts” Standard of the 403(b) EPCRS
For 403(b) late adopters of plan documents,the VCP submission is conditioned upon adoption of a plan document which is intended to comply with 403(b); the plan, in operation, must have acted in accordance with a reasonable interpretation of 403(b) during the period of time for which relief is requested; and, for that period, the plan sponsor must have engaged in a compliance review, under which it used its best efforts to find operational problems and to correct them in accordance with the principles under EPCRS. For Audit CAP, this also appears to be the required correction.
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