John Iekel
By John Iekel 2/13/2024
State-run programs spanning the breadth of the country are expanding the scope of the private-sector employees and workers they cover.
Freelancers Covered by New York Secure Choice
The scope of New York Secure Choice, the program through which the Empire State provides coverage to private-...
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By John Iekel 2/13/2024
Many teachers in Alaska may have the ability to choose between defined benefit or defined contribution coverage.
A bill is before the Alaska Senate that would expand the retirement coverage options offered under the Public Employees' Retirement System of Alaska and the teachers’ retirement system...
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By John Iekel 2/6/2024
Teachers in two states may have new options for funding retirement, if measures before their legislatures are enacted.
Working After Retirement
A bill before the Missouri Senate would adjust provisions of the law concerning time and salary limitations on working after retirement for members of...
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By John Iekel 2/1/2024
A bill before the Mississippi House of Representatives would establish a state-run retirement plan to provide coverage for private-sector employees whose employers do not offer one.
Rep. Orlando Paden (D-Bolivar) on Jan. 24, 2024 introduced House Bill 599, the Mississippi Secure Choice Savings...
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By John Iekel 1/30/2024
Employees would no longer be required to opt in to participate in the Hawaii Retirement Savings Program but rather would be automatically enrolled under legislation now before the Hawaii House and Senate.
Sen. Sharon Moriwaki (D-Waikiki) introduced SB2553 on Jan. 19, 2024; Rep. Andrew Garrett (D-...
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By John Iekel 1/30/2024
A resolution before the Alaska House calls for the state to join others in calling for the repeal of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).
Rep. Alyse Galvin (I-Anchorage) introduced House Joint Resolution 18 on Jan. 22, 2024.
Alaska has the highest...
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By John Iekel 1/26/2024
The IRS has made the 2023 Cumulative List of Changes in Plan Qualification Requirements for Defined Contribution Qualified Pre-Approved Plans available. The new list, contained in Notice 2024-3, provides updated listings of required modifications and information packages for DC plans.
The 2023...
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By John Iekel 1/24/2024
There have been significant changes to the IRS Pre-Approved Defined Contribution Plan Program, and two of the IRS officials involved in the thick of it recently provided a refresher on the program rules and recent developments.
Milo Atlas of the Retirement Plan Forms and Publications Office at...
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By John Iekel 1/23/2024
Washington—the state, not the city—is considering legislation that would establish a state-run retirement plan to cover those whose employers do not offer one.
If the legislation is enacted, the Evergreen State would join its Pacific Coast neighbors in providing such a plan. California was the...
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By John Iekel 1/18/2024
Plan professionals may find it useful to know that plan sponsors continue to make participants’ retirement security a priority, and are boosting their work to enhance it.
JP Morgan, in its fifth Defined Contribution Plan Sponsor Survey, which provides the results of an online survey of 788...
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By John Iekel 1/18/2024
Rhode Island is on the road to possibly becoming a member of the Secure Choice Club. A bill has been introduced in the state’s House of Representatives that would establish a state-run retirement program that would cover those whose employers do not offer one.
Rep. Evan P. Shanley (D-East...
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By John Iekel 1/11/2024
From New England to Key West, from the Atlantic to the Great Plains, there are bills before state legislatures that would expand retirement plan coverage for public school teachers and personnel.
Rhode Island
Rep. Patricia Serpa (D-West Warwick) on Jan. 5 introduced HB 7026, a measure that...
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By John Iekel 1/9/2024
The IRS has updated the instructions for Form 8606, which is used to report contributions and distributions, as well as conversions, from IRAs—including Roths.
Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs, is used to report:
Nondeductible contributions to traditional IRAs;
Distributions from traditional,...
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By John Iekel 12/29/2023
Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are more than regulatory requirements—they affect real people. In its latest issue of Employee Plans News, the IRS provides a refresher concerning the application of the RMD rules regarding plan beneficiaries.
Spousal Beneficiaries
Spousal beneficiaries...
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By John Iekel 12/28/2023
The IRS has issued a reminder that people born before 1951 need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from funds held in IRAs and other retirement plans by the end of the year. And in so doing, it provides an opportunity to in turn remind participants as well as clients whose participants...
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By John Iekel 12/20/2023
The IRS on Dec. 20, 2023, issued the 2023 cumulative list of changes in plan qualification requirements for pre-approved defined contribution plans. The changes are contained in Notice 2024-03.
The 2023 Cumulative List is intended to assist providers applying to the IRS for opinion letters for the...
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By John Iekel 12/18/2023
Generation Z—the youngest generation in the workforce—may also be the most interesting regarding retirement and preparing for it.
Studies reveal a mix—cacophony?—of behaviors and attitudes among its members that suggest it is a group that may be receptive to a range of approaches in working to...
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By John Iekel 12/12/2023
Delaware is joining the Partnership for a Dignified Retirement, an interstate consortium that helps states provide access to retirement plan coverage. The action brings Delaware’s program into formal cooperation with those of Colorado and Maine.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed the measure...
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By John Iekel 12/11/2023
By many measures, CalSavers’ fortunes matched the warm colors of the foliage in Autumn 2023, although some results did not show progress.
CalSavers, as one of the longest-lived state-run programs that provides retirement plan coverage to private-sector employees whose employers do not have a plan...
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By John Iekel 12/8/2023
The IRS on Dec. 8 announced that there will be no changes to the Required Amendments (RA) List for individually designed plans qualified under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Sections 401(a) and 403(b) for 2023. The IRS made the announcement in Notice 2023-79.
The RA List establishes the end of the...
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