DOL Issues
The DOL recently published a “Q&A on Small Savers” which leads off by stating, “Small IRA savers may not be who you think they are,” and goes on to point out that more than two-thirds of small-IRA owners may have small IRAs, but they are “wealthy and upper-middle class households.”The six-...
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We’re months away from December, but it felt like a fiduciary rule Festivus on Capitol Hill Sept. 10 as members of Congress aired their grievances about the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed extension authority to regulate assets contained in retirement accounts.
Two subcommittees of the House...
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If you have comments on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary reproposal, you only have a couple of weeks to share them. The DOL announced Sept. 8 that the public comment period will close on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015, and that no hand-delivered comments will be accepted after 6:00 p.m. ET on...
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If your plan sponsor clients haven’t filed Form 5500 as required, they could soon be hearing from the IRS.Recently the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance unit (EPCU) announced plans to collaborate with the Department of Labor’s Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) to contact Form...
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Congress returns from its summer break next week, and House Republicans are wasting no time reengaging in oversight of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule re-proposal.On Sept. 10, two subcommittees of the House Financial Services Committee are planning to hold a joint hearing on the...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) is moving ahead with its effort to make it easier for states to offer retirement initiatives without running afoul of federal law, sending a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review Sept. 1.The action, noted in an OMB website posting, could...
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Plan sponsors should always keep a close eye on whether a worker is classified as an employee or an independent contractor since this has a significant effect on retirement plans. In MarketBeat, Michael Webb outlines differences under current law between and employees and independent contractors,...
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The IRS on Aug. 25 released a draft version of the Form 5500-EZ to be used in benefit plan reporting — which includes 403(b) plans — concerning 2015. The draft is for informational purposes only, however; it is not to be used for reporting.The IRS revised it to require reporting the number of...
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There were four days of hearings on the Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary rule and I kept waiting… and watching… and waiting. But it never came up. And that surprised me.You see, I was fully expecting someone to ask these two questions: “What about individuals who actually want to be...
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The Department of Labor (DOL) stands ready to assist state governments when they work to establish public retirement plans for private-sector workers, regardless of whether those plans are covered by ERISA, according to EBSA chief Phyllis Borzi.The White House set the tone with President Obama’s...
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Calling it a “game changer,” NTSA Executive Director Chris DeGrassi and American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff offered their takes on the Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary rule in an Aug. 18 webcast, “The DOL Fiduciary Rule: What’s Next.”Prospective Application, But…One way the rule...
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Renowned French author André Gide once famously remarked, “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” So it felt at times during Day four of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) public hearing on its fiduciary rule.To be fair,...
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Marcy Supovitz, President-Elect of the American Retirement Association, testified at the public hearing on the Department of Labor’s reproposed fiduciary rule Aug. 12. Supovitz' testimony concentrated on the American Retirement Association’s innovative proposal to create a separate, streamlined...
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The public comment period may have closed, but a group of U.S. Senators has weighed in on the proposed fiduciary regs — and lent their support to a recommendation of the American Retirement Association.The letter, signed by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (Ore.), as well as fellow...
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The second day of public hearings on the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule reproposal was highlighted by a debate over the economic impact that the rule will have on the financial services industry.When a rule of this significance is issued, it must be accompanied by an analysis from the...
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Responding to a bipartisan (though primarily Republican) letter from more than a dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez says his agency will “move forward towards issuing a Final Rule” on the agency’s “conflict of interest” proposal.In a letter addressed to...
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The DOL recently published its first serious guidance on supporting lifetime income with the publication of Field Assistance Bulletin 2015-2. In MarketBeat, Robert Toth discusses the guidance and why it is very necessary for the success of the qualified longevity annuity contracts as well as...
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The first day of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) public hearing on its re-proposed fiduciary rule Aug. 10 veered from the informative to the absurd as the department’s rule makers heard from a broad array of stakeholders on the complex subject. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez has repeatedly promised...
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Among the more than 800 comment letters filed on the Labor Department’s fiduciary proposal is one from a fellow federal agency that claims the proposal fails to adequately estimate its cost or the number of firms affected by it.The filing by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy...
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Expressing concerns that the Labor Department’s fiduciary proposal is “…motivated by an insatiable desire to reengineer the retirement services industry and control the mode and manner that Americans save for retirement,” a group of Republican congressmen is calling on the DOL to withdraw the rule....
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