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In order to help your plan participants maximize their savings, you have to know how to best read and navigate the financial markets. The NTSA 403(b) Summit, to be held June 22 - 24 in Washington, D.C., will provide a unique opportunity to benefit from the insights of Peter Ricchiuti, a professor...
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Have you made a mistake in administering your 403(b) plan? Does this mistake put you at risk of IRS action? If so, you are not alone — not only in the sense that others have made mistakes, but also because the IRS has updated its 403(b) Plan Fix-It Guide, a resource that tells plan sponsors how to...
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Editor's Note: The corresponding MarketBeat article has been removed. The IRS took the industry by surprise with the definition of severance of employment (specifically for public school districts) contained in the Listing of Required Modifications (LRMs) posted in March 2013 to provide guidance on...
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In a recent speech in Washington, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) laid the groundwork for moving more state workers into a blended 401(k)/DB plan to fill a $807 million hole in the state’s $33 billion budget. Currently, the state’s retirement plan is underfunded by an estimated $51 billion, the...
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Some states and cities have found that cutting cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to the pensions they provide their employees is a way to loosen the financial vise of pension liabilities and a shaky economy. The Center for Retirement Research of Boston College in its recent study, “COLA Cuts in...
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Change is coming to the “once each 12 months” rule for indirect IRA-to-IRA rollovers. The federal Tax Court, in Bobrow vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service, held that you can’t make a non-taxable rollover from one IRA to another if you have already made a rollover from any IRA that you own...
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Competition and the ability to make decisions and not have someone in power limit those choices is at the core of who we are — and that includes retirement planning. But that freedom is at risk at the hands of those who want to have states — not plans and participants — decide what’s best. That’s...
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Can a 55 year old who retired three years before and who believes that he will not incur an IRS penalty on withdrawals from his 403(b) make them? Ellie Lowder has the answer in this week’s Tech Talk.
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More than 1,000 school districts will be joining those whose 403(b) and 457(b) services are administered by The OMNI Group, an independent third-party administrator whose services include retirement plan administration. This comes after U.S. Retirement Partners (USRP) acquired CPI Qualified Plan...
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Can a retiree who has elected a partial lump sum and does not have a 403(b) account but has a 457(b) account establish a 403(b) to receive the rollover from her former employer? Or can she roll over the lump sum distribution to her 457(b)? Ellie Lowder has the answer in this week’s Tech Talk.
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The IRS is auditing 403(b) plans — especially in light of the changes made to the 403(b) regulations in the last few years. In the latest Market Beat, Kimberly A. Flett points out that with the right amount of planning and proper administration, plan sponsors can avoid audit pitfalls and provide...
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What is the state of the 403(b) marketplace? Find out from Ellie A. Lowder, TGPC, TSA Consulting and Training Services, and M. Kristi Cook, JD, TGPC, Attorney, Law Offices of M. Kristi Cook, PC, at Keep Choice Alive: The 2014 NTSA 403(b) Summit in Washington, D.C., June 22-25. Lowder and Cook will...
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The funded status of public- and private-sector pension plans is a classic example of bad news/good news. To wit: Some states’ pensions are in bad shape, but funding of public-sector pension plans overall is improving; corporate pensions’ funded status fell in April, but only very slightly. State...
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The latest Employee Plans Compliance Unit project — known as “Ineligible Employer — 403(b) Project Compliance Check” — targets employers that have received a notification of revocation of tax-exempt status from the IRS (known as a Notice CP120A) in 2010 (the first year following the new PPA filing...
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Reacting to a forensic investigation initiated by state employees, North Carolina’s $87 billion state pension system may be moving from a sole trustee to a board soon. As reported in P&I, a panel convened by State Treasurer Janet Cowell (D) is recommending the change amid allegations set forth...
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There are things you should do — and not do — in using social media. And it’s especially complicated for those in the retirement plan industry, since social media communications must comply with the rules promulgated by regulatory bodies and others. Join us for an upcoming webcast, “Realities of...
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If one of your 403(b) participants applies for a loan from her account, but the account was written when the company held a payroll slot with a non-ERISA employer, what do you do? And does it matter if you received contributions to the account after Jan. 1, 2005, but it was deselected by Jan. 1,...
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TSA Consulting Group, Inc. announced April 29 that it has acquired the 403(b) Solutions Program from Security Financial Resources, Inc. The deal greatly expands the reach of TSA, a Fort Walton Beach, Fla.-based independent provider of retirement plan compliance and administration services whose...
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Qualified retirement plans offer employees significant tax savings and have become a mainstay of most group benefits. But to maintain their qualified status, they must comply with a set of comprehensive rules and regulations. Failure to comply can result in the immediate taxation of all...
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A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that while 81,000 new employer-sponsored retirement plans were formed during the 3-year period between 2009 and 2011, the overall trend was negative due to plan terminations — even with increased tax incentives. In addition, new...
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