Given the continuing wave of ERISA litigation, this article has become a mainstay of The Speed Reader. A sample of recent cases is provided below. The most common type of ERISA case involves retirement plan participants’ allegations that plan fiduciaries caused participants to pay excessive recordkeeping and investment fees and included one or more poorly-performing […]
One of the most common compliance issues that IRS agents find when they audit retirement plans is a plan sponsor’s failure to update its retirement plan’s document in a timely manner (by incorporating changes in relevant laws, regulations, and other guidance). On April 4, the IRS updated its website in this regard. The new IRS web […]
After issuing a flurry of guidance in January and February regarding various SECURE 2.0 provisions, neither the Internal Revenue Service nor the U.S. Department of Labor issued any retirement plans guidance since last month’s edition of this newsletter was published. Thus, this month’s edition focuses solely on recent ERISA litigation. Given the continuing wave of […]
On January 10, the IRS published proposed regulations. They provide guidance for retirement plans that allow participants who have attained at least a certain legally-specified age to make additional elective deferrals (i.e., catch-up contributions). If allowed under certain plans such as 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans, participants can make catch-up contributions if they have contributed […]
On January 14, for the first time since 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a restatement of its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”). The VFCP is designed to encourage correction of certain fiduciary breaches by permitting persons to avoid potential DOL civil penalties, if they voluntarily correct eligible transactions in a manner that […]
Given the mobile workforce in this country, during its plan audits the DOL is focusing more on “missing participants.” Those are former employees who still have a vested plan account but who have not provided the employer or its service providers with their current mailing address. The IRS and the DOL have previously published guidance […]
Given the continuing wave of ERISA litigation, this article has become a mainstay of The Speed Reader. A sample of recent cases is provided below. The most common type of ERISA case involves retirement plan participants’ allegations that plan fiduciaries caused participants to pay excessive recordkeeping and investment fees and included one or more poorly-performing […]
On January 10, the IRS published proposed regulations providing guidance on several provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”). First, under SECURE 2.0, certain 401(k) and 403(b) plans must include an automatic contribution feature, under which: Those provisions do not apply to 401(k) or 403(b) plans that were established before December 29, 2022, […]
On November 1, 2024, via Notice 2024-80, the IRS announced the effect of cost-of-living adjustments on certain 2025 dollar limits for various retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans). As expected, several limits will increase for 2025 because of inflation, as the increase in the cost-of-living index met statutory thresholds that triggered their adjustment […]
As the end of 2024 quickly approaches, retirement plan sponsors should promptly consider several important potential tasks. Examples include the following: The failure to comply with most of those requirements can be addressed under the IRS’s formal correction programs for retirement plans.