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Benefits & ERISA Law

Pension Protection Act Blog

The Pension Protection Act made the most sweeping changes in thirty years to ERISA and employee benefits law. This blog examines how PPA impacts every aspect of employee benefits and focuses on qualified plans - both defined contribution and defined benefit.

Post Frequency: 1.5/day

Last Entry: March 21, 2011 at 17:06:17

IRS Discusses 3 Accrual Rules of 411(b)(1) in Rev. Rev. 2008-7

Posted on February 03, 2008
On Friday, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2008-7, discussing the backloading rules for pension plans and Code section 411(b)(1). In 21 pages, the IRS provides an analysis of a traditional pension plan which converted into a cash balance pension plan prior to the effective date of the new conversion requirements under the Pension Protection [...

An Actuarial Miscalculation, an Inadequate ERISA Pleading, and a Claim Made Outside the Contractual Time Frame

Posted on January 31, 2008
Three attorneys walk into a bar after a long day at the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. One is an ERISA attorney, one is a trial attorney, and one is a mergers & acquisition attorney. The bartender takes one look at them, and says….. Yesterday, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals discussed issues created [...

Redlined Copy of Document Required with Cycle C Submissions

Posted on January 28, 2008
Tucked away in Section 6.05 of Rev. Proc. 2008-6 is a requirement that determination letter submissions contain a highlighted or redlined copy of the plan document. It states: 6.05 Except in the case of applications involving master and prototype plans filed on Form 5307 or determination letters for volume submitter plans under section 9...

No Plan Document Requirement for Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits

Posted on January 23, 2008
One of the reasons I write plan documents for a living is because they are so interesting. Each plan document is like writing a novel, and a good plan document reads like a good novel. The other reason I like writing plan documents for a living is that the IRS requires a plan [...

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Another Wal-Mart Health and Welfare Plan Article in WSJ

Posted on January 23, 2008
Prof. Paul M. Secunda over at the Workplace Prof Blog discusses the article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about Wal-Mart’s health and welfare plan. In Wal-Mart Insured Ranks Rise, reporter Ann Zimmerman states that: “The world’s biggest retailer by sales said 690,970 employees, or 50% of its almost 1...

Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits from More than One Employer

Posted on January 21, 2008
For an employee working two jobs, can they receive qualified transportation fringe benefits from each employer? With more employers adding transit and parking benefits for their employees, and more employees working multiple jobs, this question keeps popping up...

Petition for Cert. Filed with Supreme Court in another Walmart Reimbursement Case

Posted on January 18, 2008
Roy F. Harmon III of the Health Plan Law blog is reporting that a Petition for Certiorari has been filed in Administrative Committee of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Shank, and has a copy of the petition for cert. posted on his website. He is also reporting that the Court has sent a letter to [...

Another Walmart Health and Welfare Plan Reimbursement Decision

Posted on January 16, 2008
Another Walmart Health and Welfare reimbursement decision, this time out of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In Administrative Committee v. Horton, No. 07-10012 (Jan. 15, 2008), the 11th Circuit reversed the district court’s decision which had granted summary judgment to the participant, and remanded the case back to the district court for further [...

8 Questions to Ask When Reviewing ESOP Plan Documents

Posted on January 15, 2008
Aaron Juckett over at The One-Stop ESOP Blog posts a great reminder about items to look at when reviewing ESOP plan documents. In ESOP Planning: Plan Documents and Disclosures, Aaron discusses 8 questions to ask when reviewing the plan documents, including whether the plan documents are consistent with how the plan is being [...

One Last Look at Cycle B and Looking Ahead to Cycle C

Posted on January 14, 2008
In a few weeks, on January 31st, Cycle B ends and Cycle C begins. Cycle C marks the middle of this great experiment called the EGTRRA remedial amendment cycle restatement period. Like all experiments, charts and tables come in handy. When the IRS issued Rev...

What Makes a Domestic Relation Order a QDRO

Posted on January 11, 2008
Just about every ERISA plan document, both defined contribution and defined benefit plans, contain information about Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs). This is because ERISA generally prevents the distribution, assignment, or garnishment of benefits owed to a participant unless a QDRO allows payment to an alternate payee...

A New Employee Benefit Podcast

Posted on January 08, 2008
I love technology, especially podcasts, and am always on the lookout for new podcasts about ERISA or employee benefit issues. Employee Benefit News has launched a monthly podcast called “Five Minutes With”. On the first of each month, they will be posting 4 new podcasts on their website...

Governmental Roth 457 Plans May Become a Reality

Posted on January 07, 2008
Earlier this year, I posted about a provision contained in one of the 13 appropriate bills which would permit 457(b) plans to include a qualified Roth contribution program. H.R. 2419, also known as the Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, commonly known as the Farm Bill, contains Section 12512, which is “Participants in government section [...

Cost of Production Not Reason for TPA Firm to Not Produce Documents

Posted on January 04, 2008
As defined contribution prototype and volume submitter plans begin to restate for EGTRRA later this year, and electronic storage of the old plan documents and amendments becomes more prevalent, this case is worth remembering before designing an electronic storage system...

Three Out of Four: The New Proposed Regs on Funding Requirements for DB Plans

Posted on January 03, 2008
One of my favorite actuaries called me today about the meaning of this paragraph in the new Proposed Regulations on the Measurement of Assets and Liabilities for Pension Funding Purposes, released by the IRS on December 28, 2007. The paragraph is: I...

Decision in Cash Balance Conversion Case May Have Missed the Boat

Posted on January 02, 2008
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals has delivered a very interesting opinion involving a grab bag of cash balance conversion issues. In Gillis v. SPX Corp. Individual Acct Retirement Plan, No. 07-1777 (Dec. 19, 2007), the 1st Circuit affirmed the district court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of the plan sponsor, stating that [...

IRS Rings in the New Year with New Cash Balance Regs and DB Lump Sum Regs

Posted on December 31, 2007
Just in time for the New Year, the IRS has released two major pieces of guidance in the form of proposed regulations. The first is Proposed Regulations on Hybrid Plans, providing guidance on changes made to cash balance plans by the Pension Protection Act and recent litigation...

Revisiting Rollovers to NonSpouse Beneficiaries Before 2008

Posted on December 26, 2007
When the House of Representatives failed to act on the Pension Protection Technical Corrections Act of 2007 last week, it created a terrific end-of-the-year PPA question. The question: Are plans required to provide rollovers to nonspouse beneficiaries? The answer: Yes No Yes The reason behind changing the answer from “Yes” [...

Close but no Cigar on PPA Technical Corrections Act of 2007

Posted on December 20, 2007
Last night, Congress adjoined without acting on H.R. 3361, the House of Representative’s version of the Pension Protection Technical Corrections Act of 2007. The Senate passed S. 1974, the Senate version of the Pension Protection Technical Corrections Act of 2007...

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