Pension Protection Act Blog: Benefits & ERISA Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Benefits & ERISA Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Another Corrections Act to the Pension Protection Act Passes the House

Posted on July 11, 2008
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed another Pension Protection Technical Corrections Act of 2008 by voice vote. This act, H.R. 6382, now heads to the Senate, where the last Pension Protection Technical Corrections Act of 2008, H.R. 3361, has been languishing since March 31, 2008...

Free Webcasts and Podcasts from the IRS and Other Miscellaneous Stuff

Posted on July 07, 2008
I always find a stack of “stuff” on my desk after a long weekend. Like everyone, I like free stuff, high tech stuff, and stuff that is designed for pension geeks. Here is a quick rundown of some of the more interesting stuff I found on my desk this morning: Tuesday, at 2pm ET, [...

IRS Issues Sample Plan Language for Transfer for ESOP?s S Corp Shares to Prevent Nonallocation Year

Posted on July 02, 2008
In a Special Edition of Employee Plan News, dated July 1, 2008, the IRS provides some guidance on sample language under Code section 409(p) for the Transfer of an ESOP’s S Corporation Shares. This plan language is designed to prevent a nonallocation year by transferring assets from the accounts of disqualified persons to the [...

Conclusion of the 2007-2008 IRS Priority Guidance Plan Year

Posted on June 30, 2008
June 30th marks the end of the IRS’ 2007-2008 Priority Guidance Plan. Tomorrow, making barely a ripple in the employee benefits universe, the IRS’ 2008-2009 Priority Guidance Plan will begin. Of course, the IRS has not released the 2008-2009 Priority Guidance Plan yet...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

State of Florida to Buy US Sugar While US Sugar ESOP Litigation Continues

Posted on June 24, 2008
In a fascinating and completely unexpected twist to the U.S. Sugar ESOP class action lawsuit, the governor of Florida today announced that the State of Florida will buy U.S. Sugar for $1.75 billion. With the purchase, Florida will gain control over 187,000 acres of farmland in the northern Everglades while leasing the land back [...

Potential for IRS Data Mining Created by New Form 5307

Posted on June 23, 2008
The new edition of Employee Plan News, released today by the IRS, contains this warning information about the new Form 5307 - it is important that customers send in the original copy of the application and not a photocopy. Photocopies of the bar code will not scan properly...

Supreme Court Rules Against MetLife in Gordian Knot of a Decision

Posted on June 20, 2008
Often the entity that administers the plan, such as an employer or an insurance company, both determines whether an employee is eligible for benefits and pays benefits out of its own pocket. We here decide that this dual role creates a conflict of interest; that a reviewing court should consider that conflict as a factor [...

Interim CEO is Covered Employee for Purposes of 162(m) Tax Deduction

Posted on June 17, 2008
At what point does a member of a corporation’s board of directors qualify as an “outside director” of purposes of Code section 162(m)(4)(C)(i) after serving as an interim chief executive officer? The IRS answered this question today in Rev...

ABA Weighs In on the IRS Priority Guidance List

Posted on June 12, 2008
The American Bar Association’s Section on Taxation has sent their recommendations for guidance to be included in the 2008-2009 IRS Priority Guidance List. Their list of items is reasonable and highlights a few items which are sorely needed. Their guidance recommendations for employee benefits are: 1...

IRS Changes Reporting of ESOP Distributions on Form 1099-R

Posted on June 10, 2008
The IRS released Announcement 2008-56 today. In the short 2-page announcement, the IRS states that it will require dividends on employer securities that are distributed from an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) under Code section 404(k) to be reported on Form 1099-R that does not report any other distributions...

Memoranda Includes Draft Opinion Letter When Disclosure Required for Tax Shelter Relief

Posted on June 03, 2008
When the IRS issued Announcement 2002-2, the Service made a tantalizing offer to taxpayers with possible tax shelter issues. In exchange for disclosure, the IRS offered to waive the accuracy penalty and underpayment of tax related to tax shelters. Announcement 2002-2 contains a list of 7 items under the title of “Information Required [...

Guidance on Funding Distributions from IRAs or Roth IRAs to Health Savings Accounts

Posted on June 03, 2008
Today, the IRS released 2 pieces of guidance for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) - Notice 2008-51 and Notice 2008-52. First, the IRS released Notice 2008-51. It provides guidance on Code section 408(d)(9), which was added to the Tax Code in 2006 by Section 307 of the Health Opportunity Patient Empowerment Act of 2006, which was [...

Wisconsin Supreme Court Finds Denial of Health Benefits Arbitrary and Capricious, Lacking Specificity

Posted on May 29, 2008
Yesterday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided Summers v. Touchpoint Health Plan Inc., No. 2005AP2643 (May 28, 2008), affirming the Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision ordering the case remanded and the participant’s benefits in the Kimberly Clark health plan reinstated as of the date that the benefits were terminated...

ESOP not Sweet as Candy for Participants in U.S. Sugar ESOP

Posted on May 27, 2008
As the lawsuit against the U.S. Sugar ESOP proceeds in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, it continues to fascinate. Today, the International Herald Tribune is reporting that the company has announced employees owning shares through the ESOP will not be permitted to attend the annual shareholders meeting...

Boston College Creates Online Interactive Retirement Game

Posted on May 23, 2008
The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has created an interactive retirement game, and posted it on their website. The game is called Get Rich Slow, and follows a fictional couple through several decades starting when they are in their 40’s...

Church 403(b) Plans, the Final 415 Regs, and Foreign Missionaries

Posted on May 21, 2008
Employee benefit plans involving churchs are fascinating because traditional employee plan concepts are a poor fit when it comes to church employees. With Church 403(b) plans caught in the intersection this year between the Final 403(b) Regulations, which may require some church plans to restate onto an updated plan document by January 1, 2009, [...

In Conflict Between Plan Document and SPD, SPD Prevails to Participant?s Detriment

Posted on May 21, 2008
With most cases involving a conflict between the plan document and the Summary Plan Description (SPD), it is the plaintiff who is arguing that the language in the SPD should apply instead of the language in the plan document. Not so for a case decided by the 6th Circuit today...

Convenient and Easy - DOL Provides Plan Information in an Electronic Booklet

Posted on May 20, 2008
Communicating with employees about the retirement plans available to them can be an exercise in boredom and frustration for everyone involved. The employee whose eyes are more glazed over than the donuts being served at the enrollment meeting will be the same terminated employee two year later who will fail to understand why they [...

California Supreme Court?s Decision on Domestic Partnerships May Raise Some Plan Document Issues

Posted on May 16, 2008
Yesterday, in In re Marriage Cases, No. S147999 (May 15, 2008), the California Supreme Court addressed the issue of whether domestic partnership is the same as marriage. As framed by the Court, the issue they addressed in this decision is: “Accordingly, the legal issue we must resolve is not whether it would be constitutionally permissible [...

DOL Working Group Ideas for Benefit Statements

Posted on May 13, 2008
The ERISA Advisory Council’s Working Group on Participant Benefit Statements has delivered it’s report to the Dept. of Labor. This working group was formed to study the Pension Protecion Act’s requirement that benefits statements are furnished to plan participants in defined benefit and defined contribution plans...

Health Savings Account Limits Announced for 2009

Posted on May 13, 2008
The IRS released Revenue Procedure 2008-29, containing the 2009 inflation adjusted amounts determined under Code section 223(g) for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). For calendar year 2009, the annual limitation is $3,000 for deductions under Code section 223(b)(2)(A) for an individual with self-only coverage under a high deducitble health plan...

Railroad Retirement and the Pension Protection Act

Posted on May 07, 2008
Tucked away toward the end of the Pension Protection Act are two sections which made changes to Railroad Retirement. Section 1002 and Section 1003 both became effective on August 17, 2007, one year after the date PPA was enacted. Section 1002 is Entitlement of Divorced Spouses to Railroad Retirement Annuities Independent of Actual [...

ERISA Pop Quiz

Posted on May 07, 2008
Here is a pretty good ERISA pop quiz written Barbara P. Pletcher of the law firm of Trucker Huss. In 5 questions, Ms. Pletcher covers a wide variety of ERISA topics. See if you can answer all 5 questions correctly. (hat tip to BenefitsLink) Technorati Tags: Pension Protection Act, ppa, [...

Supreme Court May Address QDROs: Petitioner?s Merit Brief Due in Kennedy v. DuPont Savings

Posted on May 05, 2008
Fast on the heels of LaRue and MetLife, the U.S. Supreme Court is taking a look at another ERISA case - Kennedy v. Plan Administrators for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan, No. 07-636. The Petitioner, the estate of the participant, is required to file their merit brief today with the Court...

DOL Issues Guidance on Qualified Default Investment Alternatives

Posted on April 30, 2008
The Dept. of Labor has issued 3 pieces of guidance on qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs) - a 2-page correcting amendment for Default Investment Alternatives Under Participant Directed Individual Account Plans, a 2-page Fact Sheet, and Field Assistance Bulletin No...

Working Retirement and Justice Scalia

Posted on April 29, 2008
Justice Scalia, on 60 Minutes this last Sunday, mentioned that his original plan when he was appointed to the Supreme Court had been to retire from the Court at age 65 because justices can retire from the Court at age 65 at 100% of annual compensation...

Some Plan Implications of Reclassification as IBM Reclassifies Employees from Salaried to Hourly

Posted on April 29, 2008
Paul Secunda has an interesting post today on the Workplace Prof Blog about IBM reclassifying workers from salaried to hourly. The corporate buzzword for this is “reclassification”, and the story, which originated on NPR Marketplace, also mentions FedEx reclassifying drivers as independent contractors, and Allstate reclassifying agents as independent contractors...

IRS Issues a Correction to the Proposed Cash Balance Regs

Posted on April 24, 2008
The IRS issued a correction to the Proposed Regulations on Hybrid Retirement Plans, commonly known as the proposed cash balance plan regulations, which the Service issued on December 27, 2007. Besides correcting a few grammatical errors, the IRS has made a significant change in Proposed Treas...

MetLife Day at the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on April 23, 2008
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Glenn, No. 06-923. MetLife v. Glenn is a case from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals about conflicts of interest for ERISA administrators. The 6th Circuit reversed the judgment of the district court that MetLife’s decision finding Glenn no [...

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle the 2007-2008 IRS Guidance Priority List

Posted on April 22, 2008
Each year, the IRS issues the Guidance Priority List, containing the list of tax issues that the Service intends to address by issuing regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices and other published administrative guidance. In Notice 2008-47, the IRS is inviting the tax community to submit recommendations by May 31, 2008, for guidance to [...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Standards of Practice in Civil Protection Order Cases
The American Bar Association has recently published its new Standa...

Homeowners Have Added Protection Against Mortgage Fraud
Albany, NY: The Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, is an advocat...

New Baptist Covenant Blog
Last week, I pointed to the New Baptist Convenant website, now onl...

The Mexico Trucker Blog
I've written before about the perceived problems with relaxed rest...