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A quick SECURE Act 2.0 summary is nearly impossible to give. Like the original 2019 SECURE Act, the goal of the update was to increase the number of companies offering retirement plans and to increase employees’ participation in those plans. While the original SECURE Act brought forth new changes, SECURE Act 2.0 far exceeds the […]
Retirement plan fiduciaries have a duty to monitor investment options continuously and remove all imprudent ones, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) recently ruled in a much-anticipated decision. In the opinion, the Court made it clear the fiduciaries can’t ignore imprudent investment options in 401(k)s or other retirement plans even if other, prudent choices are […]
New disclosure requirements should bring more transparency to the health plan side of employee benefits and allow plan fiduciaries to know and understand all the ways, direct and indirect, everyone is getting paid. The changes will help the fiduciaries to identify and assess possible conflicts of interest.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raised several annual threshold and benefit levels for 2018 when it announced them on October 19. Employers and retirement plan administrators can apply the new rates as they prepare their plans for next year and conduct nondiscrimination testing. Notice 2017-64 outlined the latest changes to cost-of-living adjustments for employee benefit […]
The keys for plan sponsors to avoid penalties under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as well as other liability that may come with data breaches, were discussed by HIPAA experts in a recent webinar.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) again left most annual threshold and benefit levels unchanged when it announced them for 2017 on October 27, 2016. Employers and retirement plan administrators can apply the new rates as they prepare their plans for next year and conduct nondiscrimination testing. Notice 2016-62 laid out the latest changes to cost-of-living […]
By Jane Meacham, retirement plans editor One of the largest multimillion-dollar settlements yet has been reached between an employer retirement plan sponsor and a class of participants over “excessive fees” paid for plan services.
Employees find 401(k)s and similar group retirement plans are found to be the most difficult benefits to understand, followed by health insurance and HSA/FSAs, according to a new financial wellness survey released by Four Seasons Financial Education (FSFE).
The IRS on Jan. 29 provided some long-awaited guidance on which midyear amendments to “safe harbor” 401(k) retirement plans it will allow — and which remain prohibited. The guidance, effective immediately, should put to rest years of confusion among practitioners over when they can adjust plans to reflect short-term changes without putting their plan’s qualification […]
Monitoring the performance of service providers, making required disclosures to participants and beneficiaries, keeping good records and filing reports with the government are just a few of the important functions a fiduciary must ensure are properly executed, an enforcement official at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration unit told a group of […]