ML BeneBits

While the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) recently proposed regulations regarding automatic portability transactions would place the onus of compliance on transfer providers, a number of the provisions would trigger ERISA fiduciary considerations for plan administrators of defined contribution plans that offer these automatic portability transactions, particularly “transfer in” plans.

Recent headlines involving the Central States Teamsters Pension Fund and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program highlights an issue with meaningful consequences for multiemployer defined benefit plans—unreported deceased participants. In fact, PBGC’s alleged overpayment of $127 million under the American Rescue Plan Act’s SFA Program covering an estimated 3,500 deceased participants sparked PBGC to implement specific death certification measures for future applicants to the SFA Program.

The US Supreme Court heard arguments on January 17 in Relentless v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In both cases, a commercial herring fishing company challenged a regulatory requirement that the company cover the costs of an observer required to ride along on the fishing boat to confirm compliance with various regulatory requirements.

US state and federal laws have increasingly sought to regulate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing—a trend that continued in 2023. This increased regulatory focus has impacted benefit plans, including ERISA plans and, especially, public retirement plans.

The letter of intent has been executed. The due diligence is done. The purchase agreement is signed. The money has been wired. The deal has closed. You’re done—back to business as usual! Think again. For the folks responsible for employee benefits matters, whether it be the CEO, CFO, comptroller, or human resources team, the real work after a merger or acquisition may be just beginning.

Effective as of January 1, 2023, payors of qualified plan distributions have been required to use a redesigned IRS Form W-4P for payee withholding elections on periodic payments and a new Form W-4R for nonperiodic payments and eligible rollover distributions. Since then, we have fielded myriad questions on the new forms, from the basic requirements for their use and who is responsible for implementation to interpreting long-standing qualified plan withholding regulations that have not yet been fully updated to align with the new forms.

Publicly traded companies generally file registration statements on Form S-8 to register the offering of the company’s stock pursuant to the company’s equity incentive plans under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (Securities Act). This same filing requirement applies under certain circumstances to a company’s nonqualified deferred compensation plans.

To the great relief of many plan sponsors, administrators, recordkeepers, and payroll vendors, the IRS issued highly anticipated relief regarding the mandatory "Rothification" of catch-up contributions.

A recent news release indicates that the US Department of Labor (DOL) has an investigatory initiative focused on the issue of “insurability” under life insurance benefits. This issue arises when insurance premiums are collected for ERISA insurance benefits but there is a failure to complete the necessary process of confirming evidence of insurability. The result is that the employee believes they have insurance coverage, but coverage is not available when sought because the evidence of insurability was never completed. The DOL views such failures as a potential breach of ERISA’s fiduciary duties by either the insurer, the employer, or both.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expanded its individually designed determination letter program to include 403(b) retirement plans in November 2022, before which time 403(b) plan sponsors did not have the ability to file for a determination letter, and thus could not receive assurance from the IRS that the plan’s written terms complied with Internal Revenue Code (Code) Section 403(b).