As previously discussed, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) issued final regulations in July 2022 for plans that receive special financial assistance (“SFA”) under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”). Among other things, the regulations imposed special withdrawal liability rules on plans that receive SFA – including a phase-in period for the … Continue Reading
As previously discussed, the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) that was signed into law on December 29, 2022 as part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act includes a slew of changes for retirement plan sponsors and employers. One of the many changes is an end to the annual indexing of the PBGC’s variable … Continue Reading
In Kanefsky v. Ford Motor Co. Gen. Ret. Plan, No. 22-cv-2259, 10548 U.S. Dist. 2023 WL 186800 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 13, 2023), the court granted a motion to dismiss a pension plan participant’s claim that the plan was equitably estopped from recouping overpaid plan benefits. Upon termination of his employment, the participant requested and received … Continue Reading
The IRS issued new proposed regulations that would permanently change the rules that require spousal consent for plan distributions to be signed in the physical presence of a notary or plan representative. Specifically, the proposed regulations would allow plans to accept remote notarization or witnessing by a plan representative if the remote process meets certain … Continue Reading
The wait is over for SECURE 2.0, a long-awaited (and debated) package of retirement plan reforms. Today, Congress passed the “SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022” as part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act; President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law soon. The bill text may be viewed here, and the Senate Finance … Continue Reading
A hotly debated (and litigated) issue for multiemployer pension plans in recent years has been the appropriate interest rate to determine a multiemployer pension plan’s liabilities when calculating the plan’s underfunding for withdrawal liability purposes. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) is now poised to end the debate. The PBGC proposes to allow multiemployer … Continue Reading
As part of our ongoing series on the SECURE Act, this post discusses two key changes affecting defined benefit plans: (1) the ability to start in-service distributions at age 59½ (reduced from 62), and (2) new tools for closed defined benefit plans to pass nondiscrimination tests. Below we discuss each change and its potential impact … Continue Reading
On Monday, November 1, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the “BBA”) which brings familiar changes for sponsors of defined benefit pension plans. Similar to the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act in 2012 (“MAP-21”), the BBA provides relief from pension funding obligations while increasing PBGC … Continue Reading
On December 13, 2013, the IRS issued Notice 2014-5 which provides temporary relief for satisfying the nondiscrimination requirements under Section 401(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for plan sponsors that maintain defined benefit plans which have been closed to new hires. Many defined benefit plan sponsors have implemented “soft freezes” of their plans, … Continue Reading
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