Category Archives: ERISA

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The Restatement Requirement for Defined Benefit Plans: FAQs for Employers Adopting a Pre-Approved Plan

If you’re an employer who has adopted a pre-approved defined benefit pension plan, it’s time to amend and restate your plan. All defined benefit plans using pre-approved plan documents must restate their plan before April 30, 2020. It’s important that you understand why your plan document must be restated. What follows is a non-technical explanation … Continue Reading

Take Advantage of ERISA Safe Harbors: They can help penetrate the ERISA fog.

Attorneys would define a Safe Harbor as a provision of a statute or a regulation that specifies that certain conduct will be deemed not to violate a given rule. In our ERISA world, a Safe Harbor is a provision of the retirement plan law  that can  cut through the sometimes fog of ERISA and provide … Continue Reading

Playing the game of 401(k) audit roulette: the odds are getting shorter.

If you’re in the retirement plan business, you’ve heard the term “audit roulette”.  It refers to the belief by some employers that the odds of their retirement plan getting audited by the IRS are in their favor. Well, those odds are getting worse. The IRS is taking technology to the next level using  “data driven … Continue Reading

Timely reminder why an ERISA fidelity bond is necessary

July 31st, is of course, the due date (unless extended) for calendar year ERISA plans required to file Form 5500 for the 2016 plan year. And, as in the past, there will be many plan sponsors who must indicate on the 5500 they have outdated fidelity bonds or none. Here’s a timely reminder why they … Continue Reading

Non-ERISA 403(b) plans must walk a fine line to avoid losing the ERISA exemption

Last month’s Supreme Court decision, Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton, upholding ERISA exemption for church-affiliated pension plans was a reminder that not all benefit plans are subject to ERISA. Indeed, non-profit employers who sponsor 403(b) plans can choose to be exempt from ERISA. But they have to tread carefully.… Continue Reading
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