…establishing “a new, additional safe harbor for employee benefit plan administrators to use electronic media, as a default, to furnish information to participants and beneficiaries of plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).” And yes, that translates as email, text…
…private-sector retirement and other employee benefit plans in light of recent trends involving ESG investing – which, as the name indicates, revolves around measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an investment, in order to determine the future financial performance of that investment. Falling under…
…contributions on Form W-2 in Box 14. As you will see when you look at Form W-2, Box 14 serves as a “catch-all” for several miscellaneous types of plan contributions, including after-tax contributions, nonelective employer contributions made on behalf of an employee, required employee contributions…
…about how participant loans affect long term retirement outcomes. On one hand, it’s not hard to appreciate that employees may be more motivated to enroll in a plan that includes a loan feature since it provides comfort that they’ll be able to access their savings…
…to save at a high enough rate to meet real income needs later in life. An important way to help employees of company-sponsored retirement plans make real progress for themselves is to offer auto-enrollment and auto-escalation features to retirement plans. Both can positively influence retirement…
…they do, plan sponsors, as fiduciaries, can be held responsible. Administering a retirement plan carries with it a fiduciary duty to act with the highest standard of care. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires fiduciaries—like the plan sponsor—to act as a…
…plan to maximize the owners’ savings and tax benefits or is it intended to attract and retain top talent? Is financial wellness of the employees important to the company? After all, a 401(k) is a great savings vehicle, but it only works best when employees…
Four Things to Know About ERISA Fidelity Bonds and Fiduciary Liability Insurance The Employee Retirement Income Security Act known as “ERISA” regulates 401k and most other types of employee benefit plans. Under ERISA, anyone who handles plan funds must be covered by a fidelity bond….
…according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It would also clarify the due date for single-employer pension plan minimum required contributions; that date was delayed for 2020 by CARES. In addition, while the CARES Act allows eligible retirement plans to rely on an employee’s self-certification…
…extremely negative, the IRS established a program to assist plan sponsors in correcting the most common operational and plan document errors and retaining the plan’s tax-exempt status. The IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) encompasses three programs for correcting operational and plan document errors:…
The April 14 release of cybersecurity guidance for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is both momentous, and long overdue. That this is the first time that the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued such guidance speaks…