The IRS Announces Updated Limitations Related to Employer Plans for 2021

The IRS announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for employer plans for tax year 2021. Most IRS limits impacting employer retirement plans have remained the same because the increase in the cost-of-living index did not meet the legal thresholds that trigger their adjustment. See IRS Notice 2020-79 and IRS Revenue Procedure 2020-32 for …

401(k) and 403(b) Fund and Fee Litigation: Employers, Can You Answer These Four Questions?

Most employers sponsoring 401(k) and 403(b) plans are well aware of the large number of lawsuits filed over the past decade or so alleging breach of ERISA fiduciary duty related to plan investment funds and service providers. Unfortunately for plan sponsors (and their employees who serve as investment related fiduciaries), the pace of these lawsuits …

IRS Publishes 2019 Required Amendment List for Individually-Designed Retirement Plans

The IRS recently issued its “Required Amendment List,” which contains the annual list of amendments that must be adopted by certain individually-designed retirement plans. This year, the List includes the requirements imposed by the final hardship distribution regulations, and certain rules that apply to collectively-bargained cash balance / hybrid defined benefit plans. Sponsors of individually-designed …

A Written Fee Policy Can Help Employers Answer the Question: Who Pays for Your 401(k) or 403(b) Plan’s Administrative Costs and How Do You Know?

Most employers are familiar by now of the many lawsuits (more than 100) filed against 401(k) and 403(b) plan sponsors and their employee fiduciaries responsible for selecting the plans’ record keepers and investment line-ups, alleging that they breached their fiduciary duty by allowing participants to pay excessive record keeping fees and invest in underperforming and …

The IRS Announces Updated Limitations Related to Employer Plans; 401(k) Contribution Limit Increases to $19,000 for 2019

The IRS announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for employer plans for tax year 2019. The IRS issued technical guidance detailing these items in Notice 2018-83, in addition to previous guidance in Rev. Proc. 2018-30. Many, but not all, of the limitations will change because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the …

Time for Non-Profits to Update Their 403(b) Retirement Plans

Non-profit entities, including schools and universities, that sponsor 403(b) retirement plans should begin the process of restating their plans to comply with current law.  This is the first restatement cycle since the December 31, 2009 deadline for sponsors of 403(b) plans to adopt written plan documents.  A 403(b) plan is similar to a 401(k) plan …

Minimizing the Risk of Costly 401(k) and 403(b) Investment Fund and Fee Lawsuits

As employers who sponsor 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans prepare their 2017 year-end and 2018 “to do” lists, they should be sure to include a review of their processes for selecting and monitoring the investment funds they make available for plan participant investment and the fees their plans pay to record keepers and other service …

The IRS Announces Updated Limitations Related to Employer Plans; 401(k) Contribution Limit Increases to $18,500 for 2018

The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for employer plans for tax year 2018. The IRS issued technical guidance detailing these items in Notice 2017-64, in addition to previous guidance in Rev. Proc. 2017-37 and Rev. Proc. 2017-58. Many of the limitations will change because the increase in the …