Retirement Plans, Milan Probe, EU Cartel Fines: ComplianceBloombergThe agency said it would grant an exception to required minimum distributions from retirement accounts in certain cases. Asset managers and insurers including BlackRock Inc. (BLK), State Street Corp. (STT), Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU), MetLife Inc.

The newsletter covers select compliance deadlines and reminders, and retirement plan, health and welfare plan, and general developments. (Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.)

ERISA Bond Reminder from Surety One. Is Your Plan in Compliance for 2012?MarketWatch (press release)Poindexter refers to the fidelity bond required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The purpose of the bond is to provide protection from fraud or other dishonest acts committed by a plan's trustee(s). Generally, the bond must be equal to ...and more »

Reviewing the history of your 401k plan creates a foundation for a good fiduciary compliance review - but may reveal cracks that need to be filled in first.

"This calendar provides general key retirement plan compliance requirements common to most calendar year plans." (ERISAdiagnostics Inc.)

"There are often discrepancies between a pension plan's governing documents and the plan's operations . . . . Such a discrepancy if not corrected pursuant to the terms of the governing documents, is described as an operational failure . . . . This article offers suggestions by which the [IRS] may lessen the burden on itself and conscientious plan sponsors, while improving compliance with (1) the tax-qualification rules of Section 401(a) of the [IRC] and (2) the similar provisions of [ERISA]." (Social Science Research Network)

Employers that thought the Department of Labor (DOL) would be swayed by recent requests to push back the deadline for compliance with the 401(k) fee disclosure | %blog_title | No-nonsense Finance news and insights to ...

"Some of these fiduciary issues require plan sponsor compliance; others are simply topics that are important to sponsors seeking to maintain their status as employers of choice." (The Vanguard Group, Inc.)

"This survey of 409 employer offering a 401(k) or a 403(b) plan completed in September 2011 found that sponsors who partner with a Professional Retirement Plan Advisor enjoy superior retirement outcomes for their participants, superior understanding of fiduciary issues, improved plan designs, improved plan arrays, improved overall asset allocation among plan participants, more reasonable fees, and greater confidence in plan compliance and investment options." (Retirement Advisor Council / EACH Enterprise, LLC)

"[T]he Towers Watson 2011 survey on qualified retirement plan governance finds that the process of decision making and oversight varies widely. While most employers are concerned with compliance, many are not taking all the steps available to manage the financial, organizational and other risks created by ineffective plan governance." (Towers Watson)

"Among the pension reforms: plan assets would not be reduced by credit balance when determining funded status for benefit restrictions, IRS would have to make interim amendment rules more workable, and certain plans with service-based normal retirement ages would be deemed lawful (minimum 30 years of service or plan is governmental)." (Mercer LLC)

"The third annual NTSAA 403(b) Compliance Resolution Summit attracted a large gathering of product providers, third party administrators, and resource people from the Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of School Business Officials, the 501(c)(3) community, and legal firms for open dialogue on best practices to contribute to the operation of compliant 403(b) plans. All three of the Summits have contributed greatly to the resolution of what were systemic problems through the adoption of best practices that most in the industry can follow. The result has been the standardization of processes and procedures that most can utilize for a smoothly operating 403(b) plan." (National Tax Sheltered Accounts Association via American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)

When a company sponsors a plan, such as a 401(k), it must do annual maintenance to ensure it remains compliant with the IRS rules and regulations. Often clients and business owners struggle to keep up with the IRS rules ...

"Only 26% of defined contribution and defined benefit plan executives conduct regular operational and regulatory compliance reviews, according to a Towers Watson & Co. survey on retirement plan governance issues." (Business Insurance)

Private Sector Defined Benefit Plans VanishingSmartmoney.com (blog)By Alicia Munnell Alicia Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, is a weekly contributor to “Encore.” In some ways, it's old news. Defined benefit plans in the private sector are disappearing. ...3 of 4 retirement plans don't review compliance regularly: Towers WatsonBusiness Insuranceall 2 news articles »

Extensive summary; includes very useful chart of compliance options. (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies)

"If these proposals are finalized without change, participating employers will need to substantially revamp their accounting systems at considerable expense. Compliance is expected to be the responsibility of the employer, and the retirement system's ability to provide assistance in many cases may be limited. That may leave the burden of compliance on the contributing government employers." (Groom Law Group)

"The IRS's quarterly newsletters provide a helpful overview of recent IRS and DOL developments, a compliance calendar, and links to more detailed information. We note that a common theme in recent articles has been the practices and procedures needed to maintain plan compliance." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

"This is a sample certification that illustrates the type of documentation that plan sponsors need to establish compliance with 408(b)(2) requirements." (DALBAR, Inc.)

'Learning & Development' Events announced for 2012IFA MagazineThe events will run throughout the country and are to be supported by providers including Metlife, Just Retirement, LV=, Prudential, Aviva and JP Morgan, in addition to SimplyBiz's own compliance and technical teams. Furthermore, SimplyBiz are in the ...

"Over 95% of the 1,200 plan sponsors contacted by the Internal Revenue Service Employee Plans Compliance Unit voluntarily completed the online 401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire." (PLANSPONSOR.COM)

"In the course of an IRS teleconference on August 25, in which a number of the members of our practice group participated, the IRS confirmed that an update and expansion of EPCRS is expected in the 'near future' so as to extend all correction opportunities, including remediation of document failures, to 403(b) plan sponsors." (Fox Rothschild LLP)

"[The poster] is a convenient way to remind you of important regulatory limits and dates for retirement plans. Note that there are increases in regulatory limits for 2012. [The calendar] lists recurring compliance and notice requirements for qualified defined contribution plans." (The Vanguard Group, Inc.)

"The DOL has stated that an overwhelming number of filings in its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP) involve the late deposits. Hopefully, a future modification to the VFCP program will include de minimis criteria to provide a self-correction method." (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Business peopleDubuque Telegraph HeraldWallace Gibson, QPA, QKA, joined Steele Capital Management as director of Retirement Plan Services. He has 20 years of experience in the retirement-planning industry with 15 years as compliance manager for Great Lakes Pension in Detroit, Mich. ...