Plan administrators and plan participants must limit the elective deferrals that are contributed to their qualified retirement plans each calendar year to the Internal Revenue Code Section (IRC Sec.) 402(g) limit. The limit includes elective deferrals (including both pretax and designated Roth deferrals) that participants can defer into their qualified retirement plans (in aggregate) for each taxable year.
Read MoreThe Internal Revenue Service recently released Treasury Decision (TD) 10008, which provides guidance on income tax withholding requirements for certain periodic payments and nonperiodic distributions from deferred compensation plans, individual retirement arrangements (IRAs), and commercial annuities.
Read MoreThanks to the SECURE 2.0 Act, certain employees will have more deferral opportunities beginning in 2025. Learn how much employees can contribute to their retirement plan and about the types of deferrals that may be available.
Read MoreThe Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2024-77, providing interim guidance on the treatment of “inadvertent benefit overpayments” from defined benefit and defined contribution plans as provided by Section 301 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0).
Read MoreThe IRS has issued Notice 2024-80, which contains the 2025 cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for IRA and employer-sponsored retirement plan dollar limitations on benefits and contributions under the Internal Revenue Code.
Read MoreWhile vesting standards have long existed to retain and reward employees, a financial literacy gap can prevent participants from maximizing their vesting opportunities and employers from reusing the nonvested (or forfeited) contributions when an employee terminates employment.
Read MoreA plan administrator must take all necessary steps, as determined by the facts and circumstances of the participant’s situation, to determine if the participant is truly missing or nonresponsive.
Read MoreLearn how disaster victims can access their retirement savings.
Read MoreThe Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2024-73, providing guidance regarding the participation of long-term, part-time (LTPT) employees in 403(b) plans subject to Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Read MoreIn 2019, the SECURE Act made several changes to the rules for retirement plans and IRAs, including raising the applicable RMD age from 70½ to 72. In 2022, the IRS released proposed regulations that revised long-standing RMD rules and provided guidance on certain SECURE Act provisions. Congress also passed the SECURE 2.0 Act, which increased the applicable RMD age again from age 72 to age 73 in 2023, and then to age 75 in 2033 (or the year of retirement, if later, for certain plan participants who are not five percent owners).
Read MoreThe new RMD regulations are not without at least one limitation for spouse beneficiaries, in the form of the “hypothetical RMD.” This could affect a spouse beneficiary who inherits an IRA or qualified retirement plan account before the deceased’s RMDs are required to begin—generally age 73—and who elects the new 10-year beneficiary payout rule in order to delay the onset of required distributions.
Read MoreAutomatic enrollment features are attractive to employers that wish to increase the plan participation rate and encourage employees to begin saving for their own retirement. Automatic enrollment is designed to improve retirement preparedness and improve overall financial wellness.
Read MoreUnlike breaks-in-eligibility service that can delay an employee’s ability to participate in an employer’s retirement plan, breaks-in-vesting service can delay or even prevent a participant’s ability to fully vest and become entitled to employer contributions if she is subject to a vesting schedule.
Read MoreRecent legislation passed by Congress includes several provisions that enhance the ability of workers to increase their retirement savings. One of these provisions, Section 110 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0), also enhances the ability of employers that sponsor a 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), or a SIMPLE IRA plan to supplement workers’ retirement savings by providing matching contributions to employees who make qualified student loan payments (QSLPs) in 2024 and later plan years.
Read MoreThe ADP test measures or determines whether elective deferrals that are made in the plan are disproportionate between two groups of employees: the highly compensated employees (HCEs) and the non-highly compensated employees (NHCEs). This status is determined by such things as compensation and company ownership.
Read MoreJust as important for an employer choosing plan service requirements is considering when an employee will experience a break in eligibility service. Breaks in service—leaving that employer, in other words—can potentially delay when an employee becomes a participant, or resumes participation if he or she was an eligible participant before incurring breaks in service.
Read MoreThe IRS requires that all qualified retirement plans be established and supported by a formal written document that complies with the Internal Revenue Code. Employers may choose to use a pre-approved document offered by a document sponsor, like Ascensus.
Read MoreThe Department of Labor has launched an online filing system for termination administrators to be able to submit required information for abandoned plans to the DOL, in addition to existing email and paper-based methods.
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