Compliance March 5, 2014

IRS Summarizes Voluntary Corrections for 457s

Some plan sponsors, under limited circumstances, may submit requests for voluntary correction to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for their Code Section 457(b) retirement plans.
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The IRS updated and expanded its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) in Revenue Procedure 2013-12; however, the IRS’s Employee Plans Voluntary Compliance (VC) team will consider requests on a provisional basis outside of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). The agency notes governmental plan sponsors do not have to make a submission to VC to voluntarily fix problems with their 457(b) plans.

VC will not process submissions that involve the form of the written 457(b) plan. In addition, the agency says it has received several submissions alleging that a written 457(b) plan was not adopted in a timely manner, or amended for some tax law or income tax regulation; VC will not issue closing agreements for these matters and will decline to process these requests and refund any payments. Plan sponsors who want the IRS to review their 457(b) plan document or consider any other document form issue may request a private letter ruling.

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A governmental plan sponsor has until the first day of the plan year that begins more than 180 days after the IRS notifies them of the failure to self-correct their plan failures. Considering this, they may not need to make voluntary submissions to the IRS in most cases.

If a governmental plan sponsor needs to request additional relief or simply wants IRS approval for a correction method for a non-plan document failure, they may make a submission to VC as permitted by Rev. Proc. 2013-12.

More information is here.

 

Products March 5, 2014

LPL Upgrades Reporting Platform

The latest release of the Portfolio Manager investment platform and reporting system from LPL Financial features customizable firm branding capabilities and time-saving scheduling options.
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LPL Financial LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. serving as an independent broker/dealer and asset custodian for registered investment advisers (RIAs), says the re-release of the company’s signature performance reporting tool brings cutting edge improvements to its adviser technology offerings.

Victor Fetter, a managing director and chief information officer at LPL, says Portfolio Manager is a cost-effective, robust performance reporting system that can deliver comprehensive views of clients’ financial information in an easy-to-understand format.

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“For advisers, client trust is the key component for success,” Fetter says. “Tools like Portfolio Manager help our advisers demonstrate the value of their advice to their clients, and we intend to continue to provide our advisers with the breakthrough technology that can help strengthen their client relationships.”   

LPL Financial says it is engaged in a multi-year effort to transform its performance reporting strategy in order to present data that is smarter, simpler and more personalized. To that end, the enhanced Portfolio Manager features the following upgrades:

  • A new look for all reports generated by the tool.  LPL says the reports produced by Portfolio Manager have been made easier to read and understand, and should provide investors with a clearer view of their financial picture.
  • Ability to personalize branding materials. Advisers will be able to promote their brand and improve their client experience by adding their logos to their reports.
  • More performance reporting choices. Reports now provide the options of viewing time-weighted or dollar-weighted calculations, which adds flexibility in viewing and analyzing client data.
  • Capacity to save time and pre-schedule reports. Advisers will also be able to schedule the frequency of their reports.

The firm says it has also recently updated and released a new version of the LPL mobile app and an enhanced trading and rebalancing platform. More information is available at www.lpl.com.

 

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