Happy Friday, readers! Regular readers of our newsletters will already know that 2019 is off to a busy start in terms of retirement plan litigation, regulation and legislation. An important decision has been handed down in a 403(b) lawsuit targeting a big-ticket U.S. university; the IRS has published a new revenue procedure; the PBGC has updated its table of penalties and fines; and more. Read the stories below to get caught up on the latest developments in Washington and the federal courts.
In a colorfully worded opinion, the district court judge chides plaintiffs for failing to acknowledge basic facts about the way annuities work and their well-established role in 403(b) plans.
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A new Revenue Procedure makes a change to Revenue Procedure 2018–4 Section 8.02 to add new section 3, “Other Circumstances,” to provide a new category for which determination letters can be requested.
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New maximum civil penalties for failure to provide certain notices or other material information and for failure to provide certain multiemployer plan notices have been announced.
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Representative Richard Neal has introduced a bill with bipartisan backers that would take several steps towards solving the union multiemployer pension funding crisis.
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The Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011 requires that, before the beginning of each taxable year, the PR Treasury provide notice of the applicable limits under Section 401(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, which are incorporated by reference into the Puerto Rico Code limits.
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ERISA lawsuits very often lead to settlements or dismissals, but 2018 brought a series of important and potentially precedent-setting decisions in both district and appellate courts.
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The plan being challenged in the latest fiduciary breach lawsuit held less than $300 million as of the start of last year, making it one of the smallest to become the target of an ERISA complaint.
Advisers and broker/dealers hoping to work with open multiple employer plans now have a short window to offer their perspectives to the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service.
The main theme of the new fiduciary rule proposal is alignment with other regulators—the SEC and FINRA in particular—but the agency is by no means surrendering its jurisdiction over tax-qualified retirement plans.
