A small employer may find that converting its 401(k) plan into a "SIMPLE" 401(k) plan is preferable to adopting a traditional safe harbor 401(k) plan. What is a SIMPLE 401(k) plan? It is a 401(k) plan under which the employer makes either (i) a nonelective contribution to the plan equal to ...
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Succession Planning And The ESOP
Evaluating whether an ESOP is appropriate when it’s time to sell the business…
In ESOPs: The Three Types, we explain the three basic ways an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) can be used to effectively motivate employees to increase productivity and company value. In this article, we will ...
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What It Means To Be An ERISA Fiduciary
An overview of ERISA fiduciary rules...
ERISA's definition of "fiduciary" basically encompasses three categories of responsibility or activities with respect to an employee benefit plan. In addition to anyone who is specifically named as a fiduciary by the terms of an ERISA plan, a person is ...
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Affordable Care Act Compliance: The DOL Is Auditing
The Department of Labor (DOL) appears to be focusing its scrutiny on welfare benefit plans in response to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA). Now that Obamacare implementation is well underway, practitioners have begun seeing a shift in the audit letters that plans ...
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Understanding ESOPs: How They Benefit Sellers, The Company, And Employees
Understanding ESOPs can be daunting at first glance. This article looks at how ESOPs can be a cash-flow-efficient and tax-advantaged option that merits careful consideration when compared to selling the company or merging with a third party.
At some point, all privately held companies ...
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ERISA-Covered Plan Investment And Fee Disclosures To Participants: The What, Who, And How
What: In 2012, Department of Labor (DOL) rules went into effect requiring plan administrators of ERISA-covered plans with participant-directed investments to make specified disclosures of plan fee and investment information to:
Active participants (those who are actively directing their ...
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ERISA Section 404(c) Compliance Alert
Do you have a defined contribution plan that allows participant-directed investments? If so, read on.
Participants generally will be responsible for the investment results of their accounts if the applicable regulations under ERISA section 404(c) are followed. But what if a ...
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Before You Throw That Switch – Blackout Period Notice Requirements
In the wake of the Enron situation, Congress passed a law containing blackout period requirements that apply to all defined contribution retirement plans. Blackout periods (times when participants lose control over their accounts) can occur for a number of reasons, but the most common are if the ...
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Cafeteria Plans: Are You Serving “Taxic” Waste To Your Employees?
Employers may be very surprised to discover that they have a cafeteria plan and do not even know it, or that they have a cafeteria plan that improperly offers certain benefits to their employees. As a result, they are serving their employees "taxic" waste, i.e., tax heartburn, rather than the ...
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Confused by the terminology? Check our Glossary of Terms