Plan Sponsor Q&A - Q2 2022

KerberRose has been named to the National Association of Plan Advisor’s (NAPA) list of the nation’s top defined contribution (DC) Advisor Teams with assets under advisement of $100 Million.

Although not legally required by ERISA, a retirement plan committee charter is a very important document for plan governance which may help fiduciaries avoid potential liabilities. Committee Charters are one effective way to “evidence” intent of prudent plan management. Having a charter is a “best practice” all plan sponsors should seriously consider.

You don’t need to be a magician to know what records to keep and for how long. While most providers can supply reports and plan documents, the plan administrator remains ultimately responsible for retaining adequate records that support the plan document reports and filings.

Both ERISA and the IRS require DC plan loans to reflect a “reasonable rate of interest”.

Most organizations’ human resource departments and C-suites are seeking efficiencies and risk mitigation for their entities. For these, and a myriad of other, reasons, plan sponsors are giving 3(38) fiduciary discretionary investment management services a closer look.

On August 17, 2018, the IRS issued private letter ruling 201833012 (the PLR). The PLR addressed an individual plan sponsor’s desire to amend their retirement plan to include a program for employees that were making student loan repayments. The form of this benefit would be an employer non-elective contribution (SLR contribution).

A recent IRS Issue Snapshot (link below) affirms a participant loan is a legally enforceable agreement and terms of the loan agreement must comply with Internal Revenue Code (IRC Section 72(p)(2) and Treasury Regulation Section 1.72(p)-1).

Nearly three-fourths of participants under 30 think employers should provide access to financial professionals and coaching to help them. Even more telling, 62% wish they could push an “easy button” and completely turn over retirement planning to someone else. This figure is up from 55% in 2016.

Participant data and financial accounts comprise some of the most sensitive and potentially vulnerable information under a company’s care. These highly valuable assets can be an attractive target for cybercriminals and therefore present considerable security risk.

2022 IRS Limits on Retirement Contributions

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