Month: July 2015
IRS deepens focus on lifetime income with lump-sum ban
The Internal Revenue Service’s unexpected decision July 9 to ban lump-sum payments to retirees has plan sponsors keeping one eye open for further regulation but still considering those payouts for other plan participants.
House-Passed Highway Bill Would Extend Transfers of Excess Pension Assets
The House passed funding legislation that includes a section that would extend for four years provisions allowing employers to transfer excess pension plan assets to retiree-health accounts and group-term life insurance accounts.
PRC comments to DOL on its proposed fiduciary rule (July 21, 2015)
The Pension Rights Center submitted comments to the Department Labor on its proposed rules governing conflicts of interest in investment advice for retirement plans. Related: Financial Illiteracy Meets Conflicted Advice: The Case of Thrift Savings Plan Rollovers — a draft paper cited in our testimony (May 2015) Save Our Retirement coalition’s statement after an initial review […]
PRC comments to IRS on revenue procedures related to recoupment (July 20, 2015)
The Pension Rights Center submitted comments to the Internal Revenue Service regarding Revenue Procedure 2015-27 and Revenue Procedure 2013-12, both of which address corrective action that pension plans should take when they overpay retirees. The Center discusses the financial hardships caused by “recoupment” — when a plan overpays a retiree and demands repayment — and offers […]
Some Lump-Sum Pension Buyouts Banned
The IRS and U.S. Treasury Department have banned lump-sum pension buyouts, like the ones offered to GM and Ford retired employees, starting July 9, 2015, according to a notice from the two agencies.
Retirement Plans At Every Employer! Is Your State Next?
Paid sick leave, raising the minimum wage, commuter benefits. What’s next on the list of items employers are going to have to offer their employees? Retirement benefits.
Curtailing Lump Sum Pension Payouts?
I applaud the IRS and Treasury for clamping down on lump-sum pension payouts. America’s pensions are in peril and the last thing it needs is more lump sum payouts which will exacerbate pension poverty.
Treasury Curtails Lump Sum Pension Payouts
In a sudden move, the Treasury Department said it will stop allowing employers to offer certain workers the option to take out their pensions in a lump sum. Notice 2015-49, Use of Lump Sum Payments to Replace Lifetime Income Being Received By Retirees Under Defined Benefit Pension Plans, applies as of July 9, 2015.
IRS, Treasury Halt Lump-Sum Buyouts for Retirees Getting a Pension
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service amended Treasury regulations last week to stop companies from offering lump-sum buyouts to retirees who already receive a monthly pension.
Pension advocate backs IRS rule banning annuity conversions to lump sums
A new IRS and Treasury Department ban on employers offering pension plan participants currently receiving monthly annuity benefits the option to convert their benefit to a cash lump sum was needed to protect retirees, a consumer advocacy group says.
Pension Rights Center Applauds Treasury Department/IRS for Protecting Retirees by Banning Lump-Sum Buyout Offers
WASHINGTON – In a welcome move by the Department of the Treasury and the IRS, the agencies released last week a notice to amend Treasury regulations to stop companies from offering lump-sum buyouts to retirees who are already receiving a monthly pension. The Pension Rights Center has been critical of these transactions, which erase the […]
PRC letter to Pensions & Investments responding to editorial about the Keep Our Pension Promises Act (July 13, 2015 — UPDATED)
The Pension Rights Center sent a letter to the editor of Pensions & Investments, in response to its negative editorial on the Keep Our Pension Promises Act of 2015. The text of the letter as published is below. Your June 29 editorial, “Defying economic reality,” does your readers a disservice by failing to accurately inform […]
