PRC In the News

IRS grants church-plan status to St. Peter’s Healthcare System
The IRS has granted church-plan status to the defined benefit pension plan of Saint Peter’s Healthcare System, New Brunswick, N.J., exempting it from Employee Retirement Income Security Act rules on reporting, minimum contributions and paying premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Courts, Rather Than IRS, May Be Arbiter Of Church Plan Exemption, Practitioners Say
Recent Internal Revenue Service rulings on the “church plan” status of retirement plans sponsored by large hospital systems, including a ruling apparently received by the Saint Peter’s Healthcare System Retirement Plan, indicate that the IRS is disinclined to modify its long-standing interpretation of church plan exemption under federal pension law, practitioners told BNA Aug. 23.

Free legal assistance for problems collecting pension benefits
Q: My husband passed away earlier this year. When I applied for his pension survivor’s benefit I was informed I was not eligible. He was out on disability when he was forced into retirement and never officially signed paperwork regarding his pension. By default he was receiving a higher monthly payout which automatically did not […]

Groups Say Lifetime Income Guidance Should Be Flexible, Provide Protections
Any guidance promulgated by the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration on lifetime income illustrations should be optional for retirement plans and provide fiduciary protections, retirement and financial industry groups say in comment letters.

An X-ray of one affluent, educated and sophisticated investor’s portfolio shows how it was chewed up by fees
Helping an ex-Fortune 500 retiree prepare for her appearance before Congress, the author waded through a mountain of paper only to discover that the woman was likely to outlive her portfolio.

Tracking down retirement benefits from a previous job
Q: I am 65, retired and living on Social Security. I had a supplemental retirement plan with Joslyn Corp., where I worked for 13 years until January 1979. I have tried all the government databases and Google, to no success. I know the company has been sold, but that’s all I know. Supposedly, I have […]

Labor secretary’s job might be new, but his plate is full
Thomas Perez, the new secretary of labor, will have little time to make an immediate imprint on retirement issues as he inherits the already packed regulatory agenda of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, including a controversial new fiduciary rule.