Month: June 2003

While it is always important for a plan fiduciary to have an ERISA attorney involved in advising them about their fiduciary duties under ERISA, CFO.com does provide some very good online resources and tools for ERISA plan fiduciaries: this 401(K) Checklist for Fiduciaries, and this article delving into why employees file lawsuits against their employers over their 401(k) plans, as well as this very handy Buyer’s Guide to 401(k) Plan Providers. The Guide allows users to compare the different providers and links allow the user to visit, from the online guide, the different websites of the various 401(k) providers.

Today’s Federal Register is here.

It really is true that the IRS is becoming more user-friendly! They have published today in their online version of their Employee Plan News the following:

New Revenue Procedure 2003-44, governing the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS)

A red-lined version of the Revenue Procedure
A Chart comparing the substance of the old Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc. 2002-47) and the new Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc. 2003-44)
A topical index to the Rev. Proc. (very handy when it comes to trying to find something in that voluminous document!)
And, yes! it’s true!, a powerpoint presentation of the changes made to EPCRS by this new Rev. Proc.

Also, coming this summer, says the IRS is a new Correction Programs CD-ROM with video clips and a comprehensive overview of the program.

More on pension funding with this article at PlanSponsor.com regarding a report by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) Corp. accounting analyst David Zion who sees the decline in interest rates as being the main reason behind the whole pension funding crises. More on the report by Arden Dale for the Associated Press at SFGate.com.

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was responsible for this country’s first income tax which was levied to help pay the army in the Civil War? According to today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal, citizens complied by declaring their own income and publishing the figure in the newspaper–it was assumed that no one would publicly lie.

Mr. Svenson points out this article by John Dvorak for PC Magazine on what the future might look like for blogging.

Two articles analyzing the DOL Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-3 regarding allocation of plan expenses have been posted: one article by Jeffrey Kroh at Pepper Hamilton LLP and another article by Cigna at Cigna.com.

Benefitslink points us to this wonderful article by the Small Business Council of America which will be published as Chapter 15 in the “New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation.” The article discusses how small businesses can utilize cafeteria plans.

Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP has published a summary of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.

Today’s Federal Register is here and contains corrections to temporary regulations issued under section 1502 of the Internal Revenue Code, pertaining to the suspension of losses on certain stock dispositions.

Benefits are certainly in the news today. The protests in Europe which began in France over pensions has spread to Austria, Germany and Italy as reported by Catherine Bremer for Reuters with demonstrators touting: “Make the jet set pay” and “Retirement for everyone at 60.” And then there is this article by Jonathan Chevreaua at the National Post in Canada: “Actuaries fended off day of reckoning over pensions: Regulators are … trying to identify the wounded so they can be shot.”

Regarding this hearing of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Richard H. Baker (LA), which was held yesterday, to discuss accounting treatment of employee stock options, the Associated Press for the Boston Globe reports that “fault lines are forming in Congress” over the issue. FASB Chairman Robert Herz wants Congress to stand aside and let FASB regulate the matter. The Board is currently working on a proposed rule which will be submitted for public comment. This article by Carolyn Lockhead for the Chronicle Washington Bureau at SFGate.com–“Stock options battle raging; State lawmakers aid Silicon Valley“–indicates that congressional subcommittee members seemed more “friendly” to legislation sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, and Rep. David Dreier, R- San Dimas (Los Angeles County), that would prevent expensing of options but require greater disclosure. Today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal in an article by Judith Burns reports that Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Vocker, a trustee on the International Accounting Standards Board, reminded the panel that European companies likely will start expensing stock options in 2005 and that “lavish options awards to U.S. executives” may have been a major contributor to the recent corporate scandals. The article reports that “lawmakers are split.”

Today’s Federal Register is here and contains corrections to temporary regulations issued under section 1502 of the Internal Revenue Code, pertaining to the suspension of losses on certain stock dispositions.

Benefits are certainly in the news today. The protests in Europe which began in France over pensions has spread to Austria, Germany and Italy as reported by Catherine Bremer for Reuters with demonstrators touting: “Make the jet set pay” and “Retirement for everyone at 60.”

Regarding this hearing of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Richard H. Baker (LA), which was held yesterday, to discuss accounting treatment of employee stock options, the Associated Press for the Boston Globe reports that “fault lines are forming in Congress” over the issue. FASB Chairman Robert Herz wants Congress to stand aside and let FASB regulate the matter. The Board is currently working on a proposed rule which will be submitted for public comment. This article by Carolyn Lockhead for the Chronicle Washington Bureau at SFGate.com–“Stock options battle raging; State lawmakers aid Silicon Valley“–indicates that congressional subcommittee members seemed more “friendly” to legislation sponsored by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, and Rep. David Dreier, R- San Dimas (Los Angeles County), that would prevent expensing of options but require greater disclosure. Today’s edition of the Wall Street Journal in an article by Judith Burns reports that Former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Vocker, a trustee on the International Accounting Standards Board, reminded the panel that European companies likely will start expensing stock options in 2005 and that “lavish options awards to U.S. executives” may have been a major contributor to the recent corporate scandals. The article reports that “lawmakers are split.”