Insight
This site is brought to you by JPMorgan to help you stay on top of current happenings in the employee benefits world. Our goal is to provide strategic insights to employers that sponsor retirement, health & wellness, and compensation plans, based on ongoing developments on legislative, regulatory, and litigation fronts. If these articles are helpful to you, we encourage you to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter by clicking the "Insight Subscription" link to the left.
Recent Articles
| Jul 11, 2008 | Further HSA guidance released As health care costs continue to escalate, more and more employers are turning to health improvement programs in The IRS recently released Notice 2008-59. The notice provides guidance on health savings accounts in a number of areas, including contribution limits, eligibility, and administration and maintenance fees. The notice is provided in a question and answer format covering 42 items. The following article reviews those aspects of HSAs that are not covered in other guidance. |
| Jul 11, 2008 | Financial reporting of pension and postretirement benefit plan assets In March, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposed a FASB Staff Position that would amend FASB Statement No. 132(R), Employers’ Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits. In this article we review the proposal and discuss the issue of alternative asset valuation generally, with respect to both DB and DC plans. |
| Jul 11, 2008 | The next 401(k) policy initiative: adequacy The Government Accountability Office released a report titled "Private Pensions – Low Defined Contribution Plan Savings May Pose Challenges to Retirement Security, Especially for Many Low-Income Workers." In this article we review the GAO report and various policy initiatives being considered to improve 401(k) plan "adequacy." |
| Jul 11, 2008 | "Greater of" formulas and the IRS backloading position In September 2007 we discussed the Wheeler v. Boeing decision, in which a federal district court rejected the IRS's application of defined benefit plan “backloading” or accrual rules to a "greater of" formula in a cash balance plan conversion. Since then, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2008-7 and has now proposed regulations providing relief from the application of its anti-backloading analysis in the case of multiple formulas. |
| Jun 20, 2008 | PPA funding targets The JPMorgan PPA funding target exhibit describes in detail the calculation and application of the various PPA funding targets. |
| Jun 12, 2008 | Getting plan terminations right If a sponsor is no longer committed to the defined benefit (DB) system, if a decision has already been made to freeze or terminate the DB plan, what is the best way to wind things up? That issue – of DB "exit strategy" – is more complicated than it sounds. In this article we review the exit strategy process and considerations plan sponsors should be aware of. |
| Jun 12, 2008 | Health and wellness programs: a long-term perspective As health care costs continue to escalate, more and more employers are turning to health improvement programs in search of lasting solutions. As the short-term benefits of health improvement programs become more widely accepted, it is also important to consider the likely long-term impact of these programs. In this article, we look at health improvement programs through a long-term perspective. |
| Jun 12, 2008 | PBGC premiums after PPA PPA not only overhauled the funding rules for DB plans, but also changed the way premiums are assessed for the mandatory benefit guaranty insurance coverage provided by the PBGC. In this article, we discuss the changes to the premium calculations and touch on funding strategies to minimize these premiums. |
| Jun 6, 2008 | Current pension legislative and regulatory outlook In this article we survey current pension policy initiatives both in Congress and in the government agencies. |