The Multiemployer Plans Committee sent a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans offering the expertise of the Multiemployer Plans Committee as a resource to the Joint Select Committee.
( )The Retirement System Assessment and Policy Committee published an issue brief providing an actuarial perspective on the role of U.S. tax policy in retirement security.
( )The winter StateScan Quarterly highlights state legislation in the past quarter related to auto insurance, health insurance marketplace changes, pension plans, principle-based reserving, and more. For a comprehensive review, log in to StateScan, the legislative and regulatory portal free for Academy members.
( )The Retirement System Assessment and Policy Committee published an issue brief on state-based initiatives to expand retirement coverage among workers who do not have access to employer-sponsored plans, and the alignment of these efforts with the Academy’s Retirement for the AGES principles.
( )The Multiemployer Plans Committee submitted a comment letter to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on modifications to the instructions for the 2017 Schedule MB (Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plan Actuarial Information) of the Form 5500.
The Academy published a new Essential Elements paper, Tax Treatment of Pensions and Insurance Protections, highlighting select tax treatments of pensions and insurance protections, and outlining the potential public policy trade-offs of changes to the tax code. Essential Elements is a series designed to make actuarial analyses of public policy issues clearer to general audiences.
The Academy announced a position statement in support of policy and educational initiatives to increase retirement income options within employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plans. Read the news release.
The Pension Committee submitted a comment letter to the AICPA Employee Benefit Expert Panel on the current ASC 960 reporting standards for defined benefit pension plans.
( )The Pension Practice Council sent a comment letter to the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System Board regarding the newly-adopted Terminated-Vested Member Buyout Program.
( )The Pension Committee submitted a comment letter to the ERISA Advisory Council regarding the Annual Funding Notice for Defined Benefit Plans (AFN).
( )The Pension Committee submitted a comment letter to Rep. Devin Nunes regarding incentives to provide annuity payouts from qualified plans.
( )The Social Security Committee released an issue brief on the 2017 Social Security Trustees Report that examines the social insurance program’s long-term solvency issues and recommends that Congress should act soon to improve the long-term financial outlook of the program.
( )The Pension Practice Council (PPC) published an issue brief that explores various methods to measure the financial health of pension plans.
( )The newest issue of Retirement Account includes items on the Multiemployer Committee’s Capitol Hill briefing on multiemployer pension plans; the Social Security Committee’s issue brief on Social Security and women; and comments to the IRS and Treasury Department on projections of cash balance plan benefits.
( )The Academy hosted a Capitol Hill briefing in connection with the release of its issue brief, Multiemployer Pension Plans: Potential Paths Forward. Pension Practice Council Vice President Bill Hallmark and Vice-Chairperson Josh Shapiro, and Christian Benjaminson, a member of the Multiemployer Plans Subcommittee, gave a presentation on how to address failing multiemployer plans and strengthen the multiemployer pension system. Senior Pension Fellow Ted Goldman moderated.
( )The Pension Committee submitted a comment letter to the IRS and Treasury Department on the projection of benefits under cash balance plans with variable interest credits.
( )The Social Security Committee produced an issue brief that discusses gender-related factors that can cause differences to the benefits women and men receive from Social Security. Read the news release.
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