The Broker Innovation Lab celebrates brokers and other benefits stakeholders who have embraced the changing marketplace to position themselves and their business for future success
As many small and midsized employers struggle for the first time to comply with certain requirements of the Affordable Care Act, it will be welcome news to learn that adding voluntary benefits to their offerings will not trigger any changes to the IRS W-2 reporting requirements.
Employers with dedicated benefits staff and sizable budgets can afford to hire outside advisers to help deal with the challenges associated with unbundled 401(k) plans, but for small to mid-sized companies, it's harder.
In light of the DOLs recent hardline stance on the subject of plan sponsor obligations under ERISA (GAP Stores and others have recently been sued in breach of fiduciary lawsuits), I believe that the new safe haven transparency standard for plan sponsors must be fiduciary-level transparency.
Have you heard of the Savers Credit? For retirees and pre-retirees, the credit can be a good reason to keep making retirement plan contributions as long as possible.