Headlines about "Church-sponsored plans"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
The Standard to Provide 403(b) Program for Large Church Organization
Excerpt: "Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, working in partnership with the Church Benefits Board (CBB) and Retirement Wealth Management LLC, announced it has selected The Standard to be the provider of its $20 million 403(b) plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Opinion] The ERISA Church Plan Exception: Why the Lown Test is Improperly Narrow
Excerpt: "Part I of this Comment generally discusses the ERISA church plan exception, and how it has been interpreted by the Department of Labor. Part II discusses the judicial interpretation of the exception, and demonstrates how courts are not giving full effect to the statutory language." (Alliance Defense Fund)

'Faith Care' Helps Families Beat High Premiums - Christian Plans Aren't Insurance
Excerpt: "[Christian Care Medi-Share is] a charitable ministry that collects monthly contributions and disburses them among members to pay medical bills." (The News and Observer)

Escalating Health-Care Costs Hit Churches as Insurance for Pastors Draining the Coffers
Excerpt: "Declining church memberships, combined with aging clergy, rocketing health-care costs and dwindling donations, are creating conflicts for church leaders who are caught between caring for their ministers and managing budgets. At the same time, national researchers have found that mainline Protestant ministers tend to be more overweight, stressed and depressed -- all of which carry significant health risks -- than the general population." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Members of Ministry Rich in Spirit, Poor in Funds for Retirement
Excerpt: "A SOCIOLOGIST'S STUDY cites low pay, little savings and church-owned homes as factors contributing to ministers' bleak financial outlooks." (The Christian Chronicle)

2007 Year-End Compliance Reminders for Defined Contribution Plans not Subject to ERISA (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "This information applies to defined contribution plans, such as qualified governmental plans (including 'grandfathered' 401(k) plans), qualified church plans that do not elect to be covered by ERISA ('non-electing church plans'), 403(b) programs, and section 457 plans that are not subject to Title I of ERISA. Every year, defined contribution plan sponsors should make sure their plans meet certain compliance requirements, including those listed below. This publication identifies the materials you need to review and will help you prepare for year-end." (Prudential Retirement)

Case Sheds Light on Church Plan Exception
Excerpt: "Most benefits and insurance professionals familiar with COBRA administration clearly know that church plans are exempted from COBRA's requirements. What is less clear is when this exception actually applies. A recent district court case shed some light." (infinisource)

Updated Chart Shows COLA Increases in Penson Limits, Social Security Wage Base, for 2008
On October 18, the IRS issued News Release IR-2007-171, announcing the changes in pensions and benefits limits for 2008. That same day, the Social Security Administration announced the wage base (i.e., the maximum amount subject to social security taxes) for 2008. An updated chart, showing these limits for 1996 to 2008, is available at the above link. (Calhoun Law Group, P.C.)

Health Care Corporation's Plan Not Exempt from COBRA As Church Plan
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Health care systems and other organizations that have religious affiliations often maintain benefit plans for their employees that are assumed to be exempt from ERISA and COBRA. The final determination of whether this plan was a church plan, however, was left to a judge -- leading to a result that the employer may not have anticipated." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Please Take Survey by IRS Advisory Group: Improving the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System
Are an attorney, accountant, actuary, consultant, third-party administrator, financial services provider, or other kind of retirement plan practitioner? Please help an official IRS advisory group supply the IRS with ideas for improving the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, by completing this online survey or emailing your response to the group. The deadline is the end of next week (October 19). These recommendations will address, but not be limited to, the directive to the Secretary of the Treasury under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to continue updating and improving EPCRS. (IRS Advisory Committee (ACT) on Tax Exempt and Government Entities)

Overview: Final Section 403(b) Regulations Are Announced (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "On July 26, 2007, final regulations under Section 403(b) – providing for retirement savings through annuity contracts and mutual fund custodial accounts for employees of public schools and tax-exempt organizations and retirement income accounts for church employees and certain ministers – will be published in the Federal Register." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)

Compliance Checklist 2007 for Plans That Are Not Subject to ERISA (PDF)
13 pages. Excerpt: "The Checklist incorporates requirements for Governmental and Nonelecting Church Plans, Non-ERISA 403(b) Programs, 457 Plans, and Nonqualified Executive Benefit Plans, and provides information on the materials that you will need to file, filing due dates, and agencies to which the filings should be made." (Prudential Financial)

Archdiocese of Chicago to Freeze Workers' Pensions: Profit-Sharing Pool Gets Future Money
Excerpt: "The move by one of the country's biggest religious employers breaks from a 40-year commitment to a pension that guarantees payments for life and follows a trend of big employers toward shifting more of the risk for retirement onto workers. Officials of the archdiocese said the goal is not to save money -- contribution levels to the new plan will be the same as they were to the pension pool -- but to offer a better benefit." (Chicago Tribune; free registration required)

BenefitsLink Named 'Best of the Web' by Human Resource Executive Online
We're the only site in the 'Benefits' category! Thanks for letting us share this news with you. Excerpt: "With that in mind, we considered it fitting to present in this anniversary issue 10 of the best HR Web sites and 10 of the best HR blogs for your browser's Favorites/Bookmarks list. . . . [I]f it's about benefits, you'll find something about it on BenefitsLink. Just a cruise down its left side navigation/links bar, and you quickly get the idea how they chose the site's name back in 1995." (Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)

Priests' Trust Shaken: Clergy Say Mismanagement Left Pension Funds in Trouble
Excerpt: "Hundreds of distraught Boston-area priests are facing stark cuts in their retirement benefits as the Archdiocese of Boston scrambles to shore up its teetering pension system after decades of poor fiscal management." (Boston Herald)

Overview: Final HIPAA Rules on Nondiscrimination Fine-Tune Interim Rules
Excerpt: "A separate, but related, set of final regulations have been issued by the IRS that provide guidance under Code Sec. 9802(c) relating to the exception to the HIPAA nondiscrimination rules for certain grand-fathered church plans." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

2006 Year-End Compliance Reminders: For Defined Contribution Plans Not Subject to ERISA (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "This information applies to defined contribution plans, such as qualified governmental plans (including grandfathered' 401(k) plans), qualified church plans that do not elect to be covered by ERISA ('non-electing church plans'), 403(b) programs, and section 457 plans that are not subject to Title I of ERISA." (Prudential Retirement)

Overview: Pension Protection Act of 2006 -- Changes to Defined Benefit Governmental & Church Plans (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "This is one of a series of Pension Analyst publications providing information on specific aspects of the 2006 pension reform legislation affecting defined benefit plans. This publication focuses on those changes that are effective in 2006 and 2007 for defined benefit governmental plans and church plans that do not elect to be covered by ERISA ('non-electing church plans')." (Prudential Retirement)

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The ERISA and Employee Benefits Search of the Web's Best Articles and Sites is our new, customized search engine specifically designed for employee benefits professionals. It's powered by Google.com, and searches only the most important, thorough and timely articles and sites that have been handpicked by the editors at BenefitsLink.com over the past 10 years. If your job involves employee benefit plan compliance, administration, design and policy, the new search engine is for you! (BenefitsLink.com)

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