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Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT ...

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PROTECTING PLAN BENEFITS:IMPROVING GOVERNMENTAL DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN COMPLIANCEI. Executive Summary<strong>Government</strong> employees serve the public in many ways. They are public safetyprofessi<strong>on</strong>als, highway engineers, clerical professi<strong>on</strong>als, teachers, managers <strong>and</strong>armed services pers<strong>on</strong>nel. Regardless of occupati<strong>on</strong>, however, public employees arepassi<strong>on</strong>ate about employee benefits. This passi<strong>on</strong> extends to their employer-sp<strong>on</strong>soreddefined c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> plans.Thanks to favorable legislati<strong>on</strong>, initiatives undertaken by the IRS <strong>and</strong> other regulators<strong>and</strong> increasingly professi<strong>on</strong>al management, governmental employers now offer definedc<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> plans that are better than ever in terms of cost, quality <strong>and</strong> soundness ofoperati<strong>on</strong>s. By building <strong>on</strong> steps it has already taken to improve service, the IRS canhelp public sector employers take their retirement plans to the next level in terms ofbenefits, compliance <strong>and</strong> security.The objective of this report is to advance the interests of governmental retirement plans<strong>and</strong> their participants by developing recommendati<strong>on</strong>s that will ultimately help planssp<strong>on</strong>sors achieve their compliance objectives <strong>and</strong> thus protect employees’ planbenefits. The report includes informati<strong>on</strong> pertaining to Federal government retirementplans <strong>and</strong> State <strong>and</strong> local defined benefit plans. However, the primary focus is InternalRevenue Code Secti<strong>on</strong> 401(a), 401(k), 403(b) <strong>and</strong> 457(b) plans offered by the nati<strong>on</strong>’s79,000 State <strong>and</strong> local governments, 560 Federally-recognized Indian Tribal<strong>Government</strong>s, 16,000 public educati<strong>on</strong>al employers <strong>and</strong> 1,100 public healthcareinstituti<strong>on</strong>s 1 .Justificati<strong>on</strong>The <strong>ACT</strong> believes these recommendati<strong>on</strong>s are well-justified <strong>and</strong> timely c<strong>on</strong>sidering thefollowing:• Increased complexity in the governmental plan market place• An expected increase in IRS governmental plan audit <strong>and</strong> examinati<strong>on</strong> activity• Increased utilizati<strong>on</strong> of defined c<strong>on</strong>tributi<strong>on</strong> plans by governmental employers• History of governmental plans being underserved in terms of educati<strong>on</strong>, outreach<strong>and</strong> toolsAs previewed to the IRS executive team in June 2007, the recommendati<strong>on</strong>s focusprimarily <strong>on</strong> the potential establishment of a Pre-Approved Plan Program forgovernmental plans, tools <strong>and</strong> initiatives aimed at facilitating compliance across 401(k),401(a), 457(b) <strong>and</strong> 403(b) plans <strong>and</strong> general discussi<strong>on</strong> of governmental compliancechallenges, gaps <strong>and</strong> soluti<strong>on</strong>s.1 State of the 403(b) <strong>and</strong> 457 Marketplace, Challenges <strong>and</strong> Opportunities, Cerruli Associates, 2007ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (<strong>ACT</strong>) June 11, 2008 1

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