BENEFITS DIGEST

Public-sector workers who cut back hours for caregiving likely do not know what it costs them at retirement, a new Pew study finds. A career worked at 20 hours a week produces roughly half the annual retirement income of a full-time career in a defined contribution plan, and the reductions run steeper still in defined benefit plans.

The proposal landed on August 20, and this new write-up explains why sponsors should welcome it. The current anti-abuse rule for mid-year amendments is so broad it can catch ordinary benefit improvements; the proposal narrows it to amendments that front-load costs out of proportion to the benefit. The package also lets sponsors adopt retroactive benefit increases up to the tax filing deadline, and plans may rely on the proposed rules immediately, so the planning opportunities start now.

Groom collects its August publications in one place, spanning DB plan funding rules, 45S credit and Saver's Match guidance, dependent care nondiscrimination, the wellness program enforcement relief, the e-delivery proposal, and the tobacco surcharge litigation.

On August 20, 2026, Treasury and the IRS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would significantly modify the minimum funding rules for single-employer defined benefit pension plans under Code section 430, including a new anti-abuse rule.

Milliman reviews key provisions of the proposed IRS regulations that would modify how single-employer DB plans determine their minimum funding requirements.

With the majority of large corporate DB plans now in surplus territory, Milliman lays out strategies for preserving that surplus and options for putting the excess funds to work.

Milliman explains why the PBGC’s new Coverage Assessment Program matters especially for professional service firms, whose defined benefit plans often sit under unique coverage rules.

As a reminder, the minimum funding rules under Section 430 establish how much an employer must contribute to a defined benefit pension plan each year to avoid excise tax penalties and satisfy related funding requirements.

Cash balance plans grew by 1,025% over two decades, according to an Ascensus report.

The IRS on Aug. 19 issued proposed regulations that would modify rules for the minimum funding requirement applicable to single-employer defined benefit plans.

IRS/Treasury proposed rule would exclude investment management fees from the plan-related expenses counted in a plan's target normal cost. It would also let sponsors adopt benefit-increasing amendments after the plan year ends, up to the tax return deadline, and still have them reduce that prior year's required contribution, potentially lowering minimum funding obligations for single-employer defined benefit plans.

PBGC filed a comment letter supporting FASB's proposal to discount qualifying market return cash balance obligations at the plan's assumed interest crediting rate. An accounting change rather than a compliance obligation, but one that would move reported pension obligations for hybrid plans.

A pensions specialist on why stale actuarial assumptions and mortality tables are fiduciary exposure, after a recent ruling found outdated data can violate ERISA. Fiduciary responsibility extends past investment oversight and into plan math.

In an unpublished memorandum, the Ninth Circuit affirmed an arbitration award holding that a multiemployer plan actuary's use of PBGC-published interest rate assumptions to calculate withdrawal liability violated ERISA's requirement that assumptions represent the actuary's best estimate of anticipated experience. The plan's 7 percent minimum funding rate applied instead. See The Second Thing above.

A pilot becomes policy: employers considering a defined benefit plan can now ask PBGC for a coverage determination before establishing the plan, removing a source of uncertainty for church-affiliated, professional-service, and Puerto Rico plan sponsors.

Corporate pension funded percentage leaps ahead in July, per Milliman's monthly tracking of the 100 largest U.S. corporate defined benefit plans.

On July 20, 2026, the PBGC proposed a framework modernizing how it calculates and enforces penalties for late required notices and filings, with daily penalty schedules ranging from $25 to $1,000 by violation severity and reductions or waivers for reasonable cause and self-correction. Plan sponsors should revisit compliance procedures for reportable events and section 4010 filings, as PBGC has ended its informal nonenforcement posture in these areas.

As the December 31, 2026 deadline approaches for adopting SECURE and SECURE 2.0 amendments, Milliman examines a key decision for defined benefit plan sponsors: whether to retain a required start date for benefit distributions that is earlier than the new later statutory required beginning date for RMDs, which has been raised to age 72, 73, and 75 depending on the participant's birth year.

A Milliman case study on designing a cash balance pension plan for a law firm's partners, allowing deferral of significant taxable income until retirement with contribution flexibility by career stage. The design supported deferrals exceeding $250,000 annually per participant, with potential accumulations over $3.5 million by retirement.

Private letter ruling addressing the section 4980 transfer of surplus assets from a terminating defined benefit plan to a replacement defined contribution plan. A PLR binds only its recipient.

An NCPERS survey suggests lower-stakes experimentation with artificial intelligence is happening more quickly than strategic integration.

Groom's July roundup collects the firm's month in publications and press, including the Cycle 4 Cumulative List for pre-approved defined benefit plans and Kreps on fiduciary partnerships in PLANADVISER.

VAPPs can help funded pension plans balance risk, support retirement income and create a more sustainable path forward.

The Labor Department filed an amicus brief with a federal appellate court addressing the standards for offloading defined benefit plan liabilities through pension risk transfers. The filing gives sponsors a first official read on how DOL views the safest available annuity analysis in the current PRT litigation wave.

The IRS has released Notice 2026-34, establishing the 2026 Cumulative List of Changes in Plan Qualification Requirements for Defined Benefit Pre-approved Plans (the “2026 Cumulative List”).

Background Under ERISA section 4043, defined benefit plan administrators must notify PBGC when certain “reportable events” occur. One of those events is a reduction in the active participant headcount.

Today’s retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), defined benefit pension plans, etc.) are growing ever more sophisticated, offering plan participants more features and options for increased retirement savings.

Hobbs, Esq. Britney, a retired singer and superstar, owns and operates Lucky Records (the “Company”), a record company in Los Angeles with 44 employees. The Company sponsors the Lucky Records 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan (the “PS Plan”) to help its employees save for retirement.

“Plan document providers have a little over a year to get their pre-approved defined benefit plans updated for these changes and submitted to the IRS. Stay tuned for ‘LRM’ sample language to help

Analysis of nearly 58,000 retirement plans over 16 years concludes that defined contribution plans without alternative investments delivered higher returns than defined benefit plans with significant

This update would amend Topic 715 of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, which governs the measurement of pension liabilities for a plan sponsor’s financial statements. Under the current