Lesson 2 of Retirement Planning: Pension Plans and Profit Sharing Plans Flashcards
What amounts for Pension Plans PBGC amounts are not provided on the CFP Board Exam
PBGC Monthly Benefit at Age 65 = $6,750
PGBC Yearly Benefit at Age 65 = $81,000
Not provided on the CFP Exam
Pensions Plans!
Background of Pension Plans?
Pension Plan Characteristics
Defined Benefit Pension Plans vs. Defined Contribution Pension Plans
Defined Benefit Pension Plans
Cash Balance Pension Plans
Money Purchase Pension Plans
Target Benefit Pension Plans
Background of Pension Plans
Traditional Pension Plan
Legal Promise of a Pension Plan
Traditional Pension Plans Promise a Defined Benefit Amount
Traditional Pension Plan
The traditional pension plan pays a formula-determined benefit beginning at retirement, usually in the form of an annuity, to a plan participant’s remaining life.
Legal Promise of a Pension Plan?
Legal Promise = To Pay a Pension
4 Types of Pension Plans
Defined Benefit Pension Plans:
- Defined Benefit Pension Plans
- Cash Balance Pension Plans
Defined Contribution Pension Plans:
- Money Purchase Pension Plans
- Target Benefit Pension Plans
Traditional Pension Plans Promise a Defined Benefit Amount
Traditional pension plans promise a certain defined benefit amount available at the time of a participant’s retirement.
- This benefit, the present value of which can be calculated at any given time during the employee’s service, is most commonly based on a combination of the participant’s years of service with the company and the participant’s salary. An example of a common pension plan benefit formula is illustrated below (percent per year, years of service, and salary used can vary based on plan documents):
Formula for “Annual Pension Benefit Amount”
An example of a common pension plan benefit formula is illustrated below (percent per year, years of service, and salary used can vary based on plan documents):
Example of Annual Pension Benefit Amount
Assume that Jack works for XYZ company, which sponsors a a defined benefit plan with a ben-
efit formula of 1.5 percent times the years of service times the final salary. Assuming that Jack
worked for XYZ for 40 years and that his final salary is $100,000, he would be entitled to an
annual benefit of
$60,000 per year (1.5% × 40 x $100,000) during retirement. If Jack were to live for 30 years in retirement. XYZ would have to pay a total of $1.8 million in retirement benefts to Jack. (Note that pension benetits are not normally adjusted tor inflation)
Exam Question
A company’s defined benefit pension plan utilizes a funding formula that considers years of service and average compensation to determine the pension benefit payable to the plan participants If Brenda is a participant in this defined benefit pension plan and she has 30 years of service with the company and average compensation of $75,000, what is the maximum pension benefit that can be payable to Brenda at her retirement?
a) $18,000
b) $54,000
c) $75,000
d) $265,000.
Answer: C
The maximum amount payable from a defined benefit pension plan is the lesser of $265,000
(2023) or 100 percent of the average of the employee’s three highest consecutive years compensation. Because the average of Brenda’s compensation is $75,000, she would be limited to
receiving a pension benefit at her retirement of $75,000
Pension Plan Characteristics
Government Requirements + PGBC
Mandatory Funding:
- Defined Benefit Plans
- Defined Contribution Pension Plans
Disallowance of In-Service Withdrawals
Limited Investment in Employer Securities
Limited Investment in Life Insurance:
- 25 Percent Test
- 100-to-1 Ratio Test
Government Requirements + PGBC
For qualified pension plans, the government requires:
- mandatory annual funding,
- disallows most in-service withdrawals,
- limits the investment of the plan assets in the employer’s securities, and
- limits the investment of the plan assets in life insurance.
In addition, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) was established to
provide additional protection to lower-wage participants of defined benefit plans.
Mandatory Funding - Defined Benefit Plan
The mandatory funding requirements help ensure that the future benefits promised by the defined benefit formula in the plan document are sufficiently funded and that the employer only deducts (shelters from tax) the amount necessary to fund the future promised benefit.
Mandatory Funding - Defined Contribution Pension Plan
The mandatory funding requirements for a defined contribution pension plan, either a money purchase pension plan or a target benefit pension plan:
- require that the plan sponsor fund the plan annually with an amount as defined in the plan document.
Disallowance of In-Service Withdrawals
An in-service withdrawal is any withdrawal from the plan while the employee is a participant in the
plan other than a loan.
- Plan loans are not in-service withdrawals because they are required to be paid back. Although loans are allowed by the IRC, most pension plans do not permit plan loans because the contributions are primarily funded by the employer.
Under the Pension Protection Act of 2006, defined benefit pension plans can now provide for in-service distributions to participants who are age 59 1/2 (as amended) or older. This in-service distribution can take the form of a bona fide phased retirement benetit
Limited Investment in Employer Securities
The assets of a pension plan may be invested in the securties of the employer/plan sponsor BUT the aggregate value of the employer securities cannot exceed 10 percent of the fair market value of the pension plan assets at the time the employer securties are purchased.
- Employer securities are any securities issued by the plan sponsor or an affiliate of the plan sponsor, including stocks, bonds, and publicly traded partnership interests.
In addition to the 10 percent limitation, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires defined
contribution plans holding publicly traded employer securities to allow plan participants to diversify their pretax deterrals after-tax contrbutions, and employer contributions. The employer must offer a choice of at least three investment options, other than employer securities.
Limited Investment in Life Insurance
Any qualified plan may purchase life insurance. As long as life insurance is not the primary focus of the plan, the government allows this exception from the ultimate retirement benefit promise because the death benefit of the life insurance policy is payable to the employee’s spouse and other survivors at the employee’s death.
Premiums paid by the employer for the life insurance policy, however, are taxable to the employee at the time of payment, to the extent of the Table I cost of insurance.
To maintain its qualified plan status, a qualified plan that includes life insurance must pass either:
- (1) the 25 percent test or
- (2) the 100-to-I ratio test.
25/50 Percent Test
The 25 percent test consists of two tests, a 25 percent test and a 50 percent test. The test used
depends upon the type of life insurance provided by the plan.
If a term insurance or universal life insurance policy is purchased within the qualified plan, the
aggregate premiums paid for the life insurance policy cannot exceed 25 percent of the employer’s aggregate contributions to the participant’s account.
If a whole life insurance policy is purchased within a qualified plan, the aggregate premiums paid for the whole life insurance policy cannot exceed 50 percent of the employer’s aggregate contributions to the participant’s account.
Universal or Term Life = 25%
Whole life = 50%
In either case, the entire value of the life insurance contract must be converted into cash or periodic income at or before retirement.
Example of 25/50 Percent Test
Morris is a participant in a qualified plan sponsored by his employer. The employer has made aggregated contributions for Morris of $100,000. His plan holds a $90,000 term life insurance policy on his life. The total premiums that have been paid for the policy are $4,000.
Because this is a term life insurance policy, the premiums paid cannot exceed $25,000 ($100,000x25%) per the 25 percent test. Since the premiums for this policy have been $4,000, the plan meets the 25 percent test.
Exam Question Limited Investment in Life Insurance
Which of the following statements concerning the use of life insurance as an incidental benefit
provided by a qualified retirement plan is (are) correct?
- The premiums paid for the life insurance policy within the qualified plan are taxable to the
participant at the time of payment. - Under the 25 percent test, if term insurance or universal life is involved, the aggregate premiums paid for the policy cannot exceed 25 percent of the employer’s aggregate contributions to the participant’s account. If a whole life policy other than universal life is used, however, the aggregate premiums paid for the whole life policy cannot exceed 50 percent of the employer’s aggregate contributions to the participant’s account. In either case, the entire value of the life insurance contract must be converted into cash or periodic income at or before retirement.
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2.
d) Neither 1 nor 2.
Answer: C
Statement 1 is correct. The premiums paid for the life insurance policy are taxable to the participant at the time of payment. Statement 2 is correct because the 25 percent test is actually a misnomer, for it is really two tests: a 25 percent test and a 50 percent test, depending on which type of life insurance protection is involved.
100-to-1 Ratio Test
The 100-to-1 ratio test limits the amount of the death benefit of life insurance coverage purchased to 100 times the monthly-accrued retirement benefit provided under the same qualified plan’s defined benefit formula.
Example of 100-to-1 Ratio Test
As a participant in her employer’s defined benefit plan, Jess has accrued a retirement benefit of
$4,000 per month.
Based on the 100-to-1 ratio test, the plan is limited to utilizing plan assets to purchase life insurance up to a face amount of $400,000 ($4,000 x100).
Defined Benefit Pension Plans vs. Defined Contribution Pension Plans
Differences?
Actuary
Commingled v.s. Seperate Individual Investment Accounts
Investment Risk
Allocation of Forfeitures
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Insurance
Benefits - Accrued Benefit/Account Balance
Credit for Prior Service
Integration with Social Secueity
Commingled Accounts
Younger/Older
Eligibility/Coverage/Vesting
Differences of Defined Benefit Pension & Defined Contribution Pension
The defined benefit pension plan and the cash balance pension plan are both defined benefit pension plans, whereas the money purchase pension plan and the target benefit pension plan are both defined contribution pension plans. The primary differences between the two categorizations of the plans include the following:
- the use of an actuary (annually or at inception);
- assumption of the investment risk (to the employer or to the employee);
- the disposition of plan forfeitures (reduce plan costs or allocate to remaining employees);
- coverage under the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC);
- the use of Social Security integration (offset or excess);
- the calculation of the accrued benefit or account balance;
- the ability to grant credit for prior service for funding; and
- the use of commingled funds versus separate, individual investment accounts
Actuary
Defined benefit plans require the use of annual actuarial services to determine the proper funding of the plan.
- Use of an actuary allows for some limited discrimination in benefit.
- Actuarial costs can drive up the administrative costs of a plan.
The target benefit pension plan, a defined contribution plan, uses actuarial assumptions only at the inception of the plan and does not require annual actuarial work.
The money purchase pension plan has no need for actuarial services because the annual contribution is predefined in the plan documents.
Commingled vs. Separate Individual Investment Accounts
Defined benefit pension plans use commingled investment accounts but send individual summaries to participants showing what benefits they have accrued to a certain date.
Most defined contribution plans, including target benefit and money purchase pension plans, use separate, individual accounts and require that the individual participant invest in his own retirement asset.
Investment Risk
In a defined benefit plan, the plan sponsor bears the investment risk.
In a defined contribution plan, the individual plan participant generally maintains their own account and bears the risk of investment.
Allocation of Forfeitures
For a defined benefit pension plan, the forfeited funds can only be used to reduce future plan costs for the employer.
The plan sponsor of a defined contribution pension plan, however, can choose to utilize plan forfeitures one of two ways, either to reduce future plan costs or the forfeitures can be allocated to other remaining participants in a nondiscriminatory manner.
Example of Allocation of Forfeitures
Antoine has an accrued benefit from his employer’s defined benefit plan equal to $6,000 per month at retirement. Based on the plan’s vesting schedule, however. Antoine has a vested
accrued benefit equal to $4,800 per month at retirement.
If Antoine terminates employment today, the $1,200 of nonvested assets in the defined benefit plan will be used to offset future plan costs.
( $6,000 - $4,800 )= $1,200
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Insurance (PBGC)
The plan sponsors of defined benefit pensions plans pay premiums for insurance coverage designed to pay the “promised pension” in the event the plan is underfunded or unfunded.
The PBGC pays only a limited retirement benefit ($6,750 per month or $81,000 per year (2023)) in the event of a plan completely or partially terminating with an unfunded or underfunded liability.
The PBGC does NOT insure defined contribution pension or profit sharing plans, AND
it does not insure defined benefit pension plans of professional service corporations with 25 or fewer participants.
The PBGC does insure that all other defined benefit plans and covered plans are required to pay a flat-rate, per participant premium.
Benefits - Accrued Benefit/Account Balance
Exam Tip: This is a Key to understanding DB vs DC plans.
A participant in a defined benefit plan has an accrued benefit roughly equal to the present value of the expected future payments at retirement discussed further below).
Accrued Benefit
Account Balance
Accrued Benefit
A defined benefit plan is subject to the mandatory funding requirement as calculated by an actuary.
An employee who terminates participation in the plan, usually through termination of employment
before full retirement age, will be entitled to a benefit payable from the plan equal to the retirement benefit earned to date. This benefit is the actuarial equivalent of the benefit that would have been provided to the participant had the participant waited until retirement to receive the payments.
In contrast, a participant in a defined contribution plan has an accrued benefit equal to the account balance of the qualified plan consisting of any combination of employer and employee contributions plus the earnings on the respective contributions reduced by any nonvested amounts.
Account Balance
The benefit in a defined contribution plan is simply the participant’s account balance reduced by any non-vested amounts.
The participants account balance is the sum of the employer contributions to the plan and the employee contributions to the plan plus or minus any investment earnings or losses.
Credit for Prior Service
An employer who establishes a defined benefit plan may elect to give employees credit for their service prior to the establishment of the plan. This means that an employee will receive “accrued benefits” in a DB plan based on his service prior to the start of the DB plan.
Granting credit for prior service must be nondiscrminatory, but may benefit an older owner-employer who does not have many long-term employees.
A defined contribution plan cannot grant credit tor prior service
Example of Credit for Prior Service
Seth started Snazzy Stereos 12 vears ago. His company is finally profitable, and he would like to
establish a defined benefit plan to benefit himself and his employees.
The plan will provide the employees with a benefit equal to 1.5 percent x years of service x final salary. If Seth elects when he establishes the plan to give credit for prior service, immediately Seth ‘s benefit would be based on 12 years of service; however, the plan must then count prior years of service for all employees.
Alternatively, Seth could choose not to count prior years of service in the calculatior
of the benefit, but then his benefit would only be calculated on years of service after the estab-
lishment of the defined benefit plan
Integration with Social Security - Permitted Disparity for Defined Benefit Plans
Permitted disparity (often referred to as Social Security Integration) allows a higher contribution or allocation of benefits to employees whose compensation exceeds the Social Security wage base for the plan year- a sort of “reverse discrimination.”
All qualified pension plans may utilize permitted disparity (Social Security integration) as a method of allocating benefits to plan participants. Permitted disparity allows the qualified plan to consider the Social Security benefits that will be provided to plan participants in the calculation of the participant accrual of benefit or contribution amount. Integration was designed to resolve this conflict.
There are two methods of permitted disparity:
- 1) the excess method and
- 2) the offset method.
- Defined benefit plans can use either method. Defined contribution plans are only permitted to utilize the excess method.
Excess Method - Defined Benefit Pension Plans and Defined Contribution Plans
The excess method provides an increased percentage benefit, referred to as the excess benefit, to those plan participants whose earnings are in excess of an average of the Social Security bases over the 35-year period pror to the individual’s Social Security Retirement Age. This wage average is called the covered compensation limit.
The increased percentage benefit only applies to income that exceeds the covered compensation
limit and is limited to the lesser of:
- (1) 0.75 percent per year of service or
- (2) the benefit percentage
for earnings below the covered compensation limit per year of service.
This additional benefit only applies up to 35 years. Therefore, the maximum increase In benefits for compensation over the covered compensation limit is 26.25 percent, which is found by multiplying 0.75 percent by 35
years
The 2nd or for less than, meaning?
Example of Excess Method
Maggie is a participant of Dress Depot’s defined benefit pension plan, earns $150,000 per year,
and has been employed with Dress Depot for 30 years. The base funding formula for Dress
Depot’s defined benefit plan is one percent per year of service multiplied by final salary. Under
this formula, Maggie would have a benefit equal to $45,000 (1% x30 x$150,000).
In addition, Dress Depot also provides an additional benefit of 0.75 percent per year of service for income that exceeds the covered compensation limit. Assuming that the covered compensation limit is $100,000, Maggie would be entitled to an additional benefit of $11,250 (0.75% x30* 550,000). (150,000 - 100,000)
Therefore, by integrating the plan with Social Security, Maggie receives $11,250 more during retirement than she would have received if the plan had not been integrated.
Note: the $100,000 in this problem is an assumed covered compensation limit, which represents the annual covered compensation limit over a 35-year period.
Defined Benefit Pension Plans (only for DB plans)
To provide an increased benefit to those individuals whose earnings are in excess of the covered compensation limit, the offset method applies a benefit formula to all earnings and then reduces the benefit on earnings below the covered compensation limit.
The reduction of the benefit is limited to the lesser of:
- (1) 0.75 percent per year of service up to 35
years or
- (2) 50 percent of the overall benefit funding percentage per year of service.
As with the excess method, the total reduction is limited to 26.25 percent of the earnings below the 35 year covered compensation limit.
The 2nd or for less than?
Example of Offset Method
Consider the same facts as before except that Dress Depot’s defined benefit funding formula is
1.75 percent per year of service multiplied by final salary and includes an offset reduction that
reduces the benefit for earnings below the covered compensation limit by 0.75 percent.
In this case, Maggie would receive a benefit equal to $56,250 [(1.75% x 30 x $150,000) - (0.75% x 30
× $100,000)].
The above examples were designed to illustrate that the same outcome could be reached whether you followed the excess benefit method or the offset method. The important concept, however, is that defined benefit plans can be structured in such a way as to provide higher benefits to those employees who have compensation above the 35 year covered compensation limit.
Commingled Accounts
A defined benefit plan does not maintain separate accounts for each participant, although each participant is entitled to a calculated accrued benefit.
The assets of a defined benefit plan are managed as a group, and it is impossible to segregate any individual participant’s funds. Benefits are paid from the pool of assets.
Younger / Older
A defined benefit plan is generally considered to benefit older participants because at the creation of the plan, the largest percentage of the overall contribution to the plan will be attributable to the older participant(s).
In addition, defined benefit plans can consider prior service.
Eligibility/Coverage/Vesting
Defined benefit plans follow the eligibility, coverage (including the extra 50/40 test), and vesting rules as described in the previous section.
Chart of Defined Benefit Plans vs Defined Contribution Plans
- Actuary (Annually)
- Investment Risk Borne by
- Treatment of Forfeitures
- PGBC Insurance
- Credit for Prior Service
- Social Security Integration
- Seperate Investment Accounts
- Favors Younger/Older
Defined Benefit Pension Plans
Establishing the Formulas for Benefits:
- To determine the retirement benefit provided under a defined benefit plan, the plan’s funding and allocation formula must be established. The most common benefit formulas are:
- (1) the flat amount formula,
- (2) the flat percentage formula, and
- (3) the unit credit formula
Flat Amount Formula
The flat amount formula provides an amount that each plan participant will receive at retirement,
such as $250 per month. The formula is not based on years participant’s salary.
From the highest paid participant to the lowest paid plan participant, each participant will receive the same amount at retirement.
Flat Percentage Formula
The flat percentage formula provides all plan participants with a benefit equal to a specific percentage of the participant’s salary,
- usually the final salary or an average of the participant’s
highest salaries.
The percentage remains the same throughout participation in the plan and does not increase based on additional years of service or age.
Unit Credit Formula
The unit credit formula utilizes both a participant’s years of service and salary to determine the participants accrued benefit.
Unit credit formulas provide a fixed percentage of a participant’s salary multiplied by the number
of years (the unit) the participant has been employed by the employer. **The salary may be average of the final three years, highest average three years or some iteration of that the employer chooses. **
The multiplier is chosen by the plan sponsor and is typically between 1 and 2 percent
Defined Benefit Pension Plan Formula Charts
Exam Question
Which of the following is (are) a defined benefit plan formula(s)?
a) Unit benefit (a.k.a, percentage-of-earnings-per-year-of-service) formula
b) Flat-percentage formula.
c) Flat-amount formula
d) All of the above:
Answer? D
All of the above are benefit formulas used by defined benefit plans.
Cash Balance Pensions Funds
What Are They, Cateogirzed as, More Info?
Contributions and Earnings
Quasi-Seperate Accounts
Younger/Older
Eligibility/Coverage/Vesting
Conversions to a Cash Balance Plan
What Are They, Cateogirzed as, More Info?
A cash balance plan is a defined benefit pension plan that shares many of the characteristics of defined contribution plans BUT provides specific defined retirement benefits.
From the participant’s perspective, a cash balance plan is a qualified plan that consists of an individual account with guaranteed earnings attributable to the account balance. HOWEVER, the account that the employee sees is merely a hypothetical account displaying hypothetical allocations and hypothetical earnings.
Because the cash balance pension plan is a defined benefit pension plan, it is subject to all of the requirements of defined benefit plans and pension plans.
Contributions and Earnings
When a cash balance pension plan is established, the plan sponsor develops a formula to fund the cash balance hypothetical allocation. This formula consists of a Pay Credit and an Interest Credit.
The pay credit may be integrated with Social Security to produce a higher benefit percentage to those participants who earn a salary above the Social Security wage base or may be based on a combination of age and years of service - thus rewarding participants for longer service.
The plan sponsor is responsible for the investment performance of the plan’s assets and earnings. The benefit, which is a guaranteed return and is determined under the plan document, will be payable to the participant at retirement regardless of the plan’s true
earnings, whether greater than or less than the
benefit provided by the plan formula.
Therefore a cash balance formula might be structured as follows:
- 5% pay credit with a guaranteed
interest credit of 2%.
- Each year, a hypothetical contribution of 5% of salary is contributed to the plan and the balance earns a guaranteed 2% rate of return.
Quasi-Seperate Accounts
A cash balance pension plan does not have separate accounts for each participant even though the plan participant receives a statement detailing a separate account in his name.
A cash balance pension plan consists of a commingled account that has a value equal to the actuarial equivalent of the present value
of the expected future benefits that will be paid from the cash balance pension plan to the participants (the promised contribution and earnings).
Younger/Older
A cash balance pension plan is generally more beneficial for younger participants because the formula is generally based on the number of years the participant is employed by the plan sponsor with a guaranteed rate of return.
Younger participants have more years of contributions and earnings than older
participants.
Eligibility/Coverage/Vesting
The cash balance pension plan follows the rules and requirements for eligibility, coverage, and vesting previously described.
Remember that a Cash Balance Plan uses 3 year cliff vesting.
Conversions to a Cash Balance Plan
A cash balance “conversion” occurs when an employer changes from a traditional defined benefit pension plan into a cash balance plan.
Under the PPA 2006, a hybrid plan must meet three main requirements.
- The first requirement is that a participant’s accrued benefit, as determined as of any date under the terms of the plan, would be equal to or greater than that of any similarly situated, younger participant. For this purpose, an individual is similarly situated to a participant if the individual and the participant are (and always have been) identical in every respect (including period of service, compensation, position,
date of hire, work history, and any other respect) except for age. - The second requirement is that the interest rate used to determine the interest credit on the account balance in the hybrid plan must NOT be greater than a market rate of return, to be determined under regulations to be issued.
- The third requirement is that for plan years beginning after 2007, the hybrid plan must provide 100 percent vesting after three years of service.
The PA 2006 also addresses the “whipsaw effect” by providing that the distribution of a participant’s hypothetical cash balance account is sufficient to satisfy his or her benefit entitlement from distributions after the date of enactment.
Thus, employers are no longer penalized for using a higher interest credit.
Exam Tip:
Cash Balance plans are a popular choice to get rid of old expensive DB plans.
Exam Question Cash Balance Pension Plans
All of the following statements concerning cash balance pension plans are correct EXCEPT:
a) The cash balance plan is generally motivated by two factors: selecting a benefit design that employees can more easily understand, and as a cost-saving measure.
b) The cash balance plan is a defined benefit plan.
c) The cash balance plan has no guaranteed annual investment return to participants.
d) The cash balance plan is subject to minimum funding requirements.
Answer: C
A basic component of a cash balance plan is the guaranteed minimum investment return.
Money Purchase Pension Plans
Why are they, defined as, more information?
Contribution Limit
Seperate Accounts
Younger/Older
Impact on the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA 2001)
Eligibility/Coverage/Vesting
Why are they, defined as, more information?
A money purchase pension plan is a defined contribution pension plan that provides for a contribution to the plan each year of a fixed percentage of the employees’ compensation..
Specifically, the employer promises to make a specified contribution to the plan for each plan year, but the employer is not required to guarantee a specific retirement benefit.
Contribution Limit
An employer cannot deduct contributions to the plan in excess of 25 percent of the employer’s total covered compensation paid.
Defined contribution plans are limited to contributing, on behalf of each participant, the lesser of 100 percent of the participant’s compensation or $66,000 for 2023 to the plan.
Separate Accounts
Contribution to a money purchase plan are made to a separate account on behalf of each participant.
Younger/Older
A money purchase pension plan, like all defined contribution plans, benefits younger participants more than older participants because of the increased number of contributions and compounding periods.
Impact of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA 2001)
EGTRRA 2001 increased the contribution limit for profit sharing plans to 25 percent (from 15 percent) putting defined contribution pension and profit sharing plans on “equal contribution levels”
- Since profit sharing plans do not require mandatory funding (more flexible), this law virtually ends the creation of new money purchase pension plans.
Eligibility/Coverage/Vesting
The money purchase pension plan is subject to all of the eligibility, coverage, and vesting rules
applicable to defined contribution pension plans described previously.
As defined contribution plans, they are subject to the shorter vesting requirements established under PA 2006 (2-to-6 year graduated or 3-year cliff vesting schedule).
Exam Question noncontributory Plans
Generally, which of the following
are noncontriutory plans?
- 401(k) and money purchase pension plans.
- 401(k) and thrift plans.
- Thrift plans and ESOPs.
- Money purchase pension plans and profit sharing plans.
a) 4 only
b) 1 and 2.
c) 3 and 4
d 1, 2, 3, and 4
Answer: A
Employers generally contribute to money purchase pension plans, ESOPs, and profit sharing plans. Employees contribute (thus contributory plans) to 401(k)s and thrift plans.
Target Benefit Pension Plan
A special type of money purchase pension plan, known as a target benefit pension plan, determines the contribution to the participant’s account based on the benefit that will be paid from the plan at the participant’s retirement.
The plan formula may be written to provide a contribution to each participant during the plan year that is actuarially equivalent to the present value of the benefit at the participant’s retirement. This will provide a greater contribution for older participants.
An actuary is required at the establishment of the target benefit pension plan, but unlike a defined benefit plan or a cash balance pension plan, an actuary is not required on an annual basis.
This plan does not fund the plan with the amount necessary to attain the target at retirement rather the employer promises a contribution to the participant’s individual account based on the original actuarial assumptions. Once the contribution has been made, the participant is responsible for choosing investments. Like any defined contribution plan, the participant, at retirement, is entitled to the plan balance regardless of its value, be it greater
than or less than the intended target benefit.
The target benefit pension plan is a form of money purchase pension plan; consequently, the target benefit pension plan is subject to all of the same contribution, eligibility, coverage, vesting, and distribution limitations as the money purchase pension plan.
Like the money purchase pension plans, EGTRRA2001 has generally eliminated their usefulness. Instead, employers are establishing age-weighted profit sharing plans so that the contributions to the plan each year are discretionary rather than mandatory but still favor older employees.
Profit Sharing Plans!
A profit sharing plan is a plan established and maintained by an employer to provide the participation in profits by employees or their beneficiaries.