Toth Law and Toth Consulting

Toth Law and Applied Pension Professionals support service providers who develop, distribute and maintain retirement plan products and services, as well as fiduciaries, boards, plan sponsors and individuals using these products. We provide unbiased advice related to complex product issues, ongoing administration and process improvement, and plan corrections.

The Hidden Importance of Plan Administration in Time of Tragedy

By Robert Toth

December 21, 2020

The federal government’s response to widespread personal tragedy has nearly always involved adjusting the rules to retirement plans. So many of these rule changes come at benefit professionals with great speed and little guidance, yet we need to make them work. This is because the work we do is critically important to people’s lives, though we rarely see it because of the focus on making the damnable rule changes somehow fit into our already overburdened processes and systems. This impact also shows up when the tragedy…

The Business of Benefits

Pooled Employer Plans Are Nearly Upon Us: A Review of the Glossary May Help With Your Assessment

By Robert Toth

December 7, 2020

I like to tell people that there is a backstory to the 2012 Advisory Opinion MEP letter request of ours which was roundly rejected by the DOL, at a time when the whole idea of unrelated employers partaking in a single plan was widely met with skepticism. I guess I need to be careful, though, in its telling, being reminded by the last verse of Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken” of the embellishment of the…

The Business of Benefits

The DOL’s Final ESG Investment Rules May Force Reassessment of “Church Plan Status” for Some Organizations

By Robert Toth

November 9, 2020

The DOL’s new ESG rules may have a curious impact on some church related organizations which utilize faith based standards in their retirement plan investments. Their ability to continue do may now turn on the manner in which they handle their status as a “church plan.” It arises because the ESG rules will NOT apply to “non-electing” church plans, as ERISA does not apply to churches unless they affirmatively choose it to do so. First…

The Business of Benefits

Remember, Some Sorts of Compensation Is Flat Out Illegal, Not Just “Prohibited”

By Robert Toth

October 19, 2020

We spend a lot of our time focusing on ERISA’s “Prohibited Transaction” rules, which extensively cover the manner in which compensation is paid under retirement plans, and how it is disclosed. Lurking darkly in the background behind all of our discussions of fee disclosure and how the prohibited transaction rules apply under 408(b)(2), however, is something most of us in the benefits world typically pay little attention to: the U.S. Criminal Code. We all have a…

The Business of Benefits

The IRS’s New 457(b) Resource Guides on Non-Compliance

By Robert Toth

October 5, 2020

Gary Lesser, co-editor of the Aspen Publisher’s 457(b) Answer Book, gave us a heads up about the IRS’s new resource page for sponsors (and IRS tips for auditors) on the impact of 457(b) failures, published September 25. Benefitslink (this links to its excellent news archives) also reported, along with that, the IRS’s 457(b) guidance on correcting elective deferrals. The resource guide and correction of excesses guidance look to be very useful tools. They not only…

The Business of Benefits

The Use, and Impact, of 408(b)(2) and 404(a)-5 Are Often Confused

By Robert Toth

September 8, 2020

ERISA’s Prohibited Transaction rules really are not well understood by much of the retirement plan market, yet they have a broad insidious affect anyone who is in the business. Simply put, no one can get paid from a plan’s assets, and no one’s compensation can be connected in any way to a plan’s assets, unless there is a specific prohibited transaction exemption which permits it. There are thousands of exemptions, if you count the “individually”…

The Business of Benefits

The Hard-To-Find “Pre-ERISA Vesting Rules” for Church and Governmental Plans

By Robert Toth

August 18, 2020

With few notable exceptions, the statutory and regulatory references we need in the administration of plans are at our fingertips from a number of easily accessible internet resources, a great deal of them actually available for free. Sometimes I do wonder how we were ever able to practice back in the 80’s and 90’s without these resources -which we do really now take for granted. One of the most annoying of those “notable exceptions” is…

The Business of Benefits

Are There “Partial Terminations” of 403(b) Plans ?

By Robert Toth

August 3, 2020

Of all the difficulties that employers face when they struggle with their decisions on managing employees during these disruptive times, it would seem that among the least of their immediate worries is whether or not-and to what extent-the variety of different steps they take to control costs causes a “partial termination” of their 401(k) plan. Whether or not, and what sort of, any reduction in force and for what period of time, will trigger the…

The Business of Benefits

PEP Comment to DOL Outlines the Structure of PEPs

By Robert Toth

July 21, 2020

We have submitted our comment to the DOL in response to its RFI on PEPs, including its inquiry as to whether a prohibited transaction exemption will be necessary to the operation of PEPs. We noted that it is our view that the new PEP rules do not add any new services to the marketplace. Rather, PEPs merely reorganize existing services to be provided in a different format, with the one exception is that it now…

The Business of Benefits

The DOL’s Fiduciary Rule Prohibited Transaction Exemption May Only Be Needed In Limited Plan Circumstances

By Robert Toth

July 13, 2020

Attempting to assess the impact of DOL’s newly proposed fiduciary “prohibited transaction exemption” (let’s call it the “Fiduciary PT”) is almost like trying to figure out a Rubik Cube, given all of the moving pieces. But ultimately there may not be many parties who actually will need it. Consider the following when trying to figure how this new rule affects things: Broker/dealers and registered reps who are not dually registered as Investment Advisers. The new Fiduciary PT…

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Toth Law and Toth Consulting Blogs

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The Hidden Importance of Plan Administration in Time of Tragedy

Pooled Employer Plans Are Nearly Upon Us: A Review of the Glossary May Help With Your Assessment

The DOL’s Final ESG Investment Rules May Force Reassessment of “Church Plan Status” for Some Organizations

Remember, Some Sorts of Compensation Is Flat Out Illegal, Not Just “Prohibited”

The IRS’s New 457(b) Resource Guides on Non-Compliance

The Use, and Impact, of 408(b)(2) and 404(a)-5 Are Often Confused

The Hard-To-Find “Pre-ERISA Vesting Rules” for Church and Governmental Plans

Are There “Partial Terminations” of 403(b) Plans ?

PEP Comment to DOL Outlines the Structure of PEPs

The DOL’s Fiduciary Rule Prohibited Transaction Exemption May Only Be Needed In Limited Plan Circumstances

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