Puerto Rico - INSIDER highlights
The December, 2003, edition of INSIDER focuses on recent developments and issues regarding health care, including Medicare Reform, Health Savings Accounts, and the trend in some states to import prescription drugs from Canada.
The January, 2004, edition contains several articles that should be of importance to employees in Puerto Rico:
- “Rate Reform Still on
Hold” has implications for sponsors of Defined Benefit Pension Plans. Unless there is some change in
the current legislation, sponsors of these plans are likely to see some increases in minimum required
contributions this year.
- The article, "Cash
Balance Debate Continues in Congress and the Courts," discusses the ongoing debate in the U.S.
Congress and the Courts regarding Cash Balance Plans, and the issue of whether or not these plans are age
discriminatory.
- The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s tentative decision with respect to a new standard on Stock
Option Accounting, to become effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2004, is discussed in
"Last Call for Preferable
Stock Option Accounting."
- The IRS’s final regulations on disclosing optional forms of benefit (see "Final Regulations on Disclosure of Optional Forms of Benefit Require Revisions to QJSA and QPSA Explanations") govern the content of
Qualified Joint & Survivor Annuity and Qualified Pre-retirement Survivor Annuity notices, and specify
requirements for disclosing the relative values of optional forms of benefits. All defined benefit plan
sponsors are affected by the final rules. Defined contribution plans that purchase annuities from
insurers must also comply.
Please feel free to call us with questions regarding the issues covered in these recent Insider newsletters or visit our website at http://insider.watsonwyatt.com.
Sincerely,
|
