The Internal Revenue Service is mulling a new Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) designation to allow retirement plan professionals who are not approved to represent employers before the IRS to communicate with the IRS regarding retirement plan matters. In announcing the new designation, the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA) said in a statement that the ERPA designation “may effect changes in the professional credentialing and management decisions of individuals and firms within the industry,” adding that “new challenges and opportunities may arise for organizations to customize their credential and education programs in response to the changing environment.” ASPPA and the National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA) are jointly conducting an online survey to see how the ERPA designation may affect firms. ASPPA and NIPA said they plan to use the comments to “consider the impact of ERPA and further improvements to our credential and education programs.”
Contrary to popular belief, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s deficit is improving. The American Benefits Council (ABC) reported in mid-November that the PBGC’s deficit for 2006 fell to $18.1 billion, a $4.7 billion improvement from 2005. Lynn Dudley, ABC’s VP of retirement policy, says the drop comes as no surprise to ABC “in light of last year’s rising interest rates and investment market returns that assisted in strengthening defined benefit plans’ funded levels.” She says the PBGC’s “current assets can cover pension payments coming due for a number of years into the future, and our exposure to additional losses has declined,” adding that “the vast majority of DB plans are well-funded and the PBGC is stable.”