Ask the Experts November 1, 2011

(b)lines Ask the Experts – Why Age-50 Catch Up Limit Didn’t Increase

November 1, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – “Thanks for enlightening me in last week’s Ask the Experts column as to why retirement plan contribution limits increase. But I could not help but notice that the age-50 catch-up limit did not increase, but nearly all the other limits increased. Why did this occur?”
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Michael A. Webb, Vice President, Retirement Services, Cammack LaRhette Consulting, answers:  

Good question, and it is related to the indexing that we discussed last week (see (b)lines Ask the Experts – How Are Contribution Limits Set?). At the risk of repeating too much of last week’s column, the increase in the index used for such limits, the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, must increase by an amount sufficient for the limit to reach the next rounding increment.   

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The problem with the age-50 catch-up is that the amount is indexed in increments of $500, which is a large percentage of $5,500 (9%). Thus, the CPI-U has to increase over 9% for this limit to be raised. Compare that to the 402(g) limit, where the CPI-U only needed to increase by more than 3% ($500 divided by $17,000) for that limit to increase. The CPI-U has increased nowhere near 9% in recent years, so a few years may pass before there is an increase in the age-50 catch-up amount, depending on the rate of future price inflation.   

 

NOTE: This feature is to provide general information only, does not constitute legal advice, and cannot be used or substituted for legal or tax advice. 

Benefits October 31, 2011

Many Quebec SMEs Don’t Offer Pension Plans

October 31, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – According to the latest SME Confidence Index - Fonds de solidarité FTQ, 54% of Quebec's Small and Mid-Size Employers (SMEs) do not offer pension plans or other forms of contribution to employees’ pension plans.  
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Of this number, 93% do not intend to offer pension plans within the next three years, a press release said.

The SME Confidence Index stands at 67.4. The economic sluggishness plaguing Europe and the U.S. is affecting Québec SME leaders, pushing the index down by more than two points from May. That month, the reading was up slightly from February (+1 point).

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The Index also found the majority of SMEs are still projecting a sales increase in the next 12 months – a sharp decrease of 7.1 points compared to three months ago, indicating much greater concern about sales.

SME owners generally anticipate a net increase in their number of employees in Québec, but more than 25% expect it to stay the same or decrease. Down just 1.1 points, this indicator has remained fairly stable since May. 

Luc Godbout, a professor at Université de Sherbrooke and lead researcher in public finance at the Research Chair in Taxation and Public Finance, is especially interested in the labour shortage and the baby-boomer departure from the workforce. He said, “It’s astonishing how despite the fact that 40% of SMEs are already feeling the effects of the labor shortage on sales and believe that the imminent departure of the baby-boomers will affect their business, they are not clamoring to take advantage of the incentives offered by the Québec government to encourage experienced workers to remain in the workforce. The fact is that only one out of four favors holding onto workers by deferring their retirement. In-house training is a much more popular strategy, and sourcing is preferred to integrating immigrant workers.”

The online survey polled 215 Québec SMEs with 10 or more employees and sales of $5 million and greater. Respondents were invited to complete the survey between August 29 and September 8, 2011.

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