Compliance December 19, 2011

IRS Extends Transfer Relief for Certain Puerto Rican Trusts

December 19, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended transitional relief for certain Puerto Rican group trusts and certain qualified retirement plans.
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Specifically, Notice 2011-6 extends and expands the transition relief relating to the treatment of transfers of assets from a qualified plan to plans that are qualified under the Puerto Rican code for certain group trusts, certain retirement trusts that qualify under the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code and that participate in group trusts and certain qualified retirement plans that benefit Puerto Rico residents. The notice also provides additional time for governmental retiree benefit plans described in § 401(a)(24) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) (§ 401(a)(24) plans) to be amended to satisfy the applicable requirements of Rev. Rul. 2011-1, which extended transitional relief from those transfers being considered a plan distribution to January 1, 2012.  

The IRS said it recognizes that a sponsor of a qualified retirement plan that benefits Puerto Rico residents may need additional time to evaluate whether to spin-off the portion of the plan benefiting Puerto Rico residents to a section 1022(i)(1) plan in order to consider the effect of the changes to the Puerto Rico Code enacted earlier this year.  

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The Notice modifies Rev. Rul. 2008-40 to extend the relief under the Transition Relief heading in Rev. Rul. 2008-40 (“Transfers to plans under section 1022(i)(1) of ERISA”) for transfers to a section 1022(i)(1) transferee plan from any qualified retirement plan until December 31, 2012, regardless of whether the qualified retirement plan participates in a group trust.  

In the case of a § 401(a)(24) plan for which the authority to amend the plan is held by a legislative body that meets in legislative session, the plan will not fail to satisfy the requirements of Rev. Rul. 2011-1 if the governing document is modified to satisfy the applicable requirements of Rev. Rul. 2011-1 by the earlier of the close of the first regular legislative session of the legislative body with the authority to amend the plan that begins on or after January 1, 2012, or January 1, 2015.   

The IRS is requesting comments on the Notice.  

Full text of the Notice is available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-12-06.pdf.
Products December 19, 2011

Schwab Launches Enhancements to StreetSmart Edge

December 19, 2011 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Charles Schwab launched a suite of enhancements to StreetSmart Edge, its platform for active traders. 
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The new tools are integrated into the StreetSmart Edge workflow to help clients identify new trading opportunities and execute their trading strategies.

Highlights of the new features include:

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•  Flexible order entry capabilities that allow traders to edit orders directly from charts without navigating to the trading or order status screens within the StreetSmart Edge workflow. Traders can now close positions or edit existing orders directly from charts that already show their current positions and open orders relative to current market prices, reducing the time it takes to execute trading strategies.

•  Customizable stock screening with Screener Plus, a stock selection tool that helps clients identify possible trading opportunities by filtering stocks based on a range of fundamental and technical criteria. Traders can set the parameters that are most important to them and then integrate Screener Plus results with their pre-defined watch lists.

•  Enriched market monitoring with the Momentum Tool, giving traders a graphical view of potential momentum shifts for a customized list of securities. This feature provides an at-a-glance view of whether market participants have been increasing or decreasing their posted quotes, allowing clients to view the ebb and flow of market sentiment and possibly helping them determine when to enter or exit positions.

•  Integrated access to Schwab’s ETF Screener gives traders the ability to search for ETFs from a variety of issuers within StreetSmart Edge on a range of criteria, including exposure to various markets, industries, sectors and asset indexes.

•  Additional decision-making and decision-tracking resources for traders, including the Trader’s Marketplace and Notes. Trader’s Marketplace streamlines trading research by providing access to third-party tools as well as Schwab’s proprietary research all in the same place within the StreetSmart Edge platform. Clients can also purchase a variety of tools from third-party vendors at discounted rates within Trader’s Marketplace. With Notes, clients can jot down comments and even take a chart snapshot, helping them later evaluate their trading activity and decision-making process.

“To be successful in a fast-moving market, active traders need to be able to efficiently identify and act on trading opportunities,” says Kelli Keough, vice president of active trading at Charles Schwab. “Our latest platform upgrade delivers a combination of sophisticated analytical tools and flexible trading features to help traders do just that, in a way that seamlessly fits into their trading workflow.”

In addition to the platform enhancements, active traders can now use Schwab’s new application for the Apple iPad to access charting features, tools and other trading features with the convenience of their iPad.

For more information, visit www.schwab.com/ssedge or call 1-877-566-0905.  

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