Global Benefit and Compensation Issues

The health care reform bills currently being considered by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives include a provision that, if enacted, would eliminate the tax-free nature of the retiree drug subsidy (RDS) payments received by employers providing prescription drug benefits.

Regulations abolishing a common form of defined benefit plan in Japan have spurred employer interest in defined contribution pension plans. But as the deadline for sunsetting this type of DB plan approaches, employers must make some choices.

A major provision of India’s Finance Act 2009 is the abolition of the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) on employers. FBT is currently imposed on many types of benefits and perquisites, including some superannuation contributions. The provision lifts the tax liability from the employer and places it on employees, who will now be taxed on these perquisites as a benefit-in-kind.

Following fi nalization of the Code of Practice, the U.K. Pensions Regulator now has extended powers under the Pensions Act 2008 to ensure that companies do not avoid their pension plan obligations. The increased authority took effect retroactively and applies to events on and after April 14, 2008.

Germany's pension insurer, known as the PSV, has announced that its 2009 premium rates will increase dramatically, and a similar increase is widely anticipated in 2010. The latest predicted premium rate for 2009 is 1.35%, which represents an increase from 0.18% in 2008, and 0.30% in 2007. The previous highest rate was 0.69% in 1982.

New legislation revamping the 1975 law on employer-sponsored pension plans in Egypt is expected to be passed by the end of the year.

The collapse of global equity markets in 2008 hit pension plans hard in Canada, with typical investment returns approaching -15%. In order to help employers manage potentially significant funding deficits in their defined benefit plans, pension regulators adopted a range of temporary solvency relief measures.

Employers sponsoring hybrid pension plans won a major victory in a long-awaited decision by the Supreme Court of Canada allowing the use of surplus assets to fund the defi ned contribution (DC) portion of their plans.

Employers sponsoring hybrid pension plans won a major victory in a long-awaited decision by the Supreme Court of Canada allowing the use of surplus assets to fund the defined contribution (DC) portion of their plans.

In a recent landmark ruling, the U.K. Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision that would have had serious cost implications for some U.K. pension plans.