Benefits

With home ownership, job opportunity and retirement security in decline, an Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll shows that most Americans agree with what the experts have said. Seven in 10 think that tomorrow’s adults – today’s kids – will have less financial security than adults today.

A bill designed to switch new state employees who participate in the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System from a defined benefit plan to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan was approved Tuesday by the state Senate Pensions Committee.

The Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers who turned 70½ during 2013 that in most cases they must start receiving required minimum distributions (RMDs) from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and workplace retirement plans by Tuesday, April 1, 2014.

Despite recent claims that the deadline for signing up for Obamacare would not be postponed beyond the initial March 31 deadline – the day before April Fool’s Day – the White House has finally caved into the pressure. According to a report in the Washington Post on March 25, the Obama administration is extending the open enrollment period for two to three weeks in three dozen states around the country.

The government seems to have worked out most of the kinks in www.healthcare.gov, the online site used to sign up for Obamacare. But it has yet to address another glitch that surfaced almost two years ago: Language in the law that prevents married taxpayers who file separate tax returns from qualifying for special tax subsidies.

When it first became clear that tax preparers – including CPAs – would have to be the front line in implementation of the Affordable Care Act, I voiced a lot of concerns. I doubted it would be possible for accounting professionals to serve as both trusted advisors and health insurance sales people.

Live-in nannies, maids and aides that help the elderly and disabled with meals, housework, bathing and dressing are not currently guaranteed the minimum wage. As a practical matter, the local market for the aides who visit for part of the day does pay at least minimum wage, but those who are staying 24 hours are getting about $5 to $5.75 an hour.

New legislation passed by the House tying the “doc fix” to Obamacare is expected to meet its demise on the Senate floor. Thus, a once-promising solution to a long-term problem is likely to turn into another victim of bipartisan politics.