Pension Plan participants often have many options for payment forms when they receive benefits at retirement. These may be life annuity, certain and continuous, Joint & Survivor, or lump sums. In December 2003, the IRS issued regulations that addressed the perception of inadequate disclosure regarding the relative value of these optional forms.

Your retirement plan could be required to provide relative value disclosure forms as part of the election package you provide to retiring participants. Certain plans are eligible for a conditional delay to provide this disclosure, making implementation as late as February 2006.

Bolton Partners has developed software to meet individual plan relative value disclosure requirements. For further information contact  RelativeValue@BoltonPartners.com.