Julius Melnitzer
Tucked away in the federal budget are proposals that will lighten the load for defined contribution pension plan administrators confronted with historical under and over contributions.
“These errors are usually inadvertent system or software issues or new regulatory guidance or rulings that have retroactive effect,” says Mark Firman, a pensions and benefits lawyer with Stikeman Elliott LLP. “The budget proposals should make it easier for administrators to deal with these issues.”
Currently, the Income Tax Act doesn’t contemplate these issues or provide remedies to correct them. “As things stand, the cost of fixing these mistakes can often exceed the amount of the mistake itself,” says Andrea Boctor, the chair of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s pension and benefits group.