Pensions in the United States

Pensions in the United States consist of the Social Security system, a federal social insurance program which pays old-age pensions, as well as various private pension plans offered by employers, insurance companies, and trade unions. Private pension plans are governed by various federal statutes and regulations: labor law regarding the establishment (primarily ERISA), maintenance, and termination of pension plans; tax treatment of pension plans and pension distributions; provisions of securities law relevant to pension plans; pension-related bankruptcy laws; protection against age discrimination and other requirements imposed on pensions. Pension law also incorporates judicial decisions with respect to those federal statutes and regulations.

Pension plans and benefits may also be subject to state law.

History

Sherwood Act of 1912

ERISA

Main article: Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974

The primary law governing the establishment, maintenance, and termination of pension plans in the United States is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). ERISA includes various provisions of labor law, as well as provisions of tax law that parallel certain provisions in the Internal Revenue Code. (Tax law provisions of ERISA will be separately addressed in the tax law section below.)

Pension-Related Tax Law

Various federal tax provisions of the Internal Revenue Code apply to pension plans. Similar rules apply to profit-sharing plans and stock bonus plans, which are commonly used for retirement savings. Significant portions of these tax law provisions parallel portions of ERISA (see discussion in a preceding section of this article).

Pension-Related Bankruptcy Law

In April 2012, the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The retirement fund is a defined benefit type pension plan and was only partially funded by the government, with only $268.4 million in assets and $911 million in liabilities. The plan experienced low investment returns and a benefit structure that had been increased without raises in funding.^[1]

According to "Pensions and Investments", this is "apparently the first" US public pension plan to declare bankruptcy.^[1]

References

1 2 Mercado, Darla (2012-04-19). "In apparent first, a public pension plan files for bankruptcy". Pensions and Investments. Retrieved 2012-04-28.

Pensions in the Americas

North America South America

Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Bahamas Barbados Belize Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela

Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Falkland Islands French Guiana Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands US Virgin Islands

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