Navigating the Illinois pension code can be difficult. L&A takes pride in the fact that we’ve been working to help police and fire pension fund trustees understand the code for over two decades. We recognize the importance of a Board’s responsibility and the challenge it presents to accomplish these tasks in conjunction with the daily responsibilities of life outside of the pension world.
L&A recognizes the sacrifices made by our clients’ members, who are entitled to a pension benefit that is calculated accurately and remitted timely. Our dedicated staff is available to work directly with your pensioners; our firm treats your members with the respect they deserve.
The entire L&A Pension team possesses unparalleled knowledge of the complex public pension industries. We are the premier go-to resource for public pension administration in the state of Illinois. Our firm’s growth is directly tied to the satisfaction of our clients. Our clients return year after year because of our specialty expertise and the exceptional service we provide.
Beyond providing bookkeeping, financial and regulatory reporting services, L&A works to support each client and be a reference point as they navigate the pension world. Our extensive knowledge and experience working with hundreds of different Article 3 and Article 4 pension funds allows us to definitively recommend best practices and provide timely compliance along with financial reporting. This ensures a client’s pension fund remains informed, and, most importantly, runs efficiently.
L&A provides benefit administration for hundreds of the Article 3 and Article 4 pension funds in existence in Illinois. We represent roughly 15,000 active service members and some 11,000 pensioners.
Pension funds provide benefits directly to members. L&A’s specialized benefits team prioritizes accurate and timely remittance of each client’s members benefits. Our firm respects and appreciates the extreme sacrifices that our clients’ members have made and will make and we recognize the importance of pension benefits to their lives. We pride ourselves in the personalized service we provide to a client’s members. We recognize that every member of a clients’ fund is different, and we are available to talk to them on their schedule, in a manner in which they are comfortable, whether that is with a phone call, an email, or even a face-to-face meeting in our office.
We have established ourselves as the authority in Illinois for Article 3 and Article 4 pension benefits, giving our clients the peace of mind that their members receive the attention and respect they deserve.
L&A offers an administrative/recordkeeping service to assist Article 3 and Article 4 pension fund trustees with a variety of administrative duties.
Pension Services Administrators (PSA) help reduce our clients’ administrative work needs. L&A provides Pension Funds with qualified, experienced professional support staff that perform all administrative duties in a timely and efficient manner that is in compliance with the Illinois Statutes and Administrative Code.
As a PSA client, you can access all of your pension records using our secure online portal through File Cabinet CS software. Our electronic data management system provides tiered and timely access to an archive of the Pension Fund’s current and historic financials, member documents and Pension Fund records.
L&A helps clients fulfill their required administrative responsibilities in a cost-effective and efficient manner. Compliment an existing team or secure an exclusively outsourced solution to expertly perform the gamut of administrative support services.
In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raised concerns about whether Illinois Article 3 and Article 4 pension funds were in compliance with federal tax law, and strongly encouraged the funds to obtain Qualified Plan Determination Letters. It is recognition as a Qualified Plan that allows pension funds to maintain certain tax benefits such as:
To be recognized as a Qualified Plan, the plan document (the Illinois Statutes and Department of Insurance Administrative Code) must incorporate federal tax law changes as they are adopted. The plan document for Illinois Article 3 and Article 4 funds had not kept pace with changes in federal tax law. As a result, a coalition of interested organizations was formed (including AFFI, IGFOA, ILFOP, IMTA, IPFA, IPPFA and MAP) to work with the Department of Insurance, Ice Miller, LLP (a law firm that represents a number of governmental pension plans) and Lauterbach & Amen, LLP to address compliance issues for the plans as a group. In 2009, the Coalition recognized the success of its goal as the IRS granted a determination letter to both the Article 3 and Article 4 pension plans.
Below are commonly used pension benefit forms. If you are a looking for a form that is not currently listed below, please reach out to our benefits team.