Navigating the pension landscape 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. 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.
Our Accounting Services involve more than balancing a check book. 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 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's Pension Benefits Administration goes far beyond simply cutting checks. Trustees of pension boards which engage a local accountant or a bank to issue pension payments must still shoulder most of the work and responsibility behind those payments. L&A takes that work off your plate: from calculating each pension benefit and service transfer to processing contribution refunds and tax filings, and from answering each member’s and trustee’s pension question to ensuring compliance with state and federal agencies.
L&A provides benefits administration for hundreds of pension funds, supporting over 15,000 active members and 14,000 pensioners. Our firm respects and appreciates the extreme sacrifices that public safety officers make, and we recognize the importance of pension benefits to their lives. We pride ourselves in the personalized service we provide to each Trustee and to each member.
Our expert Pension Benefits Team has helped establish L&A’s role as the recognized authority in pension benefits administration, giving our clients the peace of mind that their members receive the attention and respect they deserve.
L&A's Professional Services Administration doesn’t stop when your board meeting is over. Our PSAs handle the administrative noise - agendas, board packets, meeting minutes, trustee elections, trustee training and conference registration, active member files, affidavits of eligibility – and give you back the time to focus on the other responsibilities and commitments in your life.
Our PSAs provide qualified, experienced professional support to perform all administrative duties timely and efficiently, and in compliance with state regulations.
Our PSA service offers a cloud-based portal, giving trustees access to archived and current pension fund records through a website login or via an App on their smart phone or tablet.
Disasters can render records lost or damaged beyond use. A State-approved retention schedule provides a registered inventory of records with a confident level of accountability. L&A has developed a unique records management program, putting the Illinois Local Records Management processes into practice for Police and Fire Pension Boards, Fire Protection Districts, and other Local Boards.
By stream lining the Records Inventory and Disposal service, L&A assists our clients with the management, retention and disposal of their local records in a manner fully compliant with state regulations.
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.
View the Determination Letters for the Illinois Article 3 and Article 4 pension funds.
Below are commonly used pension benefit forms for our Illinois clients. If you are a looking for a form that is not currently listed below, please reach out to our benefits team. For our pension funds outside of Illinois, please visit the specific pension funds' website or contact our benefits team at benefits@lauterbachamen.com
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