Leading Tax Experts Investigate Alternative Uses for IRAs in New BNA Webinar

ARLINGTON, Va., June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- IRAs are no longer the simple retirement vehicle they were intended to be. And with more retirement assets held in IRAs than in 401(k) or pension plans, there is an ever-increasing focus on alternative uses for IRAs and IRA assets – from starting businesses to investing in vacation assets. While some uses may be permissible, many other uses may result in significant legal liability for an IRA owner.

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Two of the nation's leading expert practitioners in the area of benefit planning, David Levine and Richard Matta, both Principals with Groom Law Group Chartered, will conduct a live webinar, June 17, 2010 from 12:30 – 2:00 pm, entitled IRAs: Alternative Investments and Other Strategies, focusing on the various investment options and regulatory requirements involving IRAs today.

"There are pitfalls for the unwary in this practice area," says BNA Tax & Accounting senior tax analyst Harold Pskowski, "including regulatory requirements – from valuation mandates to the interaction with other retirement plans. These requirements and opportunities must be analyzed in light of the removal of restraints on Roth conversions."

In 60-90 minutes, this webinar will provide participants with a conceptual understanding and practical application of the following:

• Roth conversions and rollovers.
• Valuation issues facing IRAs holding alternative assets.
• Potential alternative investment strategies and the basic legal risks attendant with each.
• Potential legislation introducing new IRA options.

Upon completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Understand the legal risks connected with a number of the alternative IRA investment options currently in the marketplace.
• Understand he risks and opportunities of various strategies using IRAs
• Understand how and when to do a Roth conversion

Webinar Speakers

David N. Levine is a Principal with Groom Law Group practicing in the employee benefits and tax areas, with a primary focus on matters involving qualified retirement plans, non-qualified retirement plans, and tax-exempt retirement programs. Mr. Levine's areas of service include: the redesign of complex pension, defined contribution, and executive plans arising out of merger and acquisition activities; ongoing, day-to-day counseling of companies with respect to retirement and executive plan issues; in-depth compliance reviews of corporate qualified and non-qualified retirement plans; guidance on retirement plan issues relating to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; design, implementation, and maintenance of governmental and tax-exempt organization retirement and welfare benefit programs; and representation of tax-exempt organizations with respect to issues involving corporate governance, executive compensation, and unrelated business income tax liability.

His significant projects have included the integration of more than 20 distinct defined benefit plans into a single, simplified plan document while addressing protected benefit issues relating to each of the merged defined benefit plans, the drafting of a unique "plain-English" plan documents for use by both legal and human resources departments, thus eliminating the need for complex interpretive manuals, and the design of specimen nonqualified deferred compensation and tax-deferred annuity plans for institutional service providers.

Richard K. Matta, also a Principal with Groom Law Group advises large plan fiduciaries, financial institutions and investment professionals in connection with the structuring and marketing of investment products and financial services to benefit plans and other tax-exempt investors. Mr. Matta focuses on the intersection of ERISA Title I (and similar laws applicable to governmental plans) with securities, tax, corporate and banking laws as they relate to (1) financial products including mutual funds, hedge and private equity funds, bank collective trusts, real estate, derivatives and other alternative investments, and (2) financial services including "bundled services" arrangements, pension plan liability-driven and "defeasement" strategies, investment advisory programs, target-date funds, brokerage and wrap products, IRAs and wealth management, and service provider "alliance" agreements.

To register for IRAs: Alternative Investments and Other Strategies, and obtain further information about CLE and CPE credits, go to http://www.bnatax.com/ira-issues-webinar/ or call 1-800-372-1033, menu Option 6, then Option 1. The fee is $249 for BNA subscribers, $299 for nonsubscribers. To receive automatic, email notification of upcoming BNA webinars that may be of interest to you, go to: http://www.bna.com/emailsignup.htm

About BNA Tax & Accounting Webinars

BNA Tax & Accounting is the foremost source of tax and accounting research, news, practice tools, and guidance for tax attorneys, CPAs, corporate tax managers, estate planners, and financial accountants.  Designed for today's busy practitioners, our webinars offer the same expertise and relevance that are the hallmark of all BNA Tax & Accounting resources. In just 60-90 minutes, practitioners gain in-depth knowledge on a current tax or accounting topic from experts in that area — and benefit from practical applications that can be put to work immediately. Conference attendees have the opportunity to ask the speakers questions, and may be eligible to earn CLE or CPE credits — all from the convenience of their own office or conference room.

SOURCE BNA Tax & Accounting