The IRS has announced the 2011 pension plan limits, including the following:

It's hard to believe this year's ESOP Association Las Vegas Conference is almost upon us. The two-day conference is next Thursday, November 4 and Friday, November 5, and the agenda is full of informative ESOP sessions. I will be presenting Board of Directors: Composition and Roles on Friday, November 5, at 9 am:

5 ESOP Success Story Videos for Employee Ownership Month shares the success stories of 5 of the Top Small Company Workplaces that are also ESOP companies:

Does this mean Congress will not pass any retroactive legislation? At the moment the answer is as clear as a foggy night. But one thing is evident: if retroactive legislation is enacted, Congress and the IRS can anticipate years of protracted litigation, with high net-worth estates asserting such action is unconstitutional.

Sacrosanct tax breaks, including deductions on mortgage interest, remain on the table just weeks before the deficit commission issues recommendations on policies to pare back with the aim of balancing the budget by 2015...At stake, in addition to the mortgage-interest deductions, are child tax credits and the ability of employees to pay their portion of their health-insurance tab with pretax dollars. Commission officials are expected to look at preserving these breaks but at a lower level, according to people familiar with the matter.

Last week we talked about the upcoming 2011 Tax Increases. 2010 Year-end Tax Planning Requires New Strategies discusses how the typical tax planning strategy for 2010 will be to accelerate income and deer deductions other than itemized deductions and shares 6 tax planning strategies:

The October 15, 2010 Employee Ownership Update is online and discusses the following:

The video is about 10 minutes in length and the section about employee ownership is at the four to five minute mark. This particular speech was given in regard to the 1986 Report released by the Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice. These remarks were made at the ceremony where President Reagan received the Report on how employee ownership could counter Communism in Central America. The first four minutes are remarks about individual rights and freedom. President Reagan in the last six minutes speaks directly about employee ownership as key to economic justice.

Earlier this year we discussed how a NCEO analysis found that Courts Almost Always Give the Moench Presumption of Prudence For Company Stock in ESOPs. The Ninth Circuit has joined the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits that have affirmatively adopted the Moench presumption. [The First Circuit is the only circuit that has rejected the Moench presumption.] Ninth Circuit Adopts Moench Presumption in Favor of Fiduciaries discusses how the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has adopted the Moench doctrine in Quan v. Computer Sciences Corporation, No. 09-56190, D.C. No. 2:08-cv-02398-SJO-JWJ, September 30, 2010 and some key takeaways from the case:

Reaction to President Obama's Comments on ESOPs shares ESOP Association President J. Michael Keeling's take on President Obama's Response to an ESOP Question. He refers back to a 2005 letter from Senator Barack Obama Regarding ESOPs and ultimately compares his ESOP position to that of former President Bill Clinton:

In Downturn's Wake, More Owners are Turning to ESOPs discusses some ways to incorporate life insurance into an ESOP transaction, including using life insurance to 1) fund the Repurchase Obligation, 2) fund non-qualified plans for key executives, 3) provide for the continuity of the business in the event of a key employee's death, and 4) provide a guarantee that the bank or seller financing will be paid in the event of death of the seller or other key employees:

Earlier this summer we discussed the first in a three part article on Building a Trust System. Part 2 - Building a System of Trust: Ten Hidden Secrets of Success in Employee-Owned Companies continues to look at the ten hidden secrets and how trust is the indispensable element of building an ownership culture:

The September 14, 2010 Employee Ownership Update is online and discusses the following: