- 17 - administered. See Winger's Depart. Store, Inc. v. Commissioner, supra at 887-888. We previously have held that the standards for fiduciary behavior set forth in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Pub. L. 93-406, sec. 404(a)(1), 88 Stat. 877, current version at 29 U.S.C. sec. 1104 (1994), may be used to help determine whether the exclusive benefit rule has been violated. See Ada Orthopedic, Inc. v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1994-606; see also Calfee, Halter & Griswold v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 641, 652 (1987) ("the standards of title I and title II [of ERISA] were closely coordinated by Congress specifically to develop a unified set of rules"). ERISA section 404(a)(1) requires a plan fiduciary to discharge his or her duties for the exclusive purpose of (1) providing benefits to participants and their beneficiaries and (2) defraying reasonable expenses of administering the plan. Additionally, the fiduciary must (1) perform those duties with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent investor acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims, (2) diversify investments to minimize the risk of large losses, unless diversification clearly is not prudent under the circumstances, and (3) discharge those duties in accordance with the documents and instruments governing the plan to thePage: Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011