It is that time of year again, when most retirement plan sponsors and service providers must prepare annual participant notifications such as Safe Harbor notices and start looking forward towards other plan operational issues in relation to the next plan year. In the wake of the government shutdown, retirement service providers have been anxiously the newly published Cost of Living Adjustments (“COLA”) for the upcoming 2014 calendar year, as that announcement bears directly on information that is included in many of the various required notices that must be distributed by December 1st. Normally the annual COLA announcement occurs by mid-October, so with a two week delay plan sponsors must act quickly to update their participants about the upcoming plan year. The newly released 2014 COLA limits are one of several items included within our Year End Checklist. We hope that the checklist will assist you as you attempt to navigate your way through the many time sensitive tasks facing your retirement plan over the upcoming months.