IAS 19 — Death-in-service benefits
In November the IFRIC discussed a comment letter disagreeing with the wording in the tentative agenda decision that stated that when death in service benefits are provided as part of a defined benefit plan, they must be attributed to periods of service.
At this meeting the IFRIC discussed the following views on when death in services should be attributed to periods of service:
View 1:
Benefits should be attributed to periods of service if they are dependent on the length of service of an employee. Under this view paragraph 130 of IAS 19 Employee Benefits would be applied in analogy to death in service benefits.
View 2:
Benefits should be attributed to periods of service if they form part of a defined benefit plan. Under this view death in service benefits that are provided through a plan should be considered to be service related and be attributed to periods of service regardless of whether the benefit itself would be considered to be service related.
The IFRIC did not reach a conclusion but stated that the guidance in IAS 19 is ambiguous. It was decided to reissue a tentative agenda decision on the initial request on how to attribute these services to periods of service and to note that there is ambiguity in IAS 19 on when to attribute such services.
