The recently enacted COVID-19 Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, both of which are part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” includes the following...more
1/4/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
The president has signed into law the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, which includes several temporary special rules aimed at minimizing forfeitures and increasing the utility of health and dependent...more
12/30/2020
/ Carryover Basis ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
IRS ,
Relief Measures ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Trump Administration
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule to revise its existing rule regarding financial factors in selecting plan investments. We discussed the proposed rule in an earlier article, and this article provides a...more
As noted in Part I and Part II of this series, benefits compliance concerns typically take a backseat to the many good reasons for healthcare organizations to provide or receive the services of leased employees. However, with...more
As discussed in Part I of this series, there are clear business reasons for healthcare organizations to enter into employee leasing arrangements, including to receive ongoing services, to bridge transitions in mergers and...more
Employee leasing arrangements among healthcare organizations are exceedingly common and can be very useful to minimize administrative costs, simplify benefits and payroll administration, and leverage one organization’s...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019 required, for the first time, that administrators of defined contribution plans (such as 401(k) plans) provide participants with disclosures...more
President Trump issued an executive order on August 8, 2020, providing for the deferral of the employee's portion of Social Security taxes for certain employees for the period beginning September 1, 2020, through December...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently published frequently asked questions addressing leave-sharing plans related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following IRS Notice 2006-59, the IRS has confirmed that employers may set...more
The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury have issued a proposed rule for grandfathered group health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposed rule provides greater...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a notice of a proposed class exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2020-52 to clarify the requirements that apply to a mid-year amendment of a safe harbor 401(k) plan that reduces only contributions made on behalf of highly compensated employees...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued proposed regulations to revise the DOL's existing investment duties regulation regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments (sometimes referred to as “socially...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2020-50 to provide retirement plans with guidance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The extensive guidance provides helpful...more
6/24/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Certifications ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Repayment Options ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors
Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, employers can now make nontaxable payments of up to $5,250 to employees as student loan repayment assistance, but only if the payments are made by December...more
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a notice providing temporary relief from the physical presence requirement for participant elections required to be witnessed by a plan...more
On May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two notices permitting employers to offer new opportunities for employees to change their salary reduction elections under a cafeteria plan and avoid forfeitures of...more
The Department of Labor (DOL), joined and coordinated in part by the Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and Department of Health and Human Services, has released several documents providing deadline extensions...more
The President recently signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or “CARES Act.” The CARES Act is primarily a stimulus package that addresses the current coronavirus crisis, and it includes...more
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) was enacted last year as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020. The SECURE Act provisions include a number of changes...more
The nation’s lawmakers, government agencies, and insurance carriers are taking measures to remove financial barriers to testing and treatment for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Employers sponsoring health plans...more
3/19/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
HDHPs ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
HSA ,
IRS ,
State and Local Government ,
Virus Testing
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed a budget bill, HR 1158, and a related bill, HR 1865, to enact the "Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act," referred to as the “SECURE Act.” The SECURE...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has finalized revisions to the regulations governing hardship distributions under 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The final regulations make some subtle but important changes to the regulations...more
9/25/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Natural Disasters ,
New Regulations ,
Notice Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Tax Planning
A federal trial court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a participant in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claiming that fiduciaries of the ESOP caused it to overpay for stock of the company in a leveraged transaction....more
Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019” (H.R. 1994) by a vote of 417-3. The bill makes numerous changes affecting...more
5/29/2019
/ 529 Plans ,
Annual Reports ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Form 5500 ,
Income Taxes ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Management ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Tax Returns