On April 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced its final amendment to prohibited transaction class exemption 84-14 (the QPAM Exemption). The QPAM Exemption is a broad-based class exemption relied upon by many...more
Certain portions of the Department of Labor's ESG regulation concerning investment and proxy voting decisions for ERISA fiduciaries will become effective on December 1, 2023 (our alert describing the regulation can be found...more
On November 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final regulation amending prior regulations, adopted in 2020, relating to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) considerations in investment and...more
On June 26, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed amendment to the prohibited transaction class exemption 84-14 (the “QPAM Exemption”). The QPAM Exemption is a broad-based class exemption relied upon...more
On October 13, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed regulation that would, if adopted, amend existing regulations, adopted in 2020, relating to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG)...more
On May 18, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2021-31 (the “Notice”) providing guidance in Q&A format on the application of the temporary COBRA premium assistance provisions of the American Rescue Plan...more
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are becoming increasingly relevant across a range of financial investments. This has been driven in part by changes in the legal and regulatory landscape, including increased...more
4/8/2021
/ Capital Markets ,
Corporate Governance ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
EU ,
Green Finance ,
International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) ,
Private Placements ,
Sustainability ,
UK
Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as amended, the “Code”) imposes a $1 million deductibility limit on compensation paid by “publicly held corporations” to “covered employees.” As reported in our previous...more
1/11/2021
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Covered Employees ,
Executive Compensation ,
Final Rules ,
Grandfathering Rules ,
IRS ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Remuneration ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions
COVID-19 has, among other things, had an impact on executive compensation and employee benefits, and given rise to a number of new issues and considerations. These compensation issues present challenges for companies seeking...more
On October 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule regarding the use by Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), fiduciaries of nonpecuniary, such as environmental, social...more
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Congress recently passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law on March 27, 2020. Below is a...more
4/13/2020
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Contributions ,
Executive Compensation ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Over The Counter Drugs (OTC) ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Student Loans ,
Telehealth
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (Secure Act) was passed by the House and Senate on December 17 and 19, respectively, as part of a budget bill known as the Further Consolidated...more
1/6/2020
/ 401k ,
529 Plans ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Form 5500 ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
New Legislation ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
On November 22, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund (1st Cir., No. 16-1376, Nov. 22, 2019) (“Sun Capital IV”)...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on November 6, 2019 announced the following cost of living inflation adjusted dollar limits applicable to tax-qualified plans and other benefit plans for 2020...more
11/8/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contribution Limits ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
ESOP ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Social Security ,
Tax Planning
On March 15, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled, in a 2-to-1 decision, that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) abused its authority and acted unreasonably in promulgating its 2016 fiduciary rule and...more
On December 15, 2017, the House and Senate conference committee agreed on the terms of the final tax reform bill, previously referred to as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (the “Act”), which was subsequently approved by both...more
1/9/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Bicycles ,
Business Expenses ,
Business Taxes ,
Commuting ,
Compensation ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Employee Relocations ,
Equity Grants ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Incentive Awards ,
Income Taxes ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Reimbursements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth Conversions ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Tax Reform ,
Transportation Expenses ,
Trump Administration
On November 2, 2017, the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives released its tax reform bill titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “House Bill”). On November 6, 2017, Kevin Brady, Chairman of the...more
11/10/2017
/ CEOs ,
CFOs ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Covered Employees ,
Deduction Limitations ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Housing ,
Employer Contributions ,
Equity Compensation ,
Excise Tax ,
Executive Compensation ,
Former Employee ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Grandfathering Rules ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Income Taxes ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Itemized Deductions ,
Legislative Amendments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Restricted Stocks ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Stock Options ,
Tax Cuts ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
Tax Reform ,
Ways and Means Committee
As stated in our May 25, 2017 Executive Compensation, Employee Benefits and ERISA Alert, the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) new fiduciary rule (“Fiduciary Rule”) became partially applicable on June 9, 2017. Set forth below are...more
7/3/2017
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Fund Managers ,
Hedge Funds ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Funds ,
New Rules ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan
The Fiduciary Rule, which expands the circumstances under which providers of investment advice may be considered Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) fiduciaries, was initially published in the Federal...more
5/29/2017
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Final Rules ,
Fund Managers ,
Hedge Funds ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Obama Administration ,
Private Equity ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
On February 3, 2017, President Donald J. Trump issued a memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to re-examine the DOL’s final rule on who is a “fiduciary” of an employee benefit plan under the Internal Revenue...more
On June 21, 2016, the Department of the Treasury published proposed regulations on the application of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) to nonqualified deferred compensation (“NQDC”)...more
On March 28, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Sun Capital Partners III LP v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund, No. 10-10921 (D. Mass. 2016) delivered a surprising...more
If you read one thing...
- The IRS has issued new guidance on midyear changes to a safe harbor plan under Code Sections 401(k) and 401(m) that addresses the requirement that plan provisions generally must remain in...more
On September 5, 2014, the Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released an internal generic legal advice memorandum advising an IRS field agent that the statutorily provided “limited partner” exception to...more
In our November 9, 2012, client alert, we examined an apparent victory for private equity firms resulting from the District Court of Massachusetts decision that held that two related private equity funds were not liable on a...more