Administering a retirement plan is a complicated task fraught with potential missteps. Fortunately, employers are now able to self-correct most errors and thereby avoid the considerable time and expense of filing an...more
As we discussed in a prior article, it is now more important than ever for employers to ensure they fully and accurately complete IRS Forms 1094-C and 1095-C — forms required to be filed and/or furnished to employees under...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published proposed regulations that, if finalized, will ease some of the requirements imposed on employers reporting offers of minimum essential health coverage, including a permanent...more
11/24/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deadlines ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Extensions ,
Good Faith ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reporting Requirements
In Notice 2021-31, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides broad guidance in a question-and-answer format on the application of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) regarding premium assistance under the...more
6/2/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
IRS ,
Notice Requirements ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Termination Clauses
Group health plans and insurers have been required since 2008 to ensure that any “nonquantitative treatment limitations” (NQTLs) imposed on mental health or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) benefits are comparable and no more...more
5/19/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
IRS ,
Mental Health ,
Noncompliance ,
NQTLs ,
State Legislatures ,
State Regulators ,
Substance Abuse
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published Notice 2021-26 to provide answers regarding the taxability of benefits received in 2021 and 2022 under a dependent care assistance program (DCAP) that permits carryovers or...more
5/13/2021
/ Cafeteria Plans ,
Carryover Basis ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Grace Period ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Tax Code
In Notice 2021-15, the IRS provides many answers to questions regarding the temporary special rules introduced as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) for health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs) and...more
3/2/2021
/ Cafeteria Plans ,
Carry-Over Basis ,
COBRA ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Grace Period ,
IRS
The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act, recently passed as part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” has significantly extended the tax exclusions for employer-paid student loan repayment assistance...more
1/7/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Taxable Income ,
Relief Measures ,
Student Loans ,
Tax Credits ,
Trump Administration
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 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued Notice 2020-51 to provide defined contribution retirement plans with guidance relating to the waiver of 2020 required minimum distributions (RMDs) permitted under the Coronavirus...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
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 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
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
In Revenue Procedure 2019-19, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) significantly expanded the availability of the Self-Correction Program (SCP) that plan sponsors may use to self-correct failures in their qualified retirement...more
4/30/2019
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
EPCRS ,
Filing Requirements ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Procedures ,
Tax Audits ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Voluntary Correction Program
As more fully described in our earlier newsletter, in Revenue Procedure 2016-37 the Internal Revenue System (IRS) made significant changes in the procedures governing the issuance of favorable determination letters to the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued proposed amendments to the regulations governing hardship distributions under 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Many plan administrators of 401(k) and 403(b) plans permitting hardship...more
11/19/2018
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
IRS ,
Plan Administrators ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors
Last year, in Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a special type of “church plan,” intended to be exempt from Title I of ERISA and many Internal Revenue Code requirements, does not...more
9/14/2018
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Church Plans ,
Churches ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Religious Institutions ,
Tax Exemptions
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a private letter ruling approving of an employer’s program to provide employees a retirement plan contribution conditioned on student loan repayments. Specifically, the IRS found...more
The Internal Revenue Service originally announced in 2017 that the 2018 contribution limit for health savings accounts (HSAs) corresponding to family coverage under a high-deductible health plan would be $6,900. Then, in...more
The IRS previously announced that the 2018 contribution limit for health savings accounts (HSAs) corresponding to family coverage under a high-deductible health plan would be $6,900. However, now three months into 2018, the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released General Counsel Memorandum 201634021 (“Memorandum”) concluding that the employees of a disregarded single member limited liability company (SMLLC) (1) must be allowed to...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has recently issued detailed guidance on the new determination letter program for tax-qualified retirement plans. In 2015, the IRS announced that, due to budgetary constraints, the program...more