In Rev. Rul. 2014-24, scheduled for publication on September 8, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (the Service) substantially completed its pending guidance on Rev. Rul. 81-100 group trusts by permanently authorizing the...more
On August 20, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a request for information (RFI) about the use of brokerage windows, self-directed brokerage accounts, and similar arrangements in participant-directed defined...more
8/22/2014
In Tolbert v. RBC Capital Markets (July 14, 2014), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a deferred incentive compensation plan maintained by a financial services company for certain employees was an...more
Two federal appeals courts issued conflicting rulings on July 22 on whether individual premium subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are available in 36 states that have federally run...more
Longevity annuities are contracts that provide life annuity payments typically commencing at age 80 or 85; in many (but not all) cases, that is the only benefit the contract provides. As such, these contracts may offer...more
On June 12, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in Clark v. Rameker that an inherited individual retirement account (IRA) does not qualify for the “retirement funds” exemption in the Bankruptcy Code and is not...more
6/17/2014
The practice of offering lump-sum distributions has become increasingly popular among defined benefit plan sponsors looking to decrease volatility or other defined benefit plan risks. In some situations, plan sponsors offer...more
Until now, those who used the Department of Labor’s Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVCP) to obtain relief from penalties for failing to timely file Form 5500 automatically qualified for relief from the...more
On April 3, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service released Revenue Ruling 2014-9 (the Ruling), which provides guidance helpful to the administration of rollovers by tax-qualified retirement plans by...more
On April 4, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2014-19, which provides a series of Q&As regarding the application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor and the IRS’s prior...more
On March 12, 2014, the Department of Labor (DOL) published in the Federal Register a proposed amendment to its disclosure requirements for “covered service providers” to retirement plans under ERISA § 408(b)(2) that would...more
On January 28, 2014, the U.S. Tax Court held in Bobrow v. Commissioner that the rule limiting IRA rollovers to one per 12-month period in Internal Revenue Code Section 408(d)(3)(B) applies across all of a taxpayer’s IRAs,...more
On February 6, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed new regulations for calculating the unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) of IRC section 501(c)(9) voluntary employees’ beneficiary associations (VEBA) and...more
In 2013, the Department of Labor (DOL) maintained a modest program of advance guidance under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), in response to requests from the regulated community....more
On November 26, 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) updated its Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda. This publication takes the form of a Federal Register notice to comply with certain administrative requirements. The DOL’s...more