Since 1996, the US Department of Labor granted more than 1,200 individual exemptions from the ERISA prohibited transaction rules.
One of the distinctive features of ERISA is its prohibition, in ERISA section 406 as a...more
1/5/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Reinsurance ,
Related Parties
On July 17, the IRS issued Notice 2019-45 (the Notice), expanding the concept of preventive care to certain services and items that target specific chronic conditions, such as testing strips and insulin for diabetes. As...more
On March 6, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2019-18 (Notice), announcing that it is retracting its previous position that prohibited pension plan sponsors from offering lump-sum cashouts to retirees who...more
On October 3, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2018-76 (the Notice) to address the deductibility of business meals under section 274(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the TCJA) made...more
On December 15, the House and Senate conference committee reached an agreement on the terms of a final tax bill, which likely will be voted on this week. The final bill largely reflects the Senate’s legislative language, with...more
On November 2, House Republicans released their sweeping tax reform legislation, which contains numerous provisions that will have significant impacts on employee benefits and executive compensation. The bill is expected to...more
In an internal memorandum to its examination agents dated February 23, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance regarding the types of documentation that agents should request in verifying hardship withdrawals...more
Employers with salaried employees earning under $47,476 annually should evaluate the impact on their organizations of major changes to employee compensation following new federal wage requirements effective December 1,...more
In 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced changes to its existing determination letter program, namely that the staggered remedial amendment cycle for individually designed retirement plans would end effective...more
A new U.S. Supreme Court decision is a reminder that Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans must act promptly if they want to assert a lien to secure a participant’s obligation to reimburse medical expenses or...more
A Wisconsin federal district court dismissed (with prejudice) a complaint by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that a company’s wellness program violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The EEOC...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued proposed regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding employer-provided wellness programs that were published in the Federal Register on...more
In 2014, the Department of Labor (DOL) maintained a diminished 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 December 30, the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services published a joint notice of proposed rulemaking modifying the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) final regulations issued in 2012. In...more
The principal regulators of U.S. employee benefits have recently published updates to their guidance plans for the coming months. The updated plans are reflected in the attached chart.
...more
In December 2014, the Treasury Department opened the myRA (my Retirement Account) program to employers and employees. President Obama announced the myRA program in his 2014 State of the Union Address. The program is intended...more
Confirming that auditor independence continues to be a regulatory priority, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) issued orders on December 8,...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit makes pleading Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations more difficult by applying the heightened standard in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft...more
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s decision in King v. Burwell. In that case, the Fourth Circuit held that tax credits for health insurance...more
11/12/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Halbig v Burwell ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
IRS ,
King v Burwell ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Subsidies ,
Tax Credits
This past weekend the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indefinitely delayed enforcement of the requirement that all self-insured health plans obtain a Health Plan Identifier number (HPID). ...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is requiring all self-insured health plans to obtain a Health Plan Identifier number (HPID) as part of its compliance efforts under the Health Insurance Portability and...more
On October 23 and 24, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) issued coordinated guidance on lifetime income provided through target date funds held by retirement plans. According to an...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2014-49 which describes a proposed approach for determining an employee’s full-time or part-time status for purposes of the employer shared responsibility rules under...more
On September 18, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2014-54, which clarifies that, subject to some limitations, a single distribution of pre-tax and after-tax amounts from a qualified retirement plan, a 403(b)...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) have issued final regulations under section 162(m)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (Code), which limit the deduction certain...more