Midyear Premium Increases and Cafeteria Plan Rules
COVID-19-Related Guidance Allows Employees to Revise 2020 Health Insurance Elections
COVID-19 Impact for Health & Welfare Plans (Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series)
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition; New Opportunities for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Cafeteria Plans
Compliance Issues Associated with Section 125 Plans
Under Internal Revenue Code (Code) Section 36B, individuals are eligible for an exchange subsidy (or premium tax credit) if their employer has not offered them affordable coverage that provides minimum value. The IRS recently...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “Act”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020. Buried within its 5,593 pages is some welcome flexibility relating to 2020 and 2021 health care and dependent care Flexible...more
It is hard to find a sector of the American workforce that has not been affected by the COVID-19 emergency. Employees are being asked to work from home if they are able, businesses are being forced to close, and employers are...more
Many employers permit employees to pay for employer-sponsored health coverage, on a pre-tax basis, under Internal Revenue Code section 125 (“cafeteria”) plans. These plans generally require employees to make an irrevocable...more
Under Notice 2014-55, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will now permit a cafeteria plan to allow an employee to revoke his election for coverage under the employer's group health plan in order to purchase a qualified health...more
On September 18, 2014, the IRS issued Notice 2014-55, which expands permissible mid-year election changes under “cafeteria plans” to address two specific situations that have arisen in connection with the implementation of...more
Recent developments under the Affordable Care Act and COBRA, and existing rules governing mid-year election changes under cafeteria plans, have combined to make it challenging for certain terminating employees and those...more
In June 2013, the Supreme Court held unconstitutional a federal law requiring only opposite-sex marriages to be recognized for federal law purposes. The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") issued initial guidance in September...more
Some employee benefits enjoy a tax-favored status under the Tax Code, but such favorable tax treatment applies with respect to certain highly compensated individuals only if the plans satisfy applicable nondiscrimination...more
The Internal Revenue Service has released a series of FAQs to answer several outstanding questions following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Windsor, which struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act. The most...more
Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Windsor decision that repealed Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), same-sex spouses were not recognized as spouses for federal tax and benefits purposes. In the immediate...more
In 2007 Connecticut adopted a law requiring employers to adopt cafeteria plans if their employees are required to pay a portion of the health insurance premium for employer-sponsored health insurance through payroll...more
As we approach the end of the year, employers and plan sponsors of qualified retirement plans and health and welfare plans should take time to meet various upcoming deadlines. Failure to comply with the deadlines may result...more
On October 31, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2013-71 (Notice), which modifies the "use or lose" rule for health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs) to allow a $500 annual carryover of unused...more
On October 31, the IRS issued Notice 2013-71, modifying the long-standing “use or lose” rule for health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs). Under the new rule, employers may permit health FSA participants to carry over up...more
On October 31, the IRS modified the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule for health flexible spending arrangements, allowing up to $500 of unused amounts to be carried forward and used for payment or reimbursement of qualified medical...more
Last week, there were two important developments relating to Section 125 cafeteria plans. First, Massachusetts announced that employers will no longer be required to maintain a Section 125 plan. Second, the IRS has modified...more
In Notice 2013-71 (the “Notice”), the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has modified the so-called “use-it-or-lose-it” rule for health flexible spending accounts (“FSAs”) under cafeteria plans to allow participants to...more
On October 31, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued guidance relaxing the Use-or-Lose Rule applicable to Health FSAs under employers’ cafeteria plans. Now an employer may amend its cafeteria plan to permit plan...more
Many employers offer health flexible spending account arrangements ("Health FSAs") through cafeteria plans to their employees. Historically, Health FSAs have been subject to a "use it or lose it" requirement, meaning that...more
Health care flexible spending accounts ("FSAs") established pursuant to a cafeteria plan under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, have long permitted employees to make pre-tax salary contributions...more
Massachusetts recently announced that, due to federal rules under the Affordable Care Act, it will cease enforcement of its Section 125 cafeteria plan requirement for Massachusetts employers. Under that requirement, employers...more
The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have announced updated guidance permitting carryover of up to $500 of unused health flexible spending account (FSA) balances at the end of a plan year....more
The IRS handed healthcare flexible spending account participants an early Christmas present on Halloween when it modified cafeteria plan "use-it-or-lose-it" rules so that $500 can be carried over from one year to the next in...more
On September 13, 2013 the U.S. Department of the Treasury (IRS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), collectively referred to herein as the Departments, coordinated...more