PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Back to the Future: SECURE Act and SECURE Act 2.0
NOWOTNY KNOWS SQUAT! Part IV Using Post-Retirement Medical Plans to Raise AUM and Sell Life Insurance
NOWOTNY ON DEATH AND TAXES EPISODE 35 USING POST-RETIREMENT MEDICAL PLANS TO RAISE AUM
KNOCK YOURSELF OUT - RESUSCITATING TAXPAYERS WITH BUYER'S REMORSE!
Coronavirus-Related Retirement Plan Distributions, MPPPs, and Governmental 401(a) Plans
Blakes Continuity Podcast: COVID-19: The Regulatory Impact on Pensions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2019 Year-End Checklist
From the 2010 outset of its project to extend ERISA fiduciary status broadly to financial intermediaries, including insurance agents, the US Department of Labor (DOL) has consistently relied on the evolution of the private...more
As part of our ongoing series on SECURE 2.0, this post discusses three significant changes to corrections of common retirement plan errors: (1) New rules for correcting overpayments, (2) expansion of the Self-Correction...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of April 24, 2022 – April 30, 2022... April 25, 2022: The IRS issued a news release, soliciting...more
A qualified domestic relations order (“QDRO”) is a state domestic relations order that assigns to an alternate payee (such as a former spouse or a child) the right to receive all or a portion of benefits payable to a plan...more
President Joseph Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law on November 15, 2021. The IIJA will provide funding to overhaul the country’s physical infrastructure and will serve to give the...more
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) published a final rule (Final Rule) on September 9 providing that effective January 1, 2021, it will use the interest and mortality assumptions under Internal Revenue Code...more
The Internal Revenue Code requires plan administrators of qualified retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans and ESOPs), 403(b) plans, and eligible 457(b) plans maintained by a governmental employer to...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is providing temporary relief from the physical presence requirement for witnesses and notaries for participant elections that must be witnessed or notarized. Notice 2020-42 provides relief...more
On December 20, 2019, after months of uncertainty, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act finally became law. The SECURE Act makes numerous changes to both the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and...more
Presented below is our summary of significant Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance and relevant tax matters for the week of December 16 – 20, 2019. December 16, 2019: The IRS released a notice extending the phase-in...more
The Internal Revenue Service announced on Wednesday, November 6, that several contribution limits in qualified retirement plans will increase next year. The IRS announced the increases as part of an annual adjustment for...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Many of the limitations that apply to tax-qualified plans, including 401(k) plans, are subject to cost-of-living increases. The IRS just announced the 2020 limits. 401(k) plan contribution limits are...more
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue announced the 2020 dollar limitations for benefits and contributions that apply to retirement plans. Most limits have increased, while a few remained the same. The Social Security...more
Due to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) change in course published in Notice 2019-18, plan sponsors may now offer retirees lump-sum windows as another pension “de-risking” option. Plan sponsors considering pension de-risking...more
Defined benefit pension plans can be troublesome for sponsoring employers to maintain. The long-term liability for funding pension benefits coupled with unpredictable investment returns creates volatility. Companies...more
Given that a variety of qualified retirement deadlines are approaching, we thought a refresher on the subject would be helpful, especially for plans that utilize a calendar plan year. This article is intended to alert plan...more
One de-risking tool for employers with defined benefit pension liabilities is to allow participants to receive lump-sum distributions. Although lump sums result in a short-term cash drain, they reduce the plan’s long-term...more
Pension plan sponsors have been looking for opportunities to manage their growing pension liabilities for many years now. In 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) closed the door on sponsors who were considering offering...more
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
An independent physician practice that does not have access to a hospital’s retirement plans has several retirement plan options to consider. Doctors who are employed by hospitals will usually be able to participate in the...more
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
On November 2, 2017, the Republican caucus of the House of Representatives unveiled its plan to overhaul the nation’s tax code. In an apparent effort to raise revenue, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” if adopted, would...more
Having missed a historic opportunity to choose an exciting name for federal tax legislation, Texas Representative Kevin Brady and his fellow Republican tax drafters did not skimp on the substance of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act...more
The Trump administration’s proposed overhaul of the federal income tax system includes a reduction of the maximum federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent. If enacted, the proposal — a one-page outline...more
On April 7, 2017, the IRS issued a memorandum relating to cash balance retirement plans. A cash balance plan is a defined benefit pension plan which looks like a defined contribution plan because participants have individual...more