The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has surprisingly issued a notice of its intention to amend the required minimum distribution (RMD) regulations under the Internal Revenue Code (Code) to limit the use of lump sum payments to...more
7/13/2015
/ Annuities ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Ford Motor ,
General Motors ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Lump Sum Offers ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Required Minimum Distributions
In a much-anticipated decision, the Supreme Court upheld in King v. Burwell the validity of tax credits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are available to individuals in States that have Federal...more
The IRS has provided significant administrative and monetary relief for plans correcting errors involving employee contributions. The changes to the IRS’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolutions System (EPCRS) are set forth in...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revised its correction procedures to simplify correction of overpayments in defined benefit plans, make it cheaper to correct plan loan and minimum distribution errors, and provide more...more
As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Tibble v. Edison Int'l, it will now be easier for participants in 401(k) and other participant-directed plans to bring lawsuits challenging investment options added to the...more
In two recent Revenue Procedures, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has modified the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), the IRS correction program for retirement plans. Revenue Procedure. 2015-27 reduces...more
The Department of the Treasury has issued final regulations setting forth changes to the current regulations under Internal Revenue Code (Code) Section 162(m). Code Section 162(m) precludes a deduction by a public corporation...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
As widely reported, on June 30th, the United States Supreme Court held in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores that certain methods of contraception under the preventive health services requirements of the Patient Protection and...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently settled a case involving an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that provides guidance but also a warning for trustees and employers contemplating ESOP transactions that later go awry....more
In Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that there is no presumption of prudence for fiduciaries of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) who invest in employer securities. The case...more
In Roe v. Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, a federal district court addressed the issue of whether a self-funded health plan could include language that denied dependent coverage to same-sex spouses without violating Section...more
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) brings about significant healthcare reform changes, as well as opportunities for small employers in 2014. Many of the reforms affect all employers who sponsor group health plans; however, the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has issued Notice 2014-37 to provide guidance on amendments to reflect the outcome of United States v. Windsor, which invalidated Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act regarding the...more
To simplify the rollover validation process, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a new Revenue Ruling 2014-9 that provides guidance on the process for a trustee-to-trustee tax-free rollover between tax-qualified...more
4/4/2014
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Form 5500 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRS ,
New Hires ,
Plan Administrators ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tax-Free Transfers
The U.S. Treasury Department has issued final regulations implementing the employer shared responsibility provisions, also referred to as the play-or-pay penalties, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)...more
The U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service have issued final regulations providing guidance on permitted midyear reductions or suspensions of safe harbor nonelective and safe harbor matching...more
The Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) have issued a landmark ruling that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax...more
9/3/2013
The Department of Treasury announced on July 2 that it will provide transition relief of one additional year for the mandatory employer and insurer reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...more
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in U.S. v. Windsor that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) is an unconstitutional “deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that is protected by the Fifth Amendment of...more
Plan sponsors should review wellness programs for compliance with recently issued final rules, which among other things increase the maximum permissible award for certain wellness programs. On May 29, the Internal Revenue...more
Employers have until October 1, 2013, to provide notice to current employees of coverage options available through the Health Insurance Marketplace established under the Affordable Care Act. On May 8, 2013, the U.S....more
The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health & Human Services have issued new guidance on the content requirements for health plan summaries of benefits and coverage (“SBCs”). Plan sponsors should ensure that the SBCs...more
Plan sponsors, particularly those that sponsor self-funded health plans, should review plan document provisions in light of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in US Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen. In...more
Having survived the election and a Supreme Court challenge (for the most part), the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is here to stay. Employers should evaluate the requirements under ACA that apply to their group health plans for...more