The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finalized rules that narrow and eliminate various nondiscrimination requirements under Section 1557 of the...more
The IRS released Notice 2020-42, which provides temporary relief during calendar year 2020 from the physical presence requirements for participant elections in retirement plans....more
On May 27, 2020, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published its highly-anticipated Default Electronic Disclosures by Employee Pension Benefit Plans Under ERISA Final Rule (the E-Disclosure Final Rule), which...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued new guidance, Notice 2020-29, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing for temporary flexibility with respect to mid-year elections made during 2020 under Code section 125...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) clarifying the special distribution options and loan relief provisions applicable to eligible retirement plans and IRAs found in section 2202 of the...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2020-23, which automatically postpones certain deadlines affecting employee benefit plans. Specifically, any deadline that would ordinarily fall on or after April 1, 2020,...more
4/18/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Deadlines ,
Deferred Action ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
ESOP ,
Form 5500 ,
IRA Rollovers ,
IRC Section 83(b) ,
PBGC ,
Premiums ,
Relief Measures ,
Repayment Options ,
Retirement Plan
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) – the federal agency created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to insure certain defined benefit pension plans offered by private-sector employers –...more
The Internal Revenue Service has announced that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, its March 31, 2020, deadline for remedial amendments to section 403(b) plans has been extended to June 30, 2020....more
The Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, which passed the Senate last night, is Congress’s third legislative answer to the coronavirus pandemic. The CARES Act represents a heavily negotiated...more
On March 19, 2020, the New Jersey Department of Treasury announced that it extended the deadline for applicable coverage providers to file Forms 1095 with the New Jersey Division of Taxation from March 31, 2020, to May 15,...more
Across the United States, employers are carefully considering how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting their business. As we await further guidance and pronouncements from federal, state, and local officials, some employers are...more
3/18/2020
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
DFSA ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Furloughs ,
Health and Safety ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Layoffs ,
Public Health ,
Retirement Plan ,
Unemployment Benefits
To encourage individuals to seek prompt medical attention for the coronavirus (COVID-19), a number of states have taken, or are considering, action to eliminate the costs associated with testing and treating the virus and to...more
3/16/2020
/ Clinical Laboratory Testing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Crisis Management ,
Deductible Expenses ,
Emergency Response ,
Employee Benefits ,
HDHP ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance ,
HSA ,
Infectious Diseases ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Public Health ,
Relief Measures
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a notice that allows individuals to participate in a health savings account (HSA) while participating in a high deductible health plan (HDHP) that provides coverage for both the...more
3/16/2020
/ China ,
Clinical Laboratory Testing ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Deductibles ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Emergency Response ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
HDHP ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
Infectious Diseases ,
IRS ,
Medical Benefits ,
Medical Examinations ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Public Health
Below is a summary of those key provisions. I. SECURE Act The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the SECURE Act, H.R. 1994) is arguably the most significant and comprehensive retirement saving...more
12/23/2019
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Health Insurance Tax ,
Healthcare Reform ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Medical Leave ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
PCORI ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
UBIT
The U. S. Department of the Treasury recently issued final regulations governing hardship distributions from 401(k) and 403(b) retirement savings plans....more
10/1/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Final Rules ,
Hardship Distributions ,
IRS ,
New Regulations ,
QMAC ,
QNEC ,
Retirement Plan ,
Tax Deferral ,
U.S. Treasury
A new California law, stemming from Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5), expands and codifies the California Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles, which we reported on...more
9/24/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Retroactive Application ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
This week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its highly anticipated Final Rule, which allows working owners with no employees and companies in unrelated industries to band together to create a single defined...more
The IRS announced yesterday that it will expand its determination letter program for tax-qualified retirement plans. Under previous IRS procedures, a plan sponsor could submit its plan document to the IRS, and the IRS would...more
Here in is a summary of recent investment management developments that affect registered investment companies, private equity funds, hedge funds, investment advisers, and others in the investment management industry....more
12/12/2018
/ Annuities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hedge Funds ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Investment Products ,
Life Insurance ,
Mutual Funds ,
No-Action Letters ,
Opportunity Zones ,
Private Equity ,
Proxy Advisors ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Exemptions ,
Wealth Management
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has issued new proposed regulations that provide more flexibility for 401(k) and 403(b) plan participants to access their retirement accounts in the event of a financial hardship, as...more
Rewards and Risks in Opportunity Zone Funds -
H.R. 1—informally known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—became law on December 22, 2017. Included in the Act is a new program intended to spur the reallocation of investments...more
9/11/2018
/ Best Execution ,
Community Development ,
Economic Development ,
Exchange-Traded Products ,
Investment Funds ,
Investment Management ,
Low Income Housing ,
Low-Income Issues ,
Mutual Funds ,
New Market Tax Credits ,
OCIE ,
Opportunity Zones ,
Real Estate Development ,
Risk Alert ,
Safe Harbors ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
State and Local Government ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deferral ,
Trump Administration
Regulation BI, Form CRS, Adviser or Advisor, and Fiduciary Duties of Adviser -
In a flurry of proposed rulemaking that added up to more than 900 pages of reading material, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)...more
7/5/2018
/ Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
Choice of Entity ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Investment Products ,
Liquidity Risk Management Rule ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Required Forms ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Fifth Circuit on March 15 vacated U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations that redefined the circumstances in which a person who provides investment advice in connection with a retirement plan or individual retirement...more
3/19/2018
/ Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Consumer Financial Products ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deregulation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Investment Adviser ,
Investment Management ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration ,
Vacated
The IRS has announced that it has made substantial modifications to the fee structure applicable to voluntary compliance program (VCP) applications for the correction of compliance defects in tax-qualified retirement plans,...more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump shortly before Christmas, is the most significant tax reform legislation in more than 30 years. ...more
1/3/2018
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Employee Benefits ,
Excise Tax ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Income Taxes ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Remuneration ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration