The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), signed into law on Friday March 27, 2020, introduces the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) with $349 billion in funding and the goal of preventing...more
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), signed into law on Friday March 27, 2020, introduces the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) with $349 billion in funding and the goal of preventing...more
4/8/2020
/ Banks ,
Business Closures ,
Business Interruption ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Federal Loans ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Lenders ,
Lending ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Small Business ,
Tax Relief ,
Unemployment Insurance
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which was signed by the President on March 27, 2020, includes several provisions affecting employer benefit plans.
Expansion of Withdrawal and Loan...more
Hundreds of articles have been published about the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, or SECURE, Act, which was signed into law on Dec. 20, 2019, as part of the late budget bill referred to as the Further...more
Hundreds of articles have been published over the last two weeks about the SECURE Act (“Act”), which was signed into law in late December as part of the most recent budget bill. As you are certainly aware by now, the Act...more
1/24/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Automatic Enrollment ,
Beneficiaries ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Early Retirement Distributions ,
Employee Benefits ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
New Rules ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning
It’s the time of year when we all gather around with our families and loved ones. It’s also a good time to remember that your company may have its own family. Forgetting about that family can spell trouble....more
12/10/2019
/ COBRA ,
Controlled Groups ,
Corporate Governance ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Parent Corporation ,
Section 409A ,
Subsidiaries
Clients frequently ask if they can provide incentive compensation to their employees and executives in a manner that gives them flexibility and drives performance, but receives coveted capital gains treatment. This usually...more
9/26/2018
/ Alternative Minimum Tax ,
Employee Stock Purchase Plans ,
Executive Compensation ,
FICA Taxes ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Incentive Stock Options ,
IRS ,
Section 409A ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Stock Options ,
Wage and Hour
Even though stock options are a commonly used compensation tool, certain issues, such as whether you must/should limit their terms and, if you do, whether you can make changes to their terms after they have been granted,...more
As you have probably heard by now, the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Tax Reform Act) made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. With regard to executive compensation, the Tax Reform Act made widely...more
1/9/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform
Impact of Tax Reform on Employer-Provided Retirement, Welfare, and Fringe Benefits -
The recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts (the “Tax Reform Act”) made significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Although there...more
1/8/2018
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Employee Benefits ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Individual Mandate ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Many employers offer compensation packages that include a mix of both base compensation (guaranteed wages or salary) and incentive compensation (at-risk variable compensation). While base pay tends to be relatively...more
When Hurricanes Harvey and Irma made landfall in Texas and Florida, they gave rise not only to widespread property damage, but to a humanitarian disaster as well. The massive storms have left scores dead and thousands...more
9/27/2017
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Charitable Donations ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
FEMA ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Hurricane Harvey ,
Hurricane Irma ,
Hurricane Maria ,
IRS ,
Leave of Absence ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Loans ,
Popular ,
Qualified Disaster Relief Payments
Severance agreements – especially severance agreements for terminating executives – are ripe with potential tax planning challenges and opportunities....more
On December 13, 2016, President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, which allows small employers to maintain health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) for the purpose of reimbursing employees for the cost of...more
Sponsors of qualified retirement plans and group health plans may receive tens, if not hundreds, of plan document requests every year. Responding to these requests in accordance with the rules set forth under the Employee...more
Generally speaking, many employers do not think about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it comes to severance, whether at the front end, when employment agreements or policies are negotiated and...more
The Affordable Care Act requires “applicable large employers” (generally, employers with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time employee equivalents) to provide individual statements to their full-time employees and to...more
In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) expanded the events that would allow employees to drop their health plan coverage under their employer’s cafeteria plan. As a reminder, the general rule is that once an employee...more
Given the large workforces and importance of intellectual property and trade secrets in the automotive industry, automotive companies rely heavily on confidentiality provisions in employment agreements and employee handbooks....more
Thanks to a recent enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it may be time to review and revise the confidentiality provisions in employment agreements, severance agreements, employee...more
4/15/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Best Management Practices ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Internal Investigations ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Severance Agreements ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Your vendor’s employee goes home after a long day of collecting wellness questionnaires and biometric screening results only to wake up the next day to discover that her car has been stolen from her driveway. As you can...more
You know it’s Fall when the leaves turn color, jack-o-lanterns wink in the twilight, the World Series plays on … and the IRS announces new indexed annual limits for employee benefit plans. Sticking to tradition, the IRS...more
If you sponsor a self-insured group health plan, then November includes two important deadlines: (1) you must obtain a health plan identifier for your plan, and (2) you must report the number of participants for whom a...more
Earlier this year, the IRS issued final regulations that provide additional guidance on the employer shared responsibility rules (also called the “pay or play” rules) that will generally apply to employers’ group health plans...more
Earlier this week, the IRS issued final regulations that provide additional guidance on the new “pay or play” rules (also called the employer shared responsibility rules) that will generally apply to employers’ group health...more