The IRS recently published its final regulations addressing changes to Tax Code Section 401(a)(9), relating to required minimum distributions (RMDs), under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019...more
8/20/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Final Rules ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act
held that a governmental employer’s health plan violated Title VII by applying an exclusion for services and supplies associated with gender reassignment surgery. The Court relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v....more
As we’ve previously discussed, the IRS started issuing Letters 226J in late 2017. It continues to send these letters to employers each year proposing that the employer owes an Employer Shared Responsibility Payment (ESRP) for...more
A novel proposed class action lawsuit was filed against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) earlier this month by a current employee for mismanagement of prescription drug prices. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that J&J...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2024-2, which provides Q&A guidance on many provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act, which had left employers and practitioners asking questions. We previously summarized several of the key changes...more
While amendments for the following changes under the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 Act are not yet required, retirement plan sponsors (especially 401(k) and 403(b) plan sponsors) need to be aware of the following operational...more
11/21/2023
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Contributions ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act ,
Student Loans
On April 10, 2023, President Biden signed a resolution ending the COVID-19 National Emergency. As we had previously reported, the National Emergency originally was scheduled to end on May 11, 2023 – at the same time as the...more
President Biden recently announced his intention to end the COVID-19 National Emergency and Public Health Emergency effective May 11, 2023. As we previously discussed here, those emergency declarations had significant impacts...more
On December 29, 2022, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, President Biden signed into law the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”). SECURE 2.0 makes many significant changes to the employer sponsored...more
2/7/2023
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Contribution Limits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Natural Disasters ,
Relief Measures ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Student Loans
Earlier this year, the IRS issued a revised Form W-4P (Withholding Certificate for Pension or Annuity Payments) and a new Form W-4R (Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollover Distributions), both...more
While many in the U.S. have attempted to resume a sense of normalcy despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, for employer-sponsored health plans, special “emergency” pandemic rules and extensions remain in effect. As previously...more
The Transparency in Coverage Final Rules issued in 2020 require most non-grandfathered insurers and group health plan sponsors to make publicly available online three machine-readable data files with health care pricing...more
Given the current market volatility, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) concerns related to the addition of cryptocurrencies in qualified retirement plans seems prescient. In Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01, the...more
5/20/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Opportunities ,
New Guidance ,
Plan Participants ,
Retirement Plan
With each new year, new legal obligations for employers sponsoring group health plans seem to arrive. This article provides a brief overview and reminder of some of the new key requirements for 2022, many of which we have...more
On August 27, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed the Consumer Coverage Disclosure Act (the Act), which became effective immediately. The Act requires Illinois employers (both private and governmental) to disclose to all new hires...more
Governor Pritzker recently signed into law an expansion to Illinois’s Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program (Program) that soon will require compliance with the Program by employers with five or more employees. Previously,...more
Group health plan sponsors are required to send annual notices (as well as at other particular times) to individuals who are eligible for Medicare Part D that explain whether the health plan’s prescription drug coverage is...more
As we previously reported in 2020, the IRS granted temporary relief from the physical presence requirement under regulations governing participant elections and spousal consents for certain retirement plans. Generally, those...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2021-26, which provides guidance related to certain pandemic relief provisions including carry-overs and extended grace periods which impact dependent care assistance programs (DCAPs) provided...more
As we previously reported, the recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) includes a six-month COBRA premium subsidy whereby the federal government subsidizes 100% of the COBRA premium during the period of April...more
5/26/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Premiums ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Credits
In April, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), for the first time, issued cybersecurity guidance that was focused on retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) but could be...more
As we previously reported, the recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) includes a six-month COBRA premium subsidy whereby the federal government subsidizes 100% of the COBRA premium during the period of April...more
4/13/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Relief Measures
The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recently issued its annual inflationary adjustments to penalties that apply for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA)....more
We recently highlighted the employee benefits provisions that accompanied the latest COVID-19 relief law as part of our summary of that Act. This article addresses some of the other recent employee benefits-related changes...more
1/12/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
CARES Act ,
Comment Period ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act
On December 27, 2020, the President signed a bill passed by Congress providing additional COVID-19 related relief and stimulus. The key provisions impacting employers and current and former employees are summarized below,...more
1/4/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Injury Disaster Loans ,
Emergency Sick Leave Laws ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
IRS ,
Paid Leave ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Tax Credits ,
Time Extensions ,
Unemployment Benefits