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
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
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
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
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
Embracing 21st century technology, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published a final rule that provides a new safe harbor for electronic distribution of disclosures to retirement plan participants and...more
A number of changes and new legislation will be impacting your company’s employee benefit plans in 2020. Here is a summary of the highlights of what is to come in the new year....more
12/27/2019
/ 401k ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Amended Legislation ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Health Insurance ,
HRA ,
New Legislation ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act
In October, the Department of Labor issued proposed regulations that would allow retirement plan administrators to make required disclosures to participants accessible on a website; as opposed to requiring plan administrators...more
Earlier this year, we summarized proposed Treasury regulations and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which made changes to the rules governing hardship distributions from 401(k) and 403(b) plans....more
10/14/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Bipartisan Budget Act ,
Employee Benefits ,
Final Rules ,
Hardship Distributions ,
IRS ,
New Rules ,
Plan Documents ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
U.S. Treasury
Retirement plan administrators can run into issues with uncashed distribution checks, most often when those distributions are mandated as required minimum distributions under the Tax Code. Last month, the IRS issued Revenue...more
The Department of Labor published final regulations on July 31, 2019, making it easier for multiple employers to band together to sponsor a single retirement plan (i.e., a multiple employer plan or MEP), thereby reducing the...more
In its latest iteration of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”), in Revenue Procedure 2019-19, the IRS opened the self-correction window a bit wider by allowing qualified retirement plans that meet...more
As we previously reported, Illinois is implementing the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program (Program), under which private sector workers in Illinois who do not have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan will be...more
By way of background, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder benefits from imposing less...more