Members of Kilpatrick’s Employee Benefits and Investment Management Teams recently presented a webinar on the topic of “Optimizing Retirement Plan Investment Committee Performance.” The discussion was focused on helping...more
Whether investment decisions for pension, 401(k), and other plans covered by ERISA should be influenced by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors has become a flashpoint and, unlike most ERISA issues, the...more
On December 20, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2024-2, which provides guidance on some important provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”). Notice 2024-2, is not comprehensive guidance...more
The IRS announced on February 7, 2024, that it is moving into the second phase of its Pre-Examination Retirement Plan Compliance Program pilot, which is discussed in our prior blog post....more
The IRS and the Department of the Treasury published a proposed regulation on November 27, 2023, clarifying certain points relating to the coverage of long-term part-time employees (“LTPTE”) in defined contribution plans...more
Are mandatory arbitration provisions with class action waivers a solution to the onslaught of class action litigation against 401(k) plans in recent years? Some courts have enforced mandatory arbitration provisions in ERISA...more
Are mandatory arbitration provisions with class action waivers a simple solution to the onslaught of class action litigation that has plagued 401(k) plans in recent years? The results so far have been mixed. Some courts have...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) includes a number of changes that affect defined benefit pension plans. This includes new reporting and disclosure requirements in connection with offering a lump sum window and...more
Among the most challenging components of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) for plan sponsors is a requirement that any catch-up contributions for high wage earners can only be made on a Roth (after-tax) basis beginning...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) greatly expands the availability of self-correction of compliance failures involving employer retirement plans and IRAs. On May 25, 2023, the IRS issued Notice 2023-43, which...more
In a 2010 newsletter, the IRS announced that forfeitures under a 401(k) plan or other defined contribution plan must be promptly used and not allowed to accumulate over several years. In February, the IRS proposed...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”), like the original SECURE Act of 2019 (“SECURE 1.0”), made significant changes to the required minimum distribution (“RMD”) rules. The SECURE 2.0 changes generally allow for...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) is one of the most significant pieces of retirement plan legislation in many years. (See our high level summary of SECURE 2.0 at link.) Among other things, SECURE 2.0 brings sweeping...more
Department of Labor (“DOL”) Secretary Walsh recently announced final regulations in a blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Considering ESG Factors in Retirement Plan Investments.” While the rules open the door to more...more
Department of Labor (“DOL”) Secretary Walsh recently announced final regulations in a blog post titled “Removing Barriers to Considering ESG Factors in Retirement Plan Investments.” While the rules open the door to more...more
On November 18, 2022, the DOL released proposed text for a revised Voluntary Fiduciary Correction (“VFC”) Program and related prohibited transaction exemption (“PTE”) 2002-51. The most significant aspect of the revised VFC...more
The IRS has issued guidance that for the first time permits companies to apply for determination letters for individually-designed 403(b) Plans. Under the new guidance, determination letters will be available for 403(b) plans...more
As discussed in our prior blog post, the IRS previously extended the deadline to adopt most plan amendments relating to the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act of 2019 (“Secure Act”), the Bipartisan American Miners...more
Kilpatrick Townsend's Sterling Perkinson and Peter Daines recently presented "Establishing Tax Qualified Retirement Plans." These are the 5 key takeaways from their presentation....more
Kilpatrick Townsend attorneys Sterling Perkinson and Peter Daines presented a Strafford webinar focused on the challenges and considerations facing a company in setting up tax-qualified retirement plans. The presentation also...more
On July 28, 2022, the federal regulators (referred to as the “Departments”) released a new set of FAQs (Part 54) under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) to clarify the scope of the preventive care mandate, in particular, with...more
The House and Senate are moving forward on several versions of legislation, which are collectively known as the “Secure Act 2.0” because they would build off of the Secure Act, the last major retirement plan legislation...more
6/28/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Pensions ,
Popular ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning
The Supreme Court released an opinion Tuesday, June 21, 2022, holding that the Marietta Memorial Hospital Employee Health Benefit Plan (“Marietta Plan”) did not violate the Medicare Secondary Payer statute merely because it...more
On June 3, 2022, the IRS announced a new pre-audit compliance program for retirement plans beginning immediately in June 2022 (the “Pilot Program”). Under the Pilot Program, the IRS will send a pre-audit letter to plan...more
On February 24, 2022, Russia began a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. In response, the United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on a broad range of financial transactions that affect Russia. Pension and 401(k)...more