PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New IRS Guidance on SECURE 2.0 Act Student Loan Employer Contributions
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Lifetime Income Products
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Trends in Recordkeeper Consolidation and Due Diligence
Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Rules Now in Effect — Troutman Pepper Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Understanding Fees in Retirement Planning
The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ESG Investing by Retirement Plans
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 – Top-Hat Plans — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Auto-Portability: A New Way to Keep Retirement Savings Growing
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - IRS 2024 Health Plan Affordability Threshold May Put Some at Risk
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act Relief for Plan Corrections
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Partial Plan Terminations
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act - More Relief for Plan Administrators
The Burr Broadcast April 2023 - The Official End of COVID-19 Emergencies
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
A “qualified disclaimer” is a tax-effective way to refuse a transfer of property that would otherwise occur on someone’s death. From time to time, retirement plan administrators may be contacted by a beneficiary who wants a...more
On August 28, the IRS issued IR-2024-227, reminding employers of the following key aspects of educational assistance programs under Internal Revenue Code Section 127: -They can be used to help reimburse the costs of or...more
Summer is ending and fall is rapidly approaching. For employee benefit professionals with calendar-year health and welfare benefit plans that means preparing for annual enrollment and year-end compliance requirements. This...more
The August Monthly Minute highlights new IRS guidance addressing student loan matching programs, HHS’s increases to civil monetary penalties and Form 5330 paper filing updates....more
Recent lawsuits filed against the group health plans of two large US employers underscore the importance of implementing formal welfare benefit plan governance structures that include fiduciary committees comparable to the...more
The Department of Labor’s final regulation defining fiduciary status for investment advice to retirement investors will be effective this September 23. Where a fiduciary recommendation results in additional compensation for...more
Administering a retirement plan is a complicated task fraught with potential missteps. Fortunately, employers are now able to self-correct most errors and thereby avoid the considerable time and expense of filing an...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced two settlements with major insurance companies this month that highlight the importance of employers avoiding the collection of group life insurance premiums from employees until...more
In a recent article in Managed Healthcare Executive, Peter Wehrwein examines the trend of self-funding of group health benefits by smaller employers who used to depend mainly or entirely on fully insured programs....more
IRS reminds employers that implementing certain optional retirement plan provisions of SECURE 2.0 affect Form W‑2 and Form 1099‑R reporting starting in 2023 - The IRS recently issued Fact Sheet 2024‑18 to highlight how...more
We are often asked about the permissibility of excluding certain categories of employees from participating in an employer’s tax-qualified retirement plan. This post provides a high-level summary of what is and is not...more
Under Section 404 of ERISA, plan fiduciaries must act for the exclusive benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries and use plan assets only to provide benefits and defray reasonable expenses of administering the plan. In...more
The February Monthly Minute discusses a class action suit alleging a breach of fiduciary duties in connection with ERISA benefit plan prescription drug pricing and the latest IRS guidance on defined contribution plan...more
In the constantly changing health insurance landscape, level-funded health plans are steadily gaining ground as a viable middle approach between fully insured health plan and self-funded health plans—arguably offering...more
Thanks to two cases about federally mandated observers on fishing boats, judicial deference to agencies is likely to soon get weaker – and more unpredictable – with wide-ranging impacts for employee benefits. Less deference...more
The Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”), as set forth in Revenue Procedure 2021-30, allows plan sponsors to correct “Qualification Failures,” which are defined as any plan document, operational, demographic...more
Recently, the IRS announced phase two of its expansion of the Pre-Examination Compliance Pilot Program. Under the pilot program, an employer may limit or entirely avoid an impending IRS audit if they promptly correct any...more
Fiduciary committees have long been established in connection with retirement plans to manage the investment, legal compliance, and operational risks that can arise under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974,...more
This post was updated on February 6, 2024, to reflect the 2024 Federal Poverty Level announced in January 2024. On August 23, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service issued Rev. Proc. 2023-29, announcing that the Affordable...more
Most retirement plan sponsors know that ERISA - the federal law that imposes duties (and liability for breaching those duties) on certain individuals and entities that are defined as plan fiduciaries – is the primary source...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved applications from large investment firms to offer spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Retail investors can now buy bitcoin ETFs on traditional...more
In this series of articles, we explore the implications of the long-term, part-time employee rules under the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 and the impact those rules have on employers and their workforces. Together, the...more
The IRS just couldn’t wait for Christmas to gift everyone Miscellaneous Changes Under the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022! Notice 2024-2 is meant to provide guidance on discreet issues to assist with SECURE 2.0 implementation...more
The November Monthly Minute digs into the new proposed LTPT regulations, 2024 benefit limits, and the NBA health plan fraud verdict. Indigestion from Turkey and Stuffing or the IRS’ Proposed LTPT Regulations? ...more
Tips to Change the Mental Health Culture in Your Workforce - Let’s face it—while the stigma about mental health issues has gotten better, much work is still needed. It is up to all of us to help improve the dialogue and tone...more