Midyear Premium Increases and Cafeteria Plan Rules
COVID-19-Related Guidance Allows Employees to Revise 2020 Health Insurance Elections
COVID-19 Impact for Health & Welfare Plans (Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton COVID-19 Issues for Employers Podcast Series)
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - COVID-19 Edition; New Opportunities for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements and Cafeteria Plans
Compliance Issues Associated with Section 125 Plans
A recent memorandum from the IRS Office of Chief Counsel serves as a helpful reminder to check in on cafeteria plan administration and ensure all processes—including claims substantiation for medical expenses and dependent...more
On April 28, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Office of Chief Counsel issued a Chief Counsel Advice (“CCA”) explaining the requirements for claim substantiation for health and dependent care flexible spending...more
As the year draws to a close, it is helpful for employers to pause to evaluate employee benefit plan amendment deadlines and other crucial fourth quarter considerations, including:...more
Yesterday the IRS released Notice 2021-26, which clarifies that if eligible dependent care benefits would have been excluded from income if used during either the prior tax year (2020 or 2021), these benefits remain...more
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) into law. Under ARPA, certain employees and their dependents who lost group health coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the...more
On February 18, 2021, the IRS issued Notice 2021-15, clarifying temporary special rules for cafeteria plans, health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and dependent care assistance programs (DCAPs) that were included in the...more
Carlton Fields tax attorney Lowell Walters discusses IRS Notice 2020-29, which permits 2020 cafeteria plan election changes, and what it means for group health plan sponsors with employees affected by COVID-19....more
On the latest episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt discusses new opportunities that the IRS and COVID-19 legislative relief have created for health flexible spending and cafeteria plans....more
Relief from the strict employee benefit cafeteria plan mid-year election changes rules has finally arrived. In Notice 2020-29, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance providing cafeteria plan participants with...more
On May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-29 (the Notice), an important piece of guidance for employers that sponsor health & welfare plans. The Notice provides much-needed flexibility for...more
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has issued two important notices allowing employer-plan sponsors to amend their §125 cafeteria plans to provide employees with increased flexibility for elected benefits and account...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-29 and Notice 2020-33 on May 12, 2020, to provide relief from the COVID-19 pandemic (COVID-19) for taxpayers participating in Section 125 cafeteria plans. The provisions...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2020-29, allowing §125 cafeteria plans and high-deductible health plan (HDHP) changes during the remainder of 2020....more
IRS guidance, Notice 2020-29 and 2020-33, issued on May 12, 2020 addresses unanticipated changes in health and dependent care expenses because of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by providing for increased...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued new guidance, Notice 2020-29, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing for temporary flexibility with respect to mid-year elections made during 2020 under Code section 125...more
As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the IRS has just issued IRS Notice 2020-29 (the notice), which permits (but does not require) employers to provide flexibility to employees to change their elections under cafeteria plans...more
On May 12, 2020, the IRS issued two notices affecting employee elections under Code Section 125 cafeteria plans. The COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale "stay at home" orders left many employers facing questions relating to...more
Earlier this week, the IRS released new guidance allowing certain mid-year election change events under an employer’s cafeteria plan in calendar year 2020 for group health plan coverage, health flexible spending accounts, and...more
Over the past several weeks, human resources and employee benefits professionals (and their attorneys) have been scrambling to assemble staffing plans, telework arrangements and strategies for complying with the paid leave...more
It is hard to find a sector of the American workforce that has not been affected by the COVID-19 emergency. Employees are being asked to work from home if they are able, businesses are being forced to close, and employers are...more
Employers who are interested in designing different benefits packages for different categories of employees must comply with both the Internal Revenue Code and the Affordable Care Act. ...more
With the rise in health insurance costs and changing work demographics, employers nationwide are considering innovative benefit designs that are intended to not only contain costs but also provide employees greater...more
New IRS guidance adds two more events that allow participants to change their cafeteria plan elections outside of the annual open enrollment period. These events are designed to coordinate with the employer coverage rules and...more
Section 125 Plans, which are commonly referred to as either cafeteria plans or flexible benefit plans, are much loved, and needed, if you want to allow employees to pay health insurance and other premiums on a pre-tax basis....more
Two controversial cases involving same-sex marriage were decided on June 26, 2013 by the United States Supreme Court. ...more