PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Round of COVID-19 Relief Expands Assistance for Employers
Nowhere to spend child care FSA funds
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
On November 9th, the IRS announced additional inflation adjustments for 2024, including to the annual contribution and carryover limits for healthcare flexible spending accounts and the monthly limit for qualified...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the “Act”) was signed into law on December 27, 2020. Buried within its 5,593 pages is some welcome flexibility relating to 2020 and 2021 health care and dependent care Flexible...more
In response to the global novel coronavirus pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service released guidance to allow temporary changes to section 125 cafeteria plans. These changes provide increased flexibility to employees to make...more
During his campaign, President-elect Trump promised to make the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a priority. Now that the election is over, what should employers expect? We don’t have a crystal ball,...more
When healthcare reform was rolled out in 2010, there was a provision included in the law imposing a tax on healthcare benefits provided to employees that exceed a threshold cost. This tax has been referred to as the...more
Although public opposition to the 40% excise tax on high-cost health care is rapidly growing, the IRS continued to develop a regulatory framework for administration of the excise tax through its issuance of Notice 2015-52 on...more
As mentioned in a prior Alert, beginning in 2013 employees’ salary reduction contributions to a health flexible spending account (health FSA) may not exceed $2,500 per plan year. This limit is to be indexed for inflation in...more
Under Notice 2014-55, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will now permit a cafeteria plan to allow an employee to revoke his election for coverage under the employer's group health plan in order to purchase a qualified health...more
The IRS has issued guidance on two issues affecting health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs). The first provides guidance on how a health FSA that consists solely of amounts carried forward from the prior year...more
In June 2013, the Supreme Court held unconstitutional a federal law requiring only opposite-sex marriages to be recognized for federal law purposes. The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") issued initial guidance in September...more
Recent guidance from the IRS modifies the long-standing “use or lose it” rule under a health flexible spending arrangement (“Health FSA”) to permit such arrangements to offer participants the opportunity to carryover up to...more
The IRS recently modified the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule for healthcare flexible spending accounts (FSAs) to permit a limited carryover of unspent funds from one plan year to the next. Effective immediately, plan sponsors may...more
Employees generally may not use contributions made to a health flexible spending account ("health FSA") in one plan year to purchase a benefit that will be provided in a subsequent plan year. This "use it or lose it" rule...more
Some cafeteria plans already contain optional grace period provisions that modify the strict “use it or lose it” rules for Health Flexible Spending Accounts (“Health FSA” or “FSA”). These grace period provisions permit FSA...more
As we approach the end of the year, employers and plan sponsors of qualified retirement plans and health and welfare plans should take time to meet various upcoming deadlines. Failure to comply with the deadlines may result...more
In This Issue: - Labor and Employment and ERISA Class Actions After Wal-Mart and Comcast — Practice Points for Defendants (Part I – Commonality)* - Agencies Release Guidance on HRAs, FSAs, and Employer Payment...more
As employers who sponsor cafeteria plans know, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) under those plans have had a “use it or lose it” rule. Under that rule, employees who participate in the spending accounts must make elections...more
On October 31, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2013-71 (Notice), which modifies the "use or lose" rule for health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs) to allow a $500 annual carryover of unused...more
On October 31, the IRS issued Notice 2013-71, modifying the long-standing “use or lose” rule for health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs). Under the new rule, employers may permit health FSA participants to carry over up...more
The IRS has issued IRS Notice 2013-71, allowing limited carry-over of amounts in employees’ flex plan accounts to the following plan year. Under the guidance employers may permit participants to carry over up to $500 of...more
On October 31, the IRS modified the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule for health flexible spending arrangements, allowing up to $500 of unused amounts to be carried forward and used for payment or reimbursement of qualified medical...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued guidance modifying the longstanding "use it or lose it" rule for health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs). Under the notice, employers that sponsor health FSA...more
Last week, there were two important developments relating to Section 125 cafeteria plans. First, Massachusetts announced that employers will no longer be required to maintain a Section 125 plan. Second, the IRS has modified...more
In Notice 2013-71 (the “Notice”), the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has modified the so-called “use-it-or-lose-it” rule for health flexible spending accounts (“FSAs”) under cafeteria plans to allow participants to...more
On October 31, 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued guidance relaxing the Use-or-Lose Rule applicable to Health FSAs under employers’ cafeteria plans. Now an employer may amend its cafeteria plan to permit plan...more