The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) introduced the Long-Term Part-Time (LTPT) rules. These rules aim to address the retirement needs of long-term part-time employees who have...more
Employers that sponsor 401(k) or 403(b) plans should be aware of eligibility and participation rules for their long-term, part-time (LTPT) employees. Historically, such plans could exclude employees who worked fewer than...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gave plan sponsors an early Christmas gift with the release of new guidance late last year addressing several key provisions contained in SECURE 2.0. A welcome portion of the notice was...more
When the original SECURE Act was passed in 2019, compliance with its new long-term part-time employee rule seemed far in the future—way out to January 1, 2024. Well, that time is nearly upon us, so sponsors of 401(k) plans...more
ESOPs can pay fair market value for the stock: Stock purchased by an ESOP must be appraised by an independent third party expert working with a trustee for the ESOP who must also be independent from the seller. The ESOP is...more
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, and Division T of the Act contains legislation dubbed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0). SECURE 2.0 contains an important...more
If you maintain a 401(k) plan (“Plan”), Section 112 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”) imposes new rules for Plan participation by your part-time employees if they work at...more
With COVID and massive layoffs, we certainly have a partial termination problem to consider. If an employer has a turnover rate of 20% or more, that counts as a partial termination, and employers have to fully vest employees...more
All 401(k) retirement plans have special age and service rules that employees have to meet to become eligible to participate and to vest in employer contributions to those plans. In Notice 2020-68, the IRS explains the new...more
As noted in our January 7, 2020 Client Advisory, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”) requires 401(k) plans to allow certain long-term, part-time employees to make elective...more
IRS Notice 2020-68 (Notice) provides the first round of guidance on a number of provisions under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) and the Bipartisan American Miners Act of...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued helpful guidance to plan sponsors of safe harbor 401(k) plans that are considering reducing or suspending safe harbor employer matching contributions or safe harbor nonelective...more
This set of FAQs is part of a series dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on businesses. Government-mandated protocols and social distancing directives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to significant business...more
Many employers are looking at their financial sustainability for the near future as COVID-19 impacts our economy and are looking at ways to cut costs. A common question we are receiving - can we stop matching our employees’...more
The last two weeks have seen dramatic changes for communities and businesses as COVID-19 has spread to all parts of the world. Significant disruptions for businesses and individuals have become necessary as we work together...more
Editor’s Overview - In 2016, we saw a considerable uptick in the number and variety of excessive fee lawsuits commenced against plan fiduciaries of defined contribution plans. We begin the year by taking a look at these...more
The Government Accounting Office (GAO) took a look at 80 401(k) plans and concentrated on the features that they believe limit an employee’s ability to save. While the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA currently allow all of...more
Things That Won't Help A Retirement Plan Sponsor Limit Their Liability. Yup, not going to help. When I was a teenager, we were told that eating oat bran would lower cholesterol and it didn't. We're told that...more
On the TV show Futurama, the aged proprietor of the delivery company Planet Express, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, had a habit of entering a room where the other characters were gathered and sharing his trademark line,...more
Editor's Overview - This month we feature three key developments. First, we review the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 136 S. Ct. 936, 947 (2016) wherein the Supreme Court held that a...more
Editor’s Overview - This month we review the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Montanile v. Board of Trustees of National Elevator Industries Health Benefit Plan where the Supreme Court considered the scope of...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently updated its “Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Audit Techniques Guide.” The Guide provides a framework for the IRS to audit nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans. Since...more
Editor's Overview - In this month's newsletter, Anthony Cacace analyzes the heavily anticipated Supreme Court ruling in Tibble v. Edison Intl., 135 S. Ct. 1823 (2015), where the Court held that ERISA's fiduciary duty of...more