In This Issue:

- Health & Welfare Plans

..Health Care Reform: IRS Issues Proposed “Pay or Play” Regulations

..Health Care Reform: IRS Issues FAQs on Various ACA Issues

..HHS Issues Final HIPAA Regulations Incorporating HITECH Act and GINA

- Qualified Retirement Plans

..IRS Issues New Correction Procedures

..In-Plan Roth Conversions Now Possible Without a Distribution Event

- Fringe Benefit Arrangements

..Transit Benefit Limit Increased Retroactively

- ERISA Reporting Requirements

..DOL Issues Revised Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program

- Other Items of Interest

..NHL Agrees to Create New Defined Benefit Pension Plan for Players

- Excerpt from Health Care Reform: IRS Issues Proposed “Pay or Play” Regulations:

The IRS issued proposed regulations on the Affordable Care Act’s “pay or play” requirement, which is the most important aspect of the ACA for employers. Among many other topics, the proposed regulations clarify that coverage must be offered to at least 95% of an employer’s full-time employees, that the cost of self-only coverage is all that an employer needs to consider when determining whether its coverage is “affordable” for purposes of avoiding pay or play taxes, and that there are a number of design-based safe harbors that an employer can use to ensure its coverage is considered affordable for every employee. The IRS has informally (yet very clearly) stated that employers should rely on these proposed regulations in their planning for pay or play, and that employers should immediately begin this planning in anticipation of the 2014 effective date. Our alert, “Health Care Reform: Preparations for 2014 Pay or Play Rules Should Begin Now,” from January provides a number of strategic considerations for employers as they prepare for the beginning of pay or play in 2014.