In response to ongoing pleas for guidance, the Department of Labor (DOL) has published an informal outline expressing its views on how retirement plan administrators should be addressing missing or unresponsive participants....more
The Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act, recently passed as part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” has significantly extended the tax exclusions for employer-paid student loan repayment assistance...more
1/7/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Taxable Income ,
Relief Measures ,
Student Loans ,
Tax Credits ,
Trump Administration
The recently enacted COVID-19 Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, both of which are part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” includes the following...more
1/4/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Trump Administration
The president has signed into law the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, which includes several temporary special rules aimed at minimizing forfeitures and increasing the utility of health and dependent...more
12/30/2020
/ Carryover Basis ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
IRS ,
Relief Measures ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Trump Administration
The Departments of Labor (DOL) and Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury have finalized a rule for grandfathered group health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without making any substantive changes from...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule to revise its existing rule regarding financial factors in selecting plan investments. We discussed the proposed rule in an earlier article, and this article provides a...more
As noted in Part I and Part II of this series, benefits compliance concerns typically take a backseat to the many good reasons for healthcare organizations to provide or receive the services of leased employees. However, with...more
As discussed in Part I of this series, there are clear business reasons for healthcare organizations to enter into employee leasing arrangements, including to receive ongoing services, to bridge transitions in mergers and...more
Employee leasing arrangements among healthcare organizations are exceedingly common and can be very useful to minimize administrative costs, simplify benefits and payroll administration, and leverage one organization’s...more
President Trump issued an executive order on August 8, 2020, providing for the deferral of the employee's portion of Social Security taxes for certain employees for the period beginning September 1, 2020, through December...more
The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Treasury have issued a proposed rule for grandfathered group health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposed rule provides greater...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a notice of a proposed class exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued Notice 2020-51 to provide defined contribution retirement plans with guidance relating to the waiver of 2020 required minimum distributions (RMDs) permitted under the Coronavirus...more
The Tennessee Department of Revenue has published additional frequently asked questions regarding the Tennessee Business Relief Program under which $200 million in federal coronavirus relief funds will be distributed to...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2020-50 to provide retirement plans with guidance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The extensive guidance provides helpful...more
6/24/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Certifications ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Repayment Options ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors
Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, employers can now make nontaxable payments of up to $5,250 to employees as student loan repayment assistance, but only if the payments are made by December...more
On June 2, 2020, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee directed the Tennessee Department of Revenue to distribute $200 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to businesses impacted by mandatory closures under the “Tennessee Business...more
On May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two notices permitting employers to offer new opportunities for employees to change their salary reduction elections under a cafeteria plan and avoid forfeitures of...more
The Department of Labor (DOL), joined and coordinated in part by the Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and Department of Health and Human Services, has released several documents providing deadline extensions...more
The President recently signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or “CARES Act.” The CARES Act is primarily a stimulus package that addresses the current coronavirus crisis, and it includes...more
The nation’s lawmakers, government agencies, and insurance carriers are taking measures to remove financial barriers to testing and treatment for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Employers sponsoring health plans...more
3/19/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cost-Sharing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
HDHPs ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
HSA ,
IRS ,
State and Local Government ,
Virus Testing
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives passed a budget bill, HR 1158, and a related bill, HR 1865, to enact the "Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act," referred to as the “SECURE Act.” The SECURE...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has finalized revisions to the regulations governing hardship distributions under 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The final regulations make some subtle but important changes to the regulations...more
9/25/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Natural Disasters ,
New Regulations ,
Notice Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Tax Planning
A federal trial court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a participant in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claiming that fiduciaries of the ESOP caused it to overpay for stock of the company in a leveraged transaction....more
In Revenue Procedure 2019-19, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) significantly expanded the availability of the Self-Correction Program (SCP) that plan sponsors may use to self-correct failures in their qualified retirement...more
4/30/2019
/ 403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
EPCRS ,
Filing Requirements ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Procedures ,
Tax Audits ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Voluntary Correction Program