On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released its long-awaited final rules regarding changes to the Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP). The new...more
1/20/2025
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
EPCRS ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Self-Correction Programs
Beginning January 1, 2024, employers will be required to allow Long-term, part-time (LTPT) employees to make deferral contributions to qualified retirement plans that contain cash or deferred arrangements. Deferrals for LTPT...more
To the relief of plan sponsors everywhere, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2023-62, which provides guidance on the requirements of Section 603 of the SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022 relating to catch-up...more
9/6/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Comment Period ,
Employee Contributions ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act ,
Time Extensions
SECURE 2.0 may cause some insecurity. However, the law’s changes to the treatment of overpayments from employer-sponsored retirement plans may replace that insecurity with relief....more
After months of suspense and intrigue on whether SECURE 2.0 would make it to the finish line and become law, the U.S. Congress ended the suspense by attaching SECURE 2.0 to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 funding...more
Employers will have the opportunity to review and self-correct retirement plan failures upon being identified for plan examination by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS announced in early June 2022 the rollout of a...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released two notices that provide additional guidance for retirement plan administrators and qualified individuals about the special distribution, plan loan, and required minimum...more
On May 4, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued informal guidance regarding the coronavirus-related distributions (CRD) and loan options provided for retirement plans and participants under Section 2202 of the...more
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which President Trump signed on March 27, 2020, contains several significant relief provisions affecting qualified retirement plan participants and plan...more
In late December, Congress passed and President Donald Trump signed into law the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, the most sweeping retirement legislation since the Pension Protection Act of...more
1/16/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Beneficiary Designations ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
New Legislation ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning
Beginning September 1, 2019, employers that sponsor cash balance plans and certain merged plans can sleep easier. Revenue Procedure 2019-20, issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on May 1, 2019, opens the IRS’s...more
7/1/2019
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Determination Letter ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Hybrid Plan ,
IRS ,
Merged Plan ,
Plan Documents ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Procedures
Otis Redding and the Black Crowes may have proclaimed themselves “hard to handle now,” but thanks to recent guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), hardship distributions from 401(k) plans are a bit less hard to...more
On October 30, 2017, Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania signed into law Act 43 of 2017. This new law provides that beginning July 1, 2018, Pennsylvania businesses that pay at least $5,000 in Pennsylvania-source nonemployee...more
In acknowledgment of the recent sexual misconduct allegations and the confidential settlements in connection with those allegations, Congress added a new section 162(q) to the Internal Revenue Code as part of the Tax Cuts and...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced last year that it would end its staggered five-year remedial amendment cycle system for individually designed retirement plans under the determination letter program due to...more
4/8/2016
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Determination Letter ,
EPCRS ,
Exemptions ,
Financial Institutions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Investment Company Act of 1940 ,
IRS ,
Plan Documents ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Securities Act of 1933
At last . . . the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finally provides mid-year safe harbor guidance. Etta James’s legendary cover of that song is fitting considering the many years that employers have waited to receive this...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued two rounds of guidance modifying the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). The IRS guidance gives employers greater flexibility in correcting relatively common...more
We expect 2015 to be a very busy year for actions on new or proposed federal regulations in the absence of congressional legislation. That was confirmed on November 21, 2014, when the administration published its “Unified...more
While employers and employees alike are asking questions about the proper workplace response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, these same folks are also asking how they can help the victims, their families and those who...more
Employers and participants alike have been anxiously waiting for further guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on how marriages of same-sex couples will be treated for purposes of qualified retirement plans. On...more
Employers and participants alike have been anxiously waiting for further guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on how marriages of same-sex couples will be treated for purposes of qualified retirement plans....more
On December 31, 2012, as Times Square in New York was getting ready to drop the crystal ball, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped long-awaited guidance regarding retirement plan corrections in the form of Revenue...more
On December 31, 2012, as Times Square in New York was getting ready to drop the crystal ball, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) dropped long-awaited guidance regarding retirement plan corrections in the form of Revenue...more
Well, Congress in the season of giving has provided plan sponsors and participants with multiple beneficial opportunities to start 2013. Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8), also known as the...more