Many employers with at least fifty employees in the six-county Chicago area will have to provide their full-time employees with pre-tax public transit benefits starting January 1, 2024, under a new Illinois law....more
9/13/2023
/ Commuting ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Fringe Benefits ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Municipalities ,
New Legislation ,
Payroll Deductions ,
Public Transit ,
Public Transportation ,
Reimbursements
Employers’ high deductible health plans (HDHPs) can continue to cover COVID-19 testing and treatment without violating the eligibility rules for health savings accounts (HSAs)—but only through 2024—under new Internal Revenue...more
With the pandemic winding down, deadlines for employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) will be resuming. Two different emergencies affect employer-sponsored group health plans:...more
2/8/2023
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
IRS ,
Joint Statements ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Relief Measures ,
Time Extensions
Qualified retirement plans will experience unusually sharp increases to compensation and contribution limitations for 2023 compared to adjustments in recent years. On October 21, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)...more
The Biden administration announced several student loan debt relief measures on August 24, 2022, including an extended loan repayment moratorium through December 31, 2022, and debt cancellation that will be available...more
9/19/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
CARES Act ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Federal Grants ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
Private Letter Rulings ,
SECURE Act ,
Student Loans
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 issued some much-needed guidance surrounding the application of deadline extensions that the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) previously issued for initial elections under...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) implemented a 100 percent COBRA subsidy for certain qualified beneficiaries beginning on April 1, 2021, and ending September 30, 2021. On May 18, 2021, more than a month into the...more
Retirement plans are increasingly subject to cybersecurity issues, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is taking notice. On April 14, 2021, the DOL published cybersecurity guidance “for plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries,...more
5/18/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Best Practices ,
Class Action ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Security ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Electronic Communications ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary ,
IRS ,
Plan Participants ,
Popular ,
Retirement Plan ,
Third-Party Service Provider
Less than a month after the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law, new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) guidance and model forms are clearing up a number of employer concerns about the 100 percent COBRA...more
4/12/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EBSA ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Premiums ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Credits
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) contained temporary relief measures aimed at addressing unused contributions to health flexible spending accounts (FSA) and dependent care assistance programs (DCAP).
On...more
3/11/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Cafeteria Plans ,
CARES Act ,
Carry-Over Basis ,
COBRA ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deductibles ,
Dependent Care Assistance Program (DCAP) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Grace Period ,
Health Savings Accounts ,
IRS ,
Relief Measures
Employers are facing uncertainty as to the expiration of the COVID-19 relief the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued in a joint guidance on May 4, 2020. The joint guidance requires...more
On October 26, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) updated various dollar limitations that apply to tax-qualified retirement plans for 2021. The new amounts, published in Notice 2020-79, are annually adjusted for cost of...more
10/30/2020
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Contribution Limits ,
Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Popular ,
Retirement Plan ,
Small Employer Plans (SEPs)
On July 8, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance for employers on reporting qualifying wages paid to employees under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave...more
High-deductible health plans may now cover testing and treatment for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on a first-dollar basis without risking making participants ineligible to participate in health savings accounts (HSAs)....more
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revisited the treatment of prescription drug manufacturer coupons in a proposed rule, published on February 6, 2020, that could be welcome news for employers that have been...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2019-63 on December 2, 2019 providing some relief from Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting requirements. The notice provides relief consistent with that provided in the past...more
12/11/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Form 1095 ,
Good Faith ,
Health Insurance ,
Individual Mandate ,
Insurance Industry ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Relief Measures ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Time Extensions
Employer plans will still be able to exclude the value of drug manufacturer coupons from annual out-of-pocket maximums, even when no generic equivalent is available, under new guidance from the Department of Labor, Department...more
8/28/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Co-payments ,
Deductibles ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Generic Drugs ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Prescription Drugs ,
U.S. Treasury
Starting in 2020, employers will be able to offer health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) that work in conjunction with individual coverage or Medicare without running afoul of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) market reform...more