The Internal Revenue Code generally discourages retirement plan participants from requesting distributions from their retirement plan funds prior to age 59 ½ by imposing an additional 10% tax on those distributions. However,...more
The Department of Labor ("DOL") recently issued a regulatory package that includes a final rule updating ERISA's definition of an investment advice fiduciary and amending certain related prohibited transaction exemptions...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2024-02— dubbed the “Grab Bag Notice”— which addresses multiple provisions in SECURE 2.0. The guidance is 81 pages long, comes in the form of frequently asked questions and answers, and speaks...more
1/26/2024
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Benefits ,
IRS ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Credits
On August 25, 2023, the IRS issued Notice 2023-62 to address certain industry concerns over implementation of Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act. Section 603 relevantly provides that, beginning in 2024, participants eligible...more
Eagerly anticipated comprehensive retirement plan legislation commonly known as the "SECURE 2.0 Act" was signed into law on December 30, 2022, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. The changes made by...more
Plan sponsors of individually designed 403(b) plans will soon be able to submit determination letter applications to the IRS. (Individually designed plans are plans using custom documents that have not been preapproved...more
The IRS has extended additional deadlines for required retirement plan amendments, similar to the extensions we discussed last month found here. Notice 2022-45 extends the deadline for amending qualified retirement plans to...more
9/30/2022
/ 403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
IRS ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Time Extensions
The IRS has extended additional deadlines for required retirement plan amendments, similar to the extensions we discussed last month found here. Notice 2022-45 extends the deadline for amending qualified retirement plans to...more
9/30/2022
/ 403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Employee Benefits ,
Filing Deadlines ,
IRS ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Time Extensions
The IRS has issued a notice extending the deadline for retirement plan sponsors to make certain amendments required by recently passed legislation. Notice 2022-33 extends the deadline for amending qualified retirement plans...more
Key Takeaways -
..Mishandling of premiums can lead to breach of fiduciary duty claims under ERISA against employers.
..Information beyond what is required to be disclosed by ERISA may need to be provided by plan...more
Key Takeaways -
..SECURE Act 2.0 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on March 29, 2022.
..SECURE Act 2.0 would make changes to employer-sponsored retirement plans to expand coverage and increase savings, as well as...more
KEY TAKEAWAYS -
..Plan fiduciaries have a duty of prudence to independently evaluate on an ongoing basis investments offered in a plan’s menu of options and remove any imprudent ones.
..Plan participants’ ultimate...more
1/28/2022
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Class Action ,
Duty of Prudence ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Excessive Fees ,
Fees ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Hughes v. Northwestern University ,
Plan Participants ,
Remand ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
SCOTUS
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the "ARPA") brings back COBRA subsidies (previously available in modified form under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) starting April 1, 2021, and requires employers and...more
3/19/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
IRS ,
Notice Requirements ,
Premium Subsidies ,
Relief Measures
Recognizing the challenges facing employee benefit plan sponsors, administrators, and participants, on April 28, 2020, the Departments of Treasury (“DOT”), Labor (“DOL”) and Health and Human Services (“HHS”) extended certain...more
5/1/2020
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Final Rules ,
State of Emergency ,
Time Extensions ,
U.S. Treasury
Employers, plan sponsors, and plan administrators ring in the New Year with new recordkeeping and administrative challenges for 2020 and beyond. After much anticipation, on December 20, 2019, Pres. Donald Trump signed into...more
1/8/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
New Legislation ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Plan Administrators ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
SECURE Act
Employer-sponsors of certain retirement plans have work to do prior to the end of 2019. Sponsors of Internal Revenue Code ("Code") section 401(k) and 403(b) plans must analyze their plan documents and associated...more
8/25/2019
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hardship Distributions ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Popular ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
U.S. Treasury
In the constantly evolving legal framework surrounding employee benefit plans, maintaining a retirement plan's qualified status can be a daunting task for plan administrators and plan sponsors. The Internal Revenue Service...more
Given the increased scrutiny that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is giving to §403(b) plans and an upcoming deadline for adopting a "safe harbor plan," now is a good time for sponsors of §403(b) plans to ensure that their...more