On April 16, 2019, the Large Business and International (LB&I) Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced three new compliance campaigns. The campaigns focus on:
..Transfer pricing for “captive” services...more
4/29/2019
/ Controlled Foreign Corporations ,
Corporate Taxes ,
FATCA ,
Filing Requirements ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Large Business & International Division (LB&I) ,
OECD ,
Offshore Banks ,
OVDP ,
Related Parties ,
Transfer Pricing
On October 16, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Rev. Proc. 2018-54, which addresses the treatment of a new mortgage-backed security under the diversification rules of IRC § 817(h). This new security, called a...more
On October 19, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an advance version of Notice 2016-63, addressing the “reasonable mortality charge” requirement under IRC §§ 7702 and 7702A for life insurance contracts based on the...more
On May 5, 2016, the IRS issued Notice 2016-32, 2016-21 I.R.B. 1, which affords relief with respect to the application of the diversification requirements of IRC § 817(h) to variable life insurance and annuity contracts...more
On June 30, the Tax Court released Webber v. Commissioner, 144 T.C. No.17, in which the court upheld and applied the principles set forth in the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) “investor control” rulings, concluding that for...more
On April 10, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released PLR 201515001 (Oct. 10, 2014), favorably addressing a “taxable annuity”—essentially, a deferred annuity contract supported, in part, by subaccounts, each of which...more
On February 2, the Obama Administration released its fiscal year 2016 budget (FY 2016 Budget). The hallmarks of the FY 2016 Budget are proposals that would impose (i) a minimum tax on the current foreign earnings of U.S....more
In 2014, the Department of Labor (DOL) maintained a diminished program of advance guidance under the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), in response to requests from the regulated community....more
On December 30, the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services published a joint notice of proposed rulemaking modifying the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) final regulations issued in 2012. In...more
The principal regulators of U.S. employee benefits have recently published updates to their guidance plans for the coming months. The updated plans are reflected in the attached chart.
...more
In December 2014, the Treasury Department opened the myRA (my Retirement Account) program to employers and employees. President Obama announced the myRA program in his 2014 State of the Union Address. The program is intended...more
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s decision in King v. Burwell. In that case, the Fourth Circuit held that tax credits for health insurance...more
11/12/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Halbig v Burwell ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Exchanges ,
IRS ,
King v Burwell ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Subsidies ,
Tax Credits
This past weekend the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) indefinitely delayed enforcement of the requirement that all self-insured health plans obtain a Health Plan Identifier number (HPID). ...more
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is requiring all self-insured health plans to obtain a Health Plan Identifier number (HPID) as part of its compliance efforts under the Health Insurance Portability and...more
On October 23 and 24, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) issued coordinated guidance on lifetime income provided through target date funds held by retirement plans. According to an...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued Notice 2014-49 which describes a proposed approach for determining an employee’s full-time or part-time status for purposes of the employer shared responsibility rules under...more
On September 18, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2014-54, which clarifies that, subject to some limitations, a single distribution of pre-tax and after-tax amounts from a qualified retirement plan, a 403(b)...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Treasury (Treasury) have issued final regulations under section 162(m)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (Code), which limit the deduction certain...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2014-55 to permit new health plan elections in two situations where they were not previously allowed. ...more
On August 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided in Moyer that the contractual time limits governing the period during which a participant must initiate judicial review of a benefits denial must be...more
In Rev. Rul. 2014-24, scheduled for publication on September 8, 2014, the Internal Revenue Service (the Service) substantially completed its pending guidance on Rev. Rul. 81-100 group trusts by permanently authorizing the...more
On August 20, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a request for information (RFI) about the use of brokerage windows, self-directed brokerage accounts, and similar arrangements in participant-directed defined...more
8/22/2014
In Tolbert v. RBC Capital Markets (July 14, 2014), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a deferred incentive compensation plan maintained by a financial services company for certain employees was an...more
Two federal appeals courts issued conflicting rulings on July 22 on whether individual premium subsidies under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are available in 36 states that have federally run...more
The Treasury and the IRS offered two pieces of highly anticipated guidance on July 18 that are particularly relevant to the life insurance industry. ...more
7/24/2014
/ Bonds ,
Capital Losses ,
Corporate Bonds ,
Federal Taxes ,
Final Guidance ,
Hedges ,
Insurance Industry ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Variable Annuities