PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Can Employers Impose a Health Insurance Surcharge on Plan Participants Not Vaccinated for COVID-19?
SECURE 2.0 provided employees better access to liquid assets during a major life crisis. We have previously discussed the domestic abuse victim distribution exemption and the emergency personal expense distribution exemption...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it has finalized, together with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), the third and final round of revisions to the Form 5500 Annual...more
A plan sponsor was spared from a 403(b) lawsuit, but the advisor is still on the hook. Two plaintiffs filed a complaint in Texas federal court against their employer, Legacy Counseling Center, Inc. the plan’s manager,...more
On December 30, the Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released a notice of proposed rules relating to the use of an electronic medium for retirement plan participant elections and...more
Americans hold a considerable percentage of their wealth in retirement accounts. Recent changes to the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), as well as proposed regulations, have introduced new rules altering the required...more
To help employers properly administer their 401(k) plans, in 2022, Foley & Lardner LLP is authoring a series of monthly “401(k) Compliance Check” newsletters. This article includes some tips for drafting a best-in- class...more
The IRS recently issued Notice 2022-27, providing a six-month extension of the temporary relief from the physical presence requirement for certain plan elections (including spousal consents) required to be witnessed by a plan...more
When the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Security Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) took effect on January 1, 2020, it changed the rules for retirement plan required minimum distributions (RMDs) to participants and...more
Cryptocurrencies and digital assets—such as bitcoin, ether and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)—have become some of the hottest investment products in recent years. The growing interest has inevitably led to retirement plan...more
On July 16, 2021 the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-30, which modifies and supersedes Revenue Procedure 2019-19, expanding the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”). EPCRS is a program for correcting...more
As we previously reported in 2020, the IRS granted temporary relief from the physical presence requirement under regulations governing participant elections and spousal consents for certain retirement plans. Generally, those...more
Certain elections made by participants and spouses under retirement plans must be signed “in the physical presence of a plan representative or a notary public.” The IRS provided relief from this physical presence requirement...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
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, enacted on December 27, 2020 (the CAA), includes limited relief pertaining to the partial termination of a qualified retirement plan that may have been inadvertently triggered by...more
The Department of Labor’s Proposed Prohibited Transaction Exemption and Its Impact on Recommendations to Plans, Participants and IRAs (Part 3): Investment Adviser Considerations - On December 18, 2020, the DOL issued its...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued long-awaited guidance on what it views as appropriate procedures for retirement plans to locate missing or nonresponsive participants. Plan sponsors and fiduciaries of all retirement...more
COBRA: an acronym that strikes fear (and understandable confusion) into the hearts of many employers. If you have 20 or more employees, you are subject to the often equivocal requirements of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget...more
Plan participants and their beneficiaries may now have extra time to exercise some of their rights under the employee benefit plans in which they participate. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On Tuesday, shortly after the IRS extended deadline relief to employee benefit plans, the U.S. Department of Labor granted its own relief for a number of deadlines related to the administration of employee...more
As previewed in our prior blog post, the recently enacted SECURE Act includes many changes that affect employer-sponsored benefit plans and require the attention of plan administrators. Among these changes, effective for...more
A financial advisor called me and asked me if there was a problem that an insurance policy paid by a 401(k) plan had the policy in the name of the participant. Considering it was a plan asset, I thought so. If the participant...more
....One More Thing For Plan Providers, Some points to ponder. When Steve Jobs would lead an Apple press conference, he would always end it with "one more thing," which was an important announcement of a new Apple product....more
In a recent revenue ruling, the IRS stated that if a participant or a beneficiary doesn’t cash a distribution check in the year it was issued, the individual still must include the amount in gross income for that year....more
On August 14, 2019, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2019-19, providing guidance to both tax-qualified plan administrators and participants on the tax treatment of plan distribution checks that are not cashed. ...more
It’s 2019 and while the hardship rules are changing for 2020, keep in mind that hardship distributions need to be substantiated by plan participants....more