The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has taken the position that employers may incorporate health savings accounts (HSAs) and student loan payments among the allocation options for employer contributions offered outside of...more
A much-used but often confusing element of governmental retirement plans are “pick up plans,” where an employer pays -- or “picks up” -- an employee’s required contribution under the State’s public employment retirement...more
Employees increasingly request (and expect) choice in their benefits. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released Private Letter Ruling 202434006 (PLR), which approved an employer's program allowing employees to...more
Additional Tools for Employers to Encourage Retirement Savings- Matching Contributions on Student Debt Payments- One of the most eagerly anticipated provisions of the “SECURE 2.0” legislation is the ability for...more
A recently issued IRS private letter ruling may provide public agencies and their employees with another way to give employees more control over the types of retirement benefits they will eventually receive....more
Two bills have been introduced in the Senate that would allow employers to make matching contributions under 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b) and SIMPLE plans as if the participant’s student loan payments were salary...more
As you may recall, Private Letter Ruling 201833012 (the “PLR”), concerning the IRS’ approval of Abbott Laboratories’ plan to implement 401(k) matching contributions on student loan repayments, was released to much fanfare in...more
Diane M. Morgenthaler and Jeffrey M. Holdvogt recently presented the webinar “Student Loan Benefits and Other 401(k) Developments” at the Worldwide Employee Benefits Network Chicagoland program. In the presentation, they...more
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has reintroduced legislation that would permit 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE and governmental 457(b) retirement plans to make matching contributions to workers as if their student loan payments were salary...more
Your employees likely have more student loan debt than any other kind of consumer debt, except mortgage debt. If you run an internet search using “amount of student loan debt,” you will quickly learn that Americans owe more...more
On August 17, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) published a Private Letter Ruling (the “PLR”) describing a unique student loan repayment program in the context of a qualified retirement plan....more
Recent statistics show that approximately 70 percent of college graduates will leave college with an average of at least $30,000 in student loan debt. Cumulatively, the national student loan debt is approximately $1.5...more
According to a recent study, Americans currently owe approximately $1.4 trillion in student loan debt. With increasing pressure to pay off student loans, some employees choose not to contribute to retirement programs offered...more
Last month, the IRS issued a Private Letter Ruling in which it approved a company’s proposed program to condition employer contributions to a 401(k) plan on an employee making student loan payments....more
The IRS released a private letter ruling on August 17, 2018, in which it approved a student loan repayment benefit that was connected to an employer’s contributions to its 401(k) plan. Though the IRS’s ruling applies only to...more
• With growing student loan debt pushing employees to delay contributing to their employers' 401(k) plans, many employers have been looking for ways to help their employees save for retirement. • A recent Internal Revenue...more
On August 17, 2018 the IRS released a private letter ruling (PLR 201833012) addressing an employer’s proposal to amend its plan to include a student loan benefit program. Under the program, the employer would make a...more
The IRS has released a Private Letter Ruling (“PLR”) 201833012, in which it approved a student loan repayment program as a 401(k) benefit. Although the PLR can only be applied by the taxpayer/plan sponsor requesting it, it...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a private letter ruling which allowed an unnamed employer (some say it’s pharmaceutical giant Abbott) to make 401(k) contributions to participants who are repaying their student...more
According to a recent report, the average student loan debt for a Class of 2016 graduate is $37,172. As recent graduates enter the work force, they often choose not to contribute to their employers’ 401(k) plans and lose out...more