PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - SECURE 2.0 Act Relief for Plan Corrections
By Amberlee Lapointe On January 14, 2025, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”) released updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”), along with a News Release and Fact Sheet...more
As announced in our previous HR Law Talk blog post, on January 15, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published a much anticipated amended and restated version of the...more
Twenty (20!) years after it last issued guidance, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has finally released an updated Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). VFCP is a program that permits retirement...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a revised Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (VFCP), a long-awaited update by many in the industry. The most significant change is the introduction of a self-correction component,...more
It is the first week of summer, even though in Ohio the smoldering heat has made it feel like summer for weeks now. Summer reminds many of us of pool days, eating watermelon and corn on the cob, Fourth of July fireworks, and...more
One of the most basic duties of a defined contribution plan sponsor is to ensure that that there is no delay and participants’ salary deferral elections are correctly and timely deposited into the retirement plan. Not only is...more
On February 7, 2024, the IRS announced it has started the second phase of the Pre-Examination Retirement Plan Compliance Program pilot. (IRS Employee Plans News, February 7, 2024) Original Program Pilot - The initial...more
Recently, the IRS announced phase two of its expansion of the Pre-Examination Compliance Pilot Program. Under the pilot program, an employer may limit or entirely avoid an impending IRS audit if they promptly correct any...more
On February 7, 2024, the IRS announced the second phase of its Pre-Examination Retirement Compliance Program... Under this program, sponsors will be notified that their plan is selected for examination and will have 90 days...more
The IRS announced on February 7, 2024, that it is moving into the second phase of its Pre-Examination Retirement Plan Compliance Program pilot, which is discussed in our prior blog post....more
On November 6, 2023, for the first time in 15 years, HHS OIG issued a new reference guide for the health care compliance community – the General Compliance Program Guidance, or GCPG. While the GCPG does not set new legal...more
On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt discusses eligible inadvertent failures that may be self-corrected under SECURE 2.0 Act and limitations on self-correction. ...more
Errors in retirement plans happen even to the most well-intentioned plan sponsors. Several decades ago, the IRS published the first version of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution Program (EPCRS), which outlines...more
There has never been a better time for plan sponsors to prioritize reviewing and self-correcting eligible plan failures. SECURE 2.0, attached to the 2022 year-end Consolidated Appropriations Act, expands retirement savings...more
Years ago, any volume submitter plan or non-standardized prototype plan would apply for its own determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Then one day, the IRS tried to cut back on their agent’s workload...more
Recently, the IRS released Notice 2023-43, providing interim guidance on Section 305 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which expanded the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), the system through which plan...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2023-43 (Notice) on May 25, which provided guidance regarding the expansion of the IRS’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) mandated by Section 305 of the...more
As discussed in an earlier blog post, the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (the Act) expanded the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), a comprehensive IRS program for correcting common qualified retirement plan...more
On February 22, 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an update of its Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy applicable to all United States Attorneys’ Offices in their prosecution decisions, effective immediately. The...more
On Wednesday, February 22, 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released a new nationwide voluntary self-disclosure policy for corporate criminal enforcement. The policy codifies previous corporate enforcement guidance...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently announced (88 Fed. Reg. 9408, Feb. 14, 2023) that it will reopen the public comment period on proposed amendments to DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (“VFCP”) and its...more
In November 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) proposed changes to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). VFCP allows plan sponsors to voluntarily correct certain fiduciary breaches to avoid civil...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) is one of the most significant pieces of retirement plan legislation in many years. (See our high level summary of SECURE 2.0 at link.) Among other things, SECURE 2.0 brings sweeping...more
Though the key word here is may, it seems California may soon adopt an unclaimed property voluntary compliance program. Our Unclaimed Property Team investigates how the provisions of AB 2280 could affect holders that have...more
It is often too late to correct 401(k) plan document or operation errors once an audit letter is received without incurring significant penalties from the IRS....more