Take A Chance On Me? Could We Finally See Legislation Expanding Section 1042...
One of the most popular incentives for small business owners to establish an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) is the ability to defer tax on the gain they will receive in the sale through the...
View ArticleTime Is On My Side: Some Retirement Plan Amendment Deadlines Pushed Back
The IRS has given plan sponsors more time to adopt some – but apparently not all – retirement plan amendments reflecting law changes in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of...
View ArticleYou Spin Me QPAM Baby QPAM: DOL’s Proposed QPAM Rule May Mean Changes to...
The DOL published on July 27, 2022 a proposed change to the QPAM Exemption (“Proposed QPAM Amendment”) that may require retirement plan sponsors to update their collective trust agreements in order to...
View ArticleSurprise, Surprise, Come On Open Your Eyes and Check the Tax Boilerplate and...
We have referenced Code Section 280G and the golden parachute rules recently on this blog, and we have also discussed LLC equity incentives. It can be fun to see how these concepts play out in a...
View ArticleHole in the Bottle … Protecting Against 401(k) Cybersecurity Leakage
Both the Department of Labor (DOL) and plaintiffs’ lawyers have taken an interest in retirement plans’ cybersecurity in recent years. Last year, the DOL issued guidance on the cybersecurity...
View ArticleThe Times They Are A-Changin’…IRS Provides Further Retirement Plan Amendment...
The IRS has picked up where it left off last month with additional retirement plan amendment deadline extensions. As you may recall from our August 5, 2022 blog post, Time Is On My Side: Some...
View ArticleI Wanna Know What Love Is . . . and When to Provide Domestic Partner Benefits
When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages back in 2015, the IRS clarified that two people are legally married under federal law when they also are legally married under their state’s law....
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View ArticleOh Won’t You Stay…Until the Bonus is Paid
A new interpretation by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) could have significant tax impacts under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A (409A). Many bonus and incentive programs...
View ArticleEven if We’re Just Dancin’ in the Dark… We Should Still Understand the Equity...
It is common for employees and executives of technology companies to receive a significant portion of their compensation in equity. For executives, the equity often represents the majority of the...
View ArticleYou’re So Far Away From Me … But You Can Still Sign This Retirement Plan...
During the pandemic, the IRS on multiple occasions provided relief from the requirement that a person be physically present for certain paperwork associated with retirement plan distributions. (See...
View ArticleWe are FAMLI …. Colorado Employers Must Withhold Premiums NOW for 2024 Benefits
In 2020, Colorado voters approved a measure to create a paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) program. Employers and their employees are both responsible for funding the program and may...
View ArticleMoney’s Too Tight to Mention…But Maybe a Student Loan Match Would Help
By now you have probably seen countless summaries of the recently enacted legislation that includes what is commonly known as SECURE 2.0. One of the new features that has been brewing for a while is...
View ArticleMoney (That’s What I Want): Expanded Pension Plan Startup Cost Credit
Start-up companies and other small employers take note—the recently enacted SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 included a significant expansion of the small employer pension plan startup cost tax credit,...
View ArticleClosing Time…for the COVID-19 National Emergency and Public Health Emergency
The Biden administration announced on January 30 that the COVID-19 national emergency and the public health emergency will be coming to an end after May 11, 2023. The national emergency is currently...
View ArticleEasy Money…Self-Certify Your Hardships Away
If a 401(k) or 403(b) plan permits employees to take in-service hardship withdrawals in the event of an immediate and heavy financial need, new legislation provides that, effective for plan years...
View ArticleWhat Happens In A Small Town Stays In A Small Town … Until The Tenth Circuit...
While case law regarding the enforceability of arbitration provisions in ERISA retirement plans has been mixed, since the Ninth Circuit’s 2019 decision in Dorman v. Charles Schwab Corp. enforcing a...
View ArticleIt Doesn’t Have To Be That Way: Negotiating Good Service Provider Agreements...
It may be an understatement to say that compliance with benefit plan laws and regulations is becoming increasingly more complicated. In my experience, the COVID era has brought about some of the...
View ArticleOne Way or Another … Forfeitures Will Have to Be Administered Under Your...
On February 27, 2023, the Treasury issued proposed regulations intended to simplify and clarify the rules relating to forfeitures within qualified retirement plans. Defined Benefit Plans - Similar to...
View ArticleShould I Pay Or Should I No(t) Now: Which Expenses Can be Paid with Plan Assets?
One question that often comes up is whether an expense related to an ERISA plan can be paid with plan assets. The decision of whether to use ERISA plan assets to pay an expense is an ERISA fiduciary...
View ArticleOceans Rise, Empires Fall, It’s Much Harder When It’s All Your Call … SECURE...
We have now had a couple of months to review and digest SECURE 2.0 (and its roughly 90 provisions impacting retirement plans). If plan sponsors haven’t done so already, it is time to roll up their...
View ArticleLike a Vision She Dances Across the Porch As the Radio Plays… Thinking About...
Changes and trends in private company equity incentive plan terms over time - A client who remembered equity plans from Silicon Valley in years past asked about what has changed in private company...
View ArticleIt’s a Roller Coaster … Employer Considerations After Court Invalidates ACA...
Since the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) became law in 2010, numerous groups have attempted to invalidate the ACA or specific parts of the ACA through litigation. Even after a number of plaintiffs...
View ArticleVideo Killed the Radio Star… and RMDs Changed Too
If you remember that title song then you might remember a time before RMDs. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) have been a fixture of retirement plan operations ever since passage of the Tax Reform...
View ArticleCan’t Stop the AI*
Today’s Benefits Dial post was written in part by a special guest author, ChatGPT. With all of the buzz surrounding AI chatbots, I decided to see how ChatGPT would do composing a blog post on a...
View ArticleCrazy Little Thing Called . . . Automatic Enrollment
by Leslie Thomson Secure Act 2.0 requires certain plans to automatically enroll participants once they become eligible to participate. Plans that were established prior to December 29, 2022 are exempt...
View ArticleYou Can Count On Me…But Check Your Math When Counting Participants for the...
Bruno Mars may be crooning “Count on me,” but make sure you don’t overcount your retirement plan participants! New rules may allow you to leave some employees out of the count, which could save you...
View ArticleWith a Little Help From My Friends … New Clawback Rule Requires Coordination...
by Elizabeth Nedrow Many aspects of benefits and executive compensation require coordination between a company’s benefits, HR, finance and securities compliance personnel. One topic currently...
View ArticleBetter Hide the Wine … Employer Considerations as the DOL Doubles Down on...
The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Treasury (collectively, the Departments) recently issued proposed Mental Health Parity and...
View ArticleSimply Irresistible…To Not Seek Recoupment of Overpayments
by Lyn Domenick Many retirement plan errors are inadvertent and involve small dollar amounts. However, the work involved in correcting such errors can be time consuming and burdensome. Fortunately,...
View ArticleYou Make My Dreams Come True! IRS Delays Roth Catch-Ups
You don’t have to be a connoisseur of 1980s pop (we see you, Hall & Oates fans!) to appreciate the relief the IRS granted the retirement industry. In Notice 2023-62, the IRS announced a two-year...
View ArticleDon’t Think Twice, It’s All Right to Ignore That Late Form 8955-SSA Notice
I have heard from a couple of clients recently who have received a penalty notice from the IRS for purportedly filing a late or incomplete 2022 Form 8955-SSA (the IRS form that plan sponsors use to...
View ArticleThe Time Has Come, A Fact’s A Fact: Consider Adding a Welfare Plan Committee
The time may have come to add a welfare plan committee to your company’s governance of employee benefit plans. New legal obligations and other developments impose fiduciary risks for welfare plans...
View ArticleDon’t Know Much About History … But I Do Know How Employers Can Help Their...
by Elizabeth Nedrow Employers try to provide a benefits package that employees appreciate and understand. Beyond the traditional offerings like 401(k), match, medical and dental, employers often try...
View ArticleBring me a Higher Limit…2024 IRS Limits Announced
The IRS has announced the 2024 cost of living adjustments to qualified plan limits. Below are the highlights...
View ArticleI’ve Been Trying to Get Down to the Heart of the Matter – the Board Action
If you ever want to see a benefits lawyer get nervous, start talking about corporate intent. Yes, the company intended to grant options at an earlier and lower exercise price, and yes it may have made...
View ArticleSigned, Sealed, Delivered … Have You Completed Your Plan’s “No Gag Clauses”...
One of the many benefits-related provisions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 prohibits the use of “gag clauses” in group health plan agreements. Before this law, medical plan service...
View ArticleA Change Would Do You Good, But Do The Section 125 Cafeteria Plan Rules...
Inevitably, an employee will wake up from their holiday food coma and realize that they made a mistake in open enrollment. “But I didn’t mean to elect family coverage! My spouse is covering the kids...
View ArticleTake the Power Back . . . Negotiating Provider Contracts for Benefit Plans
Disputes between plan sponsors and plan service providers are not new. As with any contractual relationship, things don’t always go according to “plan” or at least, as the sponsor expects. When that...
View ArticleDeferred Compensation Arrangements for Non-Profits: What I’ve Felt, What I’ve...
Deferred compensation options for executives of tax-exempt entities are often misunderstood by those organizations who have not previously delved into them. Traditional tax-exempt organizations –...
View ArticleYou Live, You Learn… Correcting “Qualification Failures” under the...
The Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”), as set forth in Revenue Procedure 2021-30, allows plan sponsors to correct “Qualification Failures,” which are defined as any plan document,...
View ArticleShould’ve Been a Cowboy, Court Inflicts Pain on Health Plan Sponsor After...
A recent decision by a federal district court in Ohio in a health plan benefits dispute highlights the importance for health plan fiduciaries to properly review benefit claim denials to ensure that...
View ArticleGo Your Own Way (Or Maybe Not): New Heightened Fiduciary Standards are Coming...
There has been a shift taking place in ERISA litigation and compliance that could significantly impact group health plan fiduciary requirements. We anticipate group health plan fiduciary standards...
View ArticleERISA, ERISA…Just an Old Sweet Song Keeps ERISA on my Mind
“Georgia” on your mind? As we look towards the upcoming Masters golf tournament weekend, our minds turn to the condition of the greens (exquisite), the players tee off order (does afternoon help or...
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