As we previously reported, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) provided for an employee retention credit (“ERC”) designed to encourage employers to retain workers during the COVID-19 crisis. In general, the ERC permits eligible employers to claim a refundable tax credit of a portion of qualified wages paid to employees […]
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The IRS recently published Notice 2020-86 (the “Notice”), which provides clarification with respect to certain changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”). In particular, the Notice answers several outstanding questions related to the maximum default deferral rate for qualified automatic contribution arrangements. As previously reported […]
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As in prior years, the IRS has provided relief for employers preparing to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) information reporting requirements in early 2021 for the 2020 calendar year. In particular, Notice 2020-76 (the “Notice”) extends the deadline to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to employees. The new deadlines are provided, below. Original […]
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Each year, we publish health and welfare, cost-of-living, qualified retirement plan, and executive compensation plan checklists to help individuals and employers stay apprised of updates to the law of employee benefits. We just published the last of these annual checklists. In case you missed them, the links are below. Happy Holidays! 2019 End of Year […]
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In our 2019 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 3) Qualified Plans, we suggested that sponsors of all qualified retirement plans should be on the lookout for the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) 2019 Required Amendments List (“2019 RA List”). The IRS recently published Notice 2019-64, which contains the 2019 RA List, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-19-64.pdf. […]
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The IRS provided welcome news to employers preparing to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) information reporting requirements in early 2020 for the 2019 calendar year. In particular, Notice 2019-63 (the “Notice”) extends the deadline to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to employees. The new deadlines are provided, below. Original Deadline Extended […]
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On July 24, 2019, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2019-01 (the “Bulletin”), which provides transition relief to multiple employer plans (“MEPs”) that failed to comply with certain annual reporting requirements. The Bulletin focuses on a Form 5500 reporting requirement added by the Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act, […]
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In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights issued final regulations implementing the nondiscrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”), which prohibit the categorical refusal of health coverage to transgender participants and require that individuals be treated consistent with their self-selected gender identity. These regulations drew sustained […]
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As we previously reported, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) scaled back its determination letter program for individually designed retirement plans effective as of January 1, 2017. In the intervening years, the Service received a multitude of comments requesting the reopening of the program. Now, the Service has decided to offer a limited expansion of […]
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On October 29, 2018, proposed regulations were published in the Federal Register that would permit employers to offer two new types of health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) that align with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”). The proposed HRAs are designed to expand the availability of account-based group health plans. A summary of […]
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