The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently released guidance that contains two updated safe harbor notices that retirement plans may use to satisfy the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) to provide an advance notice to a participant prior to the date on which the participant receives a distribution that meets the requirements for […]
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On April 3, we blogged about a reduction in the HSA contribution limit for family coverage in 2018 from $6,900 to $6,850. This was a technical change resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that adjusted the method for calculating inflation. On April 26, in Revenue Procedure 2018-27, the IRS came through with a […]
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Tax reform made few changes that directly impact qualified retirement plans; however, it made some changes that may indirectly impact qualified retirement plans. We previously blogged on the indirect changes that tax reform had on hardship distributions. Tax reform also made changes to the taxation of certain fringe benefits that may impact the definition of […]
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In our 2017 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 4) Qualified Plans, we suggested that sponsors of all qualified retirement plans should be on the lookout for the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) 2017 Required Amendments List (“RA List”). The IRS recently published Notice 2017-72, which contains the 2017 RA List, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-17-72.pdf. […]
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In Announcement 2017-11, the IRS relaxed standards for hardship distributions and loans from qualified retirement plans for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. This relief applies to employees or former employees and their family members who live or work in the disaster areas designated for individual assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”). The Announcement […]
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Imagine it’s March 31 and you are a retirement plan administrator. You have a participant who terminated employment 15 years ago. He turned 70½ last year and now you owe him his first required minimum distribution from the Plan on April 1. You have not thought about this participant or attempted to locate him in […]
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The IRS has recently warned employers of another scam targeting employee information. The IRS has learned that scammers are posing as internal executives and are requesting Forms W-2 and Social Security Numbers from payroll or human resources departments. The scammers may even initiate contact with a “Hi, are you in today” message before requesting the […]
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In a previous blog, we addressed an issue of Employee Plans News in which the IRS took the position that 401(k) plan administrators must maintain hardship distribution records and should not rely on electronic participant self-certification for hardship distributions. On February 23, 2017, the IRS issued a memorandum to its Employee Plans Examiners that sets […]
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In a previous blog, we discussed the IRS’ elimination of its five year staggered determination letter cycle for individually designed plans. The IRS recently provided guidance to help sponsors of individually designed plans keep their plans in compliance with applicable law. Notice 2016-80 contains the first Required Amendments List (the “RA List”) for individually designed […]
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Generally, distributions from a qualified retirement plan that are eligible for rollover must be rolled over within 60 days of the date on which the distribution occurs. If a taxpayer did not complete the rollover within 60 days, the taxpayer previously had to request a private letter ruling from the IRS to receive additional time […]
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