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Welcome to the Snell & Wilmer Benefits Blog. We will be posting about current employee benefits and executive compensation topics and issues. We invite you to contact the authors with your thoughts or questions.Blog Contributors
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Get Ready, Get Set, to Cover COVID-19 Vaccines for Free
Last month, we reported that Moderna was seeking FDA authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine and reminded readers about the immunization coverage requirements in Section 3202 of the CARES Act in our SW Benefits Blog, “Free COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Update.” As of the date of this blog, the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and group health plans must act quickly to meet the requirements of the CARES Act.
On October 28, 2020, HHS, DOL, and the Treasury issued interim final rules (the “new regulations”) about the COVID-19 immunization coverage requirements. The new regulations generally took effect November 2, 2020 and are effective until the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency declared by HHS. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged CARES Act, covid-19, Group health plans
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Free COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing Update
On November 30, Moderna announced that it is seeking FDA authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, on November 17 the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home. With these recent developments, a COVID-19 update for health and welfare plans might be helpful.
- Free COVID-19 Vaccines – As reported in our April 1, 2020 SW Benefits Update: “The CARES Act – What Are the Health and Welfare Plan Issues to Consider?,” Section 3203 of the CARES Act requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to cover without cost-sharing any “qualifying coronavirus preventive service,” which includes an item, service, or vaccine that is intended to prevent or mitigate coronavirus that is: (1) an evidence-based item or service with an A or B rating recommended by the U.S.
Posted in Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged covid, covid-19, fda, health plans, moderna, testing, vaccines
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‘Tis the Season: Four Year-End Employee Benefit Plan Checklists
Each year, we publish health and welfare, cost-of-living, executive compensation, and qualified retirement plan checklists to help individuals and employers stay apprised of updates to the law of employee benefits. We recently published the last of these annual checklists. In case you missed them, the links are below.
Happy holidays!
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health & Welfare
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 2) Annual Cost of Living Adjustments
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 3) Executive Compensation
2020 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 4) Qualified Retirement Plans
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged COLA, cost-of-living, Executive Compensation, health and welfare, qualified plans, year end checklist
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Finally, Some Good News: IRS Extends Certain ACA Reporting Deadlines and Transition Relief
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 Deadline | Extended Deadline | |
| Form 1095-B (to employees) | January 31, 2021 | March 2, 2021 |
| Form 1095-C (to employees) | January 31, 2021 | March 2, 2021 |
Importantly, the Notice does not extend the deadline for filing Forms with the IRS. Instead, the deadline to file with the IRS remains February 28, 2021 (for paper filings) and March 31, 2021 (for electronic filings). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged 4980H, ACA, deadlines, extension, notice 2020-76, reporting
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IRS Approves Additional Leave-Based Donation Programs for COVID-19 Relief
We previously posted about two leave-sharing programs available to employers during the COVID-19 pandemic: major disaster leave-sharing programs and medical emergency leave-sharing programs. These leave-sharing programs may allow employees to donate paid leave to co-workers affected by COVID-19. When properly structured under Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) guidance, the donated leave is excluded from the gross income of the donor employee.
On June 11, 2020, the IRS published Notice 2020-46, which permits employers to establish an additional type of leave-sharing program: a leave-based donation program under which employees can donate vacation, sick, or personal leave in exchange for cash payments that the employer makes to a charitable organization described in Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) Section 170(c) (a “Section 170(c) Organization”). Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged 2020-46, IRS, leave, leave donation, leave sharing, sick leave, tax
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In Case You Missed It … Recent Posts From the SW Benefits Update
We periodically consolidate our prior blog posts and push them out as a single package to help individuals catch up on what they might have missed with respect to important health and welfare, qualified retirement plan, and executive compensation issues. The posts highlighted here largely focus on the CARES Act and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on employee benefit and executive compensation plans. As always, please feel free to reach out to any member of our employee benefits and executive compensation group with questions. Please enjoy (and have a safe) Memorial Day weekend!
Posted in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged blog, CARES Act, covid-19, Executive Compensation, health and welfare, retirement plan, roundup
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CARES Act Enables Employers to Assist with Student Loan Repayments
The Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), signed into law on March 27, 2020, provides employers with a new mechanism to assist their employees with repayment of student loans. Section 2206 of the CARES Act amends Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) to allow employers to pay up to $5,250 toward qualified education loans as part of an educational assistance program as long as the payments are made before January 1, 2021. Employers can make payments either directly to the employee or to a lender.
Section 127 provides that amounts paid or expenses incurred by employers under an educational assistance program for the educational assistance of employees are not included in the employee’s gross income, provided that the program satisfies the following requirements:
- The program must be a separate written plan of the employer for the exclusive benefit of its employees to provide such employees with educational assistance.
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans
| Tagged CARES Act, covid-19, educational assistance, Section 127, Section 2206, Student Loans
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Two Leave-Sharing Program Options for Employers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As employers cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, they may consider leave-sharing programs as a method to permit employees to donate paid leave to their coworkers. Leave-sharing programs that are properly structured under Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) guidance permit exclusion of transferred leave from the gross income of a donor employee and inclusion of the transferred leave in the gross income of the coworker recipient. However, the IRS has generally limited this favorable tax treatment to leave-sharing programs for: (1) major disasters, and (2) medical emergencies.
- Major Disaster Leave-Sharing Programs
- Eligible Employers
IRS Notice 2006-59 defines a “major disaster” as a major disaster as declared by the President under Section 401 of the Robert T. Read More ›
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged covid-19, leave sharing, major disaster, stafford act
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Trump Signs Act Mandating Group Health Plans Cover COVID-19 Testing For Free
On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) requiring group health plans to cover COVID-19 testing for free and without preauthorization. This means no deductibles, no copays, and no coinsurance.
More details regarding the changes employers are required to make are explained in our Employee Benefits Update of March 16, 2020 entitled “COVID-19 Employer Group Health Plan Changes to Help Employees.” One clarification that was made after publishing the Update is that that COVID-19 telehealth testing must also be provided for free. Unfortunately, we still await relief on the telehealth/HDHP issue flagged in the Update. Read More ›
Posted in Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform
| Tagged covid-19, employer health plan, FFCRA, group health plan, HDHP, virus
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Congress Giveth and They Taketh Away — Recent Health Plan Changes
In enacting the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, (the “Act”), Congress, among other changes, enacted the following key changes affecting employer group health plans:
- Repeal of the Cadillac Tax: Most notably, and a huge relief to most employers, Congress repealed the Cadillac tax. The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) added a requirement requiring employers to pay a 40% excise tax on the value of “rich” health plans (i.e., those that exceed $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family, indexed for inflation). The excise tax was originally scheduled to take effect for taxable years beginning after 2017, but it was delayed two years by subsequent legislation.
Posted in Employee Benefits, Health & Welfare Plans, Health Care Reform, Qualified Retirement Plans
| Tagged ACA, Affordable Care Act, Cadillac tax, Congress, PCORI
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