With so much happening in the employee benefits world over the last few months, we bring you Benefits Catch-Up, our catch-up contribution to help you keep up with recent developments. Eversheds Sutherland’s US Employee...more
5/14/2025
/ 401k ,
American Airlines ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Verizon
The US Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision on April 17, 2025 that could have a lasting impact on retirement plan litigation. The decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University clarifies that when plaintiffs bring...more
On January 10, 2025, the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations related to two new catch-up contribution provisions under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0): (1) the...more
1/23/2025
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Employee Benefits ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Proposed Rules ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Reform ,
U.S. Treasury
With 2024 drawing to a close, employers should review any actions needed before year-end with respect to their benefit plans, as well as some upcoming deadlines that may require advance planning. As the adage attributed to...more
11/21/2024
/ Automatic Enrollment ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Eligibility Determination ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Extensions ,
Forfeiture ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act ,
Telehealth
On October 17, 2024, the IRS published Notice 2024-75 (Notice), expanding preventive care benefits that can be provided under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) before an individual reaches the applicable minimum HDHP...more
On September 9, 2024, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) released final regulations under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA). The...more
10/1/2024
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
U.S. Treasury
The IRS released long-awaited guidance under the SECURE 2.0 Act on December 20, 2023. Notice 2024-2 (Notice) provides clarification of various provisions, including several optional features that plan sponsors have been...more
1/22/2024
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Distribution Rules ,
Employee Benefits ,
EPCRS ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
New Guidance ,
Pension Plan Amendments ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act
The IRS has announced a two-year “administrative transition period” for plan sponsors to implement the SECURE 2.0 Act provision requiring higher-income employees to make retirement plan catch-up contributions as Roth...more
8/29/2023
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Comment Period ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
Relief Measures ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act
The end of an era looms for employee benefits plans, as the Biden administration has announced the end of both the Public Health Emergency and the National Emergency periods on May 11, 2023. The two emergency periods were...more
On February 24, 2023, the IRS issued proposed regulations simplifying the use of forfeitures in qualified retirement plans, providing that forfeitures in defined contribution plans must be used by the end of the plan year...more
President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, on December 29, 2022, which includes the package of retirement plan legislation known as “SECURE 2.0.” SECURE 2.0 contains numerous significant changes for...more
The IRS has extended the deadline for plan sponsors of qualified retirement plans and IRAs to make amendments under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the Taxpayer Certainty and...more
9/27/2022
/ 403(b) Plans ,
457(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
CARES Act ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
IRS ,
New Guidance ,
Plan Documents ,
Qualified Retirement Plans ,
Relief Measures ,
Required Minimum Distributions ,
Retirement Plan ,
SECURE Act ,
Time Extensions
Health plans and insurers must generally cover over-the-counter COVID-19 tests under Frequency Asked Questions (FAQs) issued on January 10 by the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services (tri-agencies)....more
1/12/2022
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
New Guidance ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Since 1996, the US Department of Labor granted more than 1,200 individual exemptions from the ERISA prohibited transaction rules.
One of the distinctive features of ERISA is its prohibition, in ERISA section 406 as a...more
1/5/2022
/ 401k ,
403(b) Plans ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Exemptions ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Prohibited Transactions ,
Reinsurance ,
Related Parties
Just in time for the Olympics, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is attempting to take a medal in the category of “long-form voluntary compliance programs”. The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-30 (Rev. Proc. 2021-30),...more
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (the Act), which includes some notable changes and relief for employers and employee benefit plans. The Act expands the section 162(m) deduction...more
3/15/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Pensions ,
Relief Measures ,
Section 162(m) ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Deductions
On December 21, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act), which impacts employee benefits in a number of respects. The Act provides additional relief for retirement and other benefit plans,...more
On June 19, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service provided additional guidance for plan sponsors implementing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) retirement plan relief. Notice 2020-50 expands the...more
As employers prepare their workforces for issues related to COVID-19, they should also take steps to ensure that their benefit plans are prepared. The impact of the virus will put a financial and logistical strain on many...more
3/12/2020
/ 401k ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HSA ,
PHI ,
Summary of Benefits and Coverage
On October 23, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) published proposed regulations that would add a new safe harbor for the use of electronic disclosures by retirement plans subject to the Employee Retirement...more
On April 19, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Revenue Procedure 2019-19, which updates its Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). The new EPCRS significantly expands the use of retroactive plan...more
On March 6, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2019-18 (Notice), announcing that it is retracting its previous position that prohibited pension plan sponsors from offering lump-sum cashouts to retirees who...more
In an internal memorandum to its examination agents dated February 23, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance regarding the types of documentation that agents should request in verifying hardship withdrawals...more
On June 21, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed Internal Revenue Code (Code) section 409A regulations, modifying existing proposed and final section 409A regulations regarding...more
In a recent Employee Plans Newsletter, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warned plan sponsors that they must obtain and keep documentation related to hardship withdrawals, particularly the documentation necessary to...more