On January 20, 2025, an executive order froze two new pieces of proposed employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) guidance announced in a notice of proposed rulemaking and originally set for publication in the Federal Register on...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a notice providing guidance on distributions for emergency personal expense and domestic abuse victims under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0). Both distributions are...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued IR-2023-144 (the Notice), warning stakeholders of compliance issues associated with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) related to the tax liability of high-income...more
A recently issued White House Fact Sheet, along with a regulatory package from the US Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services (the Departments), provides some welcome clarity for plan sponsors and...more
The Biden administration intends to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations (Emergency Declarations) attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic on May 11, 2023. The COVID-19 pandemic brought multiple...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE Act 2.0) makes far-reaching changes to the US retirement plan system. Our initial SECURE Act 2.0 LawFlash provided a general overview of its significant provisions. This blog post—one in our...more
The COVID-19 pandemic brought multiple temporary changes for ERISA-governed group health and welfare plans. Certain coverage mandates apply for only the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (the Public Health...more
In Pizzella v. Vinoskey, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129579, the US Department of Labor (DOL) brought a case against an independent transactional ESOP trustee (the trustee), but also named the seller of stock to an employee stock...more
Cryptocurrency investing has experienced a tidal wave of popularity since the fabled genesis of Bitcoin in 2009. This growth has been fueled by “extreme” investment returns (despite “extreme” volatility) and innovative means...more
The US Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury (collectively, the Departments) on January 10 published much-anticipated FAQs implementing President Joseph Biden’s announcement last month to expand...more
At the end of each fiscal year, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) compiles the monetary results it obtained through various initiatives meant to ensure compliance with the...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 mandates that employers offering medical/surgical and mental health/substance use disorder coverage provide comparative analyses and any supporting documentation demonstrating...more
10/22/2021
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Compliance ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Mental Health ,
Mental Health Parity Rule ,
MHPAEA ,
NQTLs ,
Substance Abuse
Hinting that the US Department of Labor (DOL) is currently working on guidance related to cryptocurrency, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration recently commented that the DOL...more
9/30/2021
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Asset Class ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Investment Management ,
Popular ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The focus of the US Department of Labor (DOL) on missing participants and uncashed checks (discussed in our LawFlash DOL Guidance on Missing Participants Is No Longer Missing) recently began expanding into the area of...more