Share on Twitter Share by Email Share Back to top Buyers (including private equity firms and their investors) that acquire the stock of a company wholly or partially owned by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) face a...more
Executive employment relationships are rarely permanent. When an executive or other senior-level employee terminates employment, companies often must deal with difficult tax, equity, and benefits issues that arise in...more
Many companies are scrambling to quickly assess how to reduce the business impact of the upheaval to U.S. manufacturing and trading with the recent onslaught of tariffs threatened or imposed by the United States and the...more
4/22/2025
/ 401k ,
COBRA ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Contributions ,
Layoffs ,
Retirement Plan ,
Severance Agreements ,
Stock Options ,
Tariffs ,
Vesting
As a member of your company’s human resources or employee benefits department, one of the most difficult calls you may receive is from a colleague or an employee’s family member notifying you of the death of an employee. This...more
3/25/2025
/ Beneficiaries ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
COBRA ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Death Benefits ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Estate Planning ,
FICA Taxes ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
FUTA ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Pensions ,
Probate ,
Retirement Plan ,
Wills
Although pension plans are increasingly rare, if your business is considering acquiring a company that sponsors a pension plan, then several new diligence and deal considerations come into play for the transaction. This can...more
5/23/2024
/ 401k ,
Acquisitions ,
Compliance ,
Corrective Actions ,
Employee Benefits ,
Governance Standards ,
Mergers ,
Pensions ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Valuation
SECURE 2.0 significantly changed the legal and administrative compliance landscape for retirement plans. Foley recently hosted a webinar where Leigh Riley, Kathleen Bardunias, and Kelsey O’Gorman discussed key provisions of...more
To help employers properly administer their 401(k) plans, in 2022, Foley & Lardner LLP is authoring a series of monthly “401(k) Compliance Check” newsletters. This article discusses the deadlines for plan sponsors to adopt...more
In last month’s Compliance Check, we discussed how to handle a situation where the 401(k) plan administrator is unable to reach a plan participant, i.e., a “missing participant.” In this month’s Compliance Check, we focus on...more
6/15/2022
/ 401k ,
Audits ,
Compensation ,
Compliance ,
Deferral Standard ,
EPCRS ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors ,
Voluntary Correction Program ,
W-2
For most employers, January kicks off a brand new 401(k) plan year! Now that all of the year-end plan amendments, participant notices, and new deferral elections are behind you, this is a great time to take a step back and...more
401(k) Plan Mergers and Updated IRS Determination Letters -
As part of an M&A transaction, your company may assume a new 401(k) plan that is sponsored by the acquired business. This article includes some common questions...more
The form of a corporate transaction sets the stage for the employee benefits and executive compensation (EBEC) strategy – in the scope of due diligence and purchase agreement negotiations and post-closing activity. The charts...more
4/22/2021
/ 401k ,
Bonuses ,
COBRA ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Executive Compensation ,
Flexible Spending Accounts ,
Golden Parachutes ,
IRS ,
Pre-Employment Agreements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Vacation Pay
The year-end budget and COVID relief package signed into law on December 27, 2020 (the “Budget Bill”) includes several changes affecting retirement plans. Most of the changes are temporary in nature, but one change affecting...more
Bottom Line: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued new guidance about the new in-service distribution opportunity for qualified birth and adoption distributions (QBADs) for tax-qualified retirement plans, which became an...more
Bottom Line: The Department of Labor (DOL) has released new guidance for retirement plans to meet their ERISA disclosure obligations:
an additional safe harbor for electronic disclosure of retirement plan ERISA-required...more
As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to impact businesses across the country and the world, many employers have implemented, or are considering, employee salary or wage reductions as one way to reduce overall business...more
4/16/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Business Expenses ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Furloughs ,
Layoffs ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Small Business ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
While February is usually the month for valentines and candy conversation hearts, I hope you will use this month to give a little love and attention to one of the often overlooked “other” taxes applied to payments from...more
On August 21, 2018, the IRS issued initial guidance (Notice 2018-68) to assist companies in determining how the changes made to Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) (“Section 162(m)”) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the...more
February is Heart Health Month, which always reminds me to schedule my annual doctor checkup. This got me thinking that the need for ongoing “checkups” and maintenance applies not just to our health, but to our homes, cars,...more
The “Bottom Line” -
Learn the new rules for who is a “covered employee” and keep track of these individuals because “once a covered employee, always a covered employee”
Evaluate compensation arrangements and contracts...more
1/8/2018
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Covered Employees ,
Employee Benefits ,
Executive Compensation ,
Grandfathered Status ,
Income Taxes ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Section 162(m) ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Tax Deductions ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform