Each year, National Employee Benefits Day is a chance to reflect on the ever-changing landscape of employer-sponsored benefits. Indeed, this year may be the most pivotal since 2020’s COVID-19 relief guidance. Affecting the...more
Takeaways-
Employers may post a notice on their website instead of automatically furnishing Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to all full-time employees. The first due date for such a notice is March 3 for 2024 forms, and the notice...more
As we bid farewell to 2024 and look ahead to the new year, we reflect on the many evolving compliance obligations that health and welfare plan sponsors tackle each year. Although this list is by no means exhaustive, it...more
12/31/2024
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Gag Clauses ,
Health and Welfare Plans ,
Mental Health ,
MHPAEA ,
OCR ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Substance Abuse ,
Third-Party Service Provider
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) regulates most private employee benefit retirement and welfare plans. This statute’s purview is vast; it governs employer-sponsored defined benefit and defined...more
Employees, especially those far from retirement, are sometimes hesitant to put money into their employer’s 401(k) plan, knowing that their money won’t be available to them if unexpected expenses arise. Congress and the Biden...more
We recently summarized the regulatory back and forth of the past few years relating to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) factors and their impact on ERISA retirement plans and the fiduciaries that...more
Beginning as early as January 15, 2023, certain employers will need to ensure they are complying with the District of Columbia’s Transportation Benefits Equity Amendment Act of 2020, also known as the “Parking Cash Out Law.”...more
It started sometime last year and, in hindsight, was inevitable. Clients with 401(k) plans and a crypto-savvy employee population began asking whether they could offer cryptocurrency as a plan investment option. In the...more
Every few years, the IRS enhances its popular correction program for qualified retirement plans (the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System, or EPCRS) to continue to encourage plan sponsors to correct any plan failures...more
As the IRS continues to churn out guidance on various forms of COVID-19 relief, this week is no exception with the release of Notice 2021-26. This Notice clarifies two key points relating to the tax treatment of dependent...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) is the latest federal COVID-19 relief bill, which the President signed into law March 11, 2021. ARPA includes new COBRA continuation coverage election, notice, and subsidy...more
3/12/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
COBRA ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Dependent Care ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Pensions ,
Popular ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Credits
We previously wrote about the Department of Labor’s proposed expansion of its safe harbor for electronic delivery of certain retirement plan disclosures required under ERISA. The wait is finally over, with publication of the...more
In this issue:
Has DOL Put Final Nail In Coffin of ‘Substantial Compliance’ Doctrine for Disability Claims? Analysis of the most recent revisions to the ERISA Claims Procedure regulations, asking whether the amendments...more
Penalties and fines for non-compliance with Washington, D.C.’s law requiring D.C. employers to offer commuter benefits to their D.C. employees will take effect beginning on November 14, 2019.
The law, which became...more
Long on the wish list of practitioners and plan sponsors alike, self-correction of certain common plan document issues and loan failures is finally an option under the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance...more
Benefit plan practitioners returned to their desks after the holidays to the surprising news that the Internal Revenue Service issued guidance that made sweeping changes to the user fees for the Internal Revenue Service’s...more
While helping employers craft severance packages, we have often cautioned that a well-meaning offer by an employer to subsidize a former employee’s COBRA coverage for a period of time can result in unintended consequences....more