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
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
When an employee becomes disabled, a variety of questions arise regarding that employee’s entitlement to compensation and benefits. As a member of your company’s human resources or employee benefits department, employees and...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
In January, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued proposed regulations on the catch-up contribution provisions under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”). While the...more
3/25/2025
/ 401k ,
Compliance ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
FICA Taxes ,
IRS ,
New Legislation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retirement Plan ,
Roth IRA ,
SECURE Act ,
Tax Planning ,
Tax Reform ,
U.S. Treasury
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
On January 30th, President Biden announced his intention to end both the COVID-19 national emergency and the COVID-19 public health emergency (together, the “Emergency Declarations”) effective May 11, 2023. The Emergency...more
In last month’s 401(k) Compliance Check, we discussed what to do if you inadvertently failed to enroll someone in your 401(k) plan. In this month’s Compliance Check, we focus on the variety of typical notices that are...more
4/20/2022
/ 401k ,
Automatic Enrollment ,
Best Practices ,
Compliance ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fee Disclosure ,
IRS ,
QACA ,
Retirement Plan ,
Safe Harbors
If you sponsor a 401(k) plan and utilize a pre-approved document, such as a prototype plan document, you may have recently received an updated plan adoption agreement from your plan vendor for your review and signature. This...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”), which President Biden is expected to sign, provides additional funding relief to sponsors of single-employer defined benefit pension plans.
Valuation of Plan Benefit...more
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”), which President Biden is expected to sign this week, includes a handful of provisions affecting employee benefit plans and publicly-traded companies’ tax deductions for...more
Last year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) issued two notices that extended certain benefit plan deadlines for both employees/plan participants and for plan administrators as a result of...more
To the extent plan sponsors of 401(k) or 403(b) safe harbor plans have not yet reduced or suspended safe harbor contributions for the 2020 plan year, they may now find it easier to do so under IRS Notice 2020-52, issued on...more
On March 31, 2020, the IRS issued guidance on the Employee Retention Credits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). The Employee Retention Credits are fully refundable tax credits...more
4/6/2020
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Rights ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Income Taxes ,
IRS ,
Lenders ,
SBA ,
SBA Lending Programs ,
Sick Leave ,
Small Business ,
State of Emergency ,
Tax Credits ,
Tax Returns ,
Time Extensions ,
U.S. Treasury
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which was signed by the President on March 27, 2020, includes several provisions affecting employer benefit plans.
Expansion of Withdrawal and Loan...more
We get this question a lot from our clients. Sometimes, the answer is a clear “yes”, and, in other cases, the answer is a “maybe.” Below are three typical Q&As that highlight the most common scenarios where this question...more
If you maintain a qualified retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or pension plan, that covers more than 100 employees, you are likely in the midst of your annual plan audit. During this process, your auditor might ask for a copy...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
In December 2016, the Department of Labor issued final regulations under ERISA governing claims procedures for group disability plans, which will become effective January 1, 2018. Generally, these regulations were drafted to...more
3/8/2017
/ Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Claim Procedures ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Impartiality ,
Long Term Disability Insurance ,
Rescission
If you sponsor a self-insured group health plan, then November includes two important deadlines: (1) you must obtain a health plan identifier for your plan, and (2) you must report the number of participants for whom a...more
Earlier this week, the IRS issued final regulations that provide additional guidance on the new “pay or play” rules (also called the employer shared responsibility rules) that will generally apply to employers’ group health...more
Most plan administrators know that the recipe for a group health plan’s COBRA obligation includes three ingredients – a qualifying event that occurs while the individual is covered by the plan that triggers a loss of such...more
This year, we have both bad and good news for PBGC premiums – while the premium amounts have increased for 2014, the PBGC has also taken action to streamline the payment rules for large plans. Since it’s a rare occasion when...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor, issued two weeks ago, held that a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional. This decision will affect individuals, employers, and...more