Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Qualified Plans — Special Edition Podcast
How to Prepare for the IRS’s “New 90-Day Pre-Examination Compliance Pilot” Audit Process
Correcting Problems With Your Retirement Plan
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) amended its Voluntary Fiduciary Compliance Program (“VFCP”) to provide retirement plan sponsors with a simplified option for correcting certain specified prohibited...more
Under SECURE 2.0, plan sponsors were granted discretion to determine whether or not the plan would recoup "inadvertent benefit overpayments." However, SECURE 2.0, did not define the term, leaving implementation of the new...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 requires certain 401(k) and 403(b) plans to include automatic enrollment and escalation features for the first plan year beginning after December 31, 2024, meaning that for those plans with a...more
SECURE 2.0 was enacted on December 29, 2022. Among its provisions is a requirement that “new” 401(k) plans and private sector 403(b) plans must automatically enroll their eligible employees, but not until the first plan year...more
Among the provisions of SECURE 2.0 (effective December 29, 2022) welcomed by plan sponsors were the additions to the Internal Revenue Code that allow qualified plans to refrain from trying to recoup an “inadvertent benefit...more
Recruiting and retaining top executives can be challenging for non-governmental tax-exempt organizations such as Code §501(c)(3) organizations, private universities, and certain healthcare organizations (Nonprofits). Not only...more
The Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”), as set forth in Revenue Procedure 2021-30, allows plan sponsors to correct “Qualification Failures,” which are defined as any plan document, operational, demographic...more
The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor recently issued guidance on various aspects of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, commonly referred to as SECURE 2.0. Below is a summary of key provisions...more
As 2023 comes to an end, we are pleased to present our traditional End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. This year, we present our “To Do” Lists in four separate SW Benefits Updates. Part 1 covered health and welfare plan...more
Since 1998 the Internal Revenue Services (the “IRS”) has had a comprehensive employees plans correction program with three components: self-correction (SCP), voluntary correction with IRS approval including related user fee...more
SECURE 2.0 Act - As part of a large year-end piece of legislation, the provisions known as SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) were enacted into law. SECURE 2.0 represents a broadly bipartisan piece of legislation that...more
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (the Act) contains several provisions that liberalize the rules for fixing particular retirement plan administrative mistakes that happen occasionally. The IRS has a comprehensive program for...more
The Senate ushered in the New Year with a bang by passing SECURE 2.0 on December 22, 2022. SECURE 2.0 includes many updates to the sweeping changes brought about under 2019’s original SECURE Act legislation...more
SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (the “Act”) was signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022 (the date of enactment), as part of the larger government funding bill. The Act makes numerous changes affecting retirement plans....more
Congress made several changes to retirement plans as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which recently passed both the House and Senate. The final bill contains several provisions affecting retirement plans...more
In last month’s 401(k) Compliance Check, we discussed the importance of developing (and maintaining) best practices for handling beneficiary designations. This month, we discuss one of the most common problems faced by 401(k)...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
In the June 3 issue of Employee Plans News, the Internal Revenue Service announced a pilot program to give employers whose qualified retirement plans have been selected for audit a 90-day window during which they are...more
With the April 15 deadline for distributing excess elective deferrals fast approaching, this post summarizes the rules for correcting excess elective deferrals made to a 401(k) plan. In brief, excess elective deferrals not...more
No one really appreciates laundry, but having a calendar year-end top 10 list may be exactly what plan sponsors and administration committees need in order to prevent operational or document compliance issues being raised by...more
On July 16, 2021 the IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-30, which modifies and supersedes Revenue Procedure 2019-19, expanding the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”). EPCRS is a program for correcting...more
There are several tools that can be used to correct or fix governmental plan problems. First, some classification. Practically all the retirement plans we discuss are “tax-advantaged” in one form or another. However,...more
Diane M. Morgenthaler and Jeffrey M. Holdvogt recently presented the webinar “Student Loan Benefits and Other 401(k) Developments” at the Worldwide Employee Benefits Network Chicagoland program. In the presentation, they...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