Nowhere to spend child care FSA funds
The July Monthly Minute highlights several benefits provisions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and offers reminders about upcoming PCORI and Form 5500 deadlines. Many Benefits, One Big Beautiful Bill On July 4, 2025,...more
Last year about this time, we wrote of how far we had come collectively in the world of employee benefits roughly one year after the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic. We reveled at how we kept on keeping on, what we were able...more
As employers and insurers continue to establish programs to enable participants in group health plans to receive at-home COVID-19 tests at no cost, even without a prescription, the Department of Labor (DOL) has issued...more
On March 26, 2021, in Announcement 2021-7, the IRS notified taxpayers that amounts paid for personal protective equipment, such as masks, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, for the primary purpose of preventing the spread...more
In this legal update, our employee benefits attorneys cover three recent health and welfare plan developments....more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (Act), enacted on December 27, 2020, contains a number of provisions that may impact the design and administration of employer-sponsored group health plans and flexible spending...more
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed the over $2 trillion omnibus appropriations and COVID-19 relief package, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“Act”). The Act includes provisions funding the government...more
Q: Does the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) make any changes to health flexible spending arrangements (Health FSAs)? A: Yes, if an employer sponsoring a Health FSA chooses to implement changes permitted by the...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, generally provides the annual funding for the federal government and, in almost 5,600 pages, contains several important rules giving further COVID-19 relief, including the expansion...more
This chronology traces the major ongoing relief provided by legislation, regulatory action, and other agency guidance to assist ERISA plan participants, fiduciaries, and sponsors during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic through...more
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Congress and the IRS have provided more flexibility and expanded opportunities for employees to utilize health flexible spending arrangements and to adjust cafeteria plan elections. ...more
Many employers have sought to leverage or make changes to their employer-sponsored benefits to address economic and health-related burdens faced by their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Until now, however, employers...more
On May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-33 (the Notice), which increases the maximum health flexible spending account (FSA) carryover limit. The Notice also addresses a gap in existing guidance...more
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have gotten daily calls and emails from our clients asking how furloughs, layoffs, the CARES Act, and a host of other pandemic-related changes affect the benefit plans that they...more
As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to impact employers, the IRS has been looking for ways to provide some additional flexibility to employer-sponsored benefit plans. In the past week, the IRS released two notices aimed...more
In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, on May 12, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Code Section 125 (cafeteria plan) guidance (see IRS Notice 2020-29 and Notice 2020-33) that allows employers to...more
In response to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), earlier this week the IRS issued two notices allowing certain changes to cafeteria plans. Notice 2020-33 increases the limit on unused amounts remaining at the...more
Section 125 cafeteria plan elections are irrevocable for the plan year unless the participant experiences a change in status or other event that allows an election change under the Section 125 regulations....more
Congress has reversed course and amended the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) to provide that a health flexible spending account (“health FSA”), health savings account (“HSA”) and health reimbursement account (“HRA”) may...more
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FFCRA”) was passed into law on March 18, 2020. Soon thereafter (on March 27, 2020), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) was enacted. The...more