PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Time to Tidy-Up Plan Documents
On July 9th, the Secretary of Labor filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit relating to the appeal of Hutchins v. HP, Inc. In that case, a participant claimed that forfeitures should have been used to offset plan...more
It’s that time of year again when calendar year 401(k) plans must send annual retirement plan notices. As you work with your service providers to make sure all notices are sent, now may be a good time to reacquaint yourself...more
It’s been happening a lot lately: a plan sponsor with several participating employers, not realizing that participation agreements for some of these employers weren’t done. This is just a silly mistake to make....more
Employers using pre-approved plan documents for their defined contribution retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans, should carefully review restated adoption agreements and basic plan documents that may be issued by their...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In two months (on March 31, 2020), the window closes for 403(b) plan sponsors to take advantage of the unique opportunity to retroactively amend their 403(b) retirement plans to correct document errors...more
The Treasury Department and the IRS recently finalized new hardship distribution rules applicable to defined contribution plans. Plan sponsors should prepare for operational changes to comply with the new regulations,...more
Earlier this year, we summarized proposed Treasury regulations and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which made changes to the rules governing hardship distributions from 401(k) and 403(b) plans....more
On September 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published final regulations that modify the hardship distribution rules for profit sharing, 401(k), 403(b), and eligible...more
If your company sponsors a 401(k) or 403(b) plan that allows participants to take hardship distributions, you probably had a conversation with your plan recordkeeper last year about changes to the rules on hardship...more
Dorman v. The Charles Schwab Corp. narrows the options of employees asserting breach of fiduciary duty in retirement plans. Breach of fiduciary duty claims that “arise out of” and “relate to” a 401(k) plan—including those...more
On April 19, 2019, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released Revenue Procedure 2019-19 (the “Revenue Procedure”) and a separate IRS Release (the “Release”) updating the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System...more
Contributions to your 401(k) plan are calculated as a percentage of an employee’s compensation. Seems simple, right? Not so fast. The definition of “compensation” can actually be quite tricky to apply and can lead to errors...more
Mistakes are all too easy to make, but fortunately, they are also easy to prevent! This week, we are discussing the five most common compliance mistakes made by 401(k) plan administrators and fiduciaries, the potential...more
• The recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the Act), enacted on Dec. 22, 2017, contains a few rules that will impact benefit administrators. • This client alert focuses on changes made to the tax treatment of plan loan...more
In a decision issued a couple of years ago, the United States Supreme Court held that a summary plan description that differed from the plan document could not be enforced as the plan document. The Court said that the summary...more
What Private Equity Funds Should Know About ERISA: Basics of ERISA Coverage - The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) imposes numerous duties on fiduciaries holding employee benefit...more