PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Time to Tidy-Up Plan Documents
Forfeitures have long been a sleepy corner of 401(k) plan administration, but recent class-action lawsuits are waking everyone up....more
The IRS periodically issues tax-related “Issue Snapshots” that can be of interest to employers and practitioners alike. A recent “Issue Snapshot” discusses the timing rules that govern the deductibility of retroactive...more
Employers that provide 401(k) plans on documents that have been “pre-approved” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) beware: there is yet another annual notice requirement that may need to be added to your compliance list!...more
The IRS has extended the deadline for plan sponsors of qualified retirement plans and IRAs to make amendments under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the Taxpayer Certainty and...more
The IRS on Aug. 3, 2022, issued Notice 2022-33, which extends the deadlines for qualified retirement plans, 403(b) plans and governmental retirement plans (including 457(b) plans) to adopt amendments reflecting certain...more
Every six years, all preapproved defined contribution retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans) must be restated in new plan documents that have fresh approval from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The deadline to adopt the...more
Employers that provide 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans to their employees on plan documents that have been “pre-approved” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) must sign updated documents by July 31,...more
Background - Back in 2013, the IRS opened its first 6-year cycle of reviewing and issuing opinion letters on 403(b) pre-approved documents. Most of the approval letters for that first set of plans were issued to the...more
Just think of the many dollars you spend on face masks, hand sanitizers and sanitizing wipes to help you and your family prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It all adds up very quickly and can make a...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
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in their January 20, 2021 edition of Employee Plans News opined that pre-approved qualified retirement plan documents may be used to establish arrangements known as pooled employer plans or...more
Based on numerous requests for plan documents from public agency clients, we know that many cannot find complete sets of their historical and current retirement plan documents that are properly authorized, signed and dated....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently a “whistleblower” leaked that the IRS had internally announced an upcoming modification to the very popular voluntary correction program (“VCP”) that would have been a significant disincentive for...more
The March 31, 2020 deadline to correct form defects in individually-designed 403(b) plan documents seemed a tiny speck on the distant horizon when the IRS announced it in early 2017. But now, March 31, 2020 looms large and...more
In a recent Chief Counsel General Advice Memorandum (“Memo”), the IRS provides a helpful reminder that basic recordkeeping and organization techniques can avoid significant tax liability for employers and employees in the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a recent Chief Counsel Memorandum (“CCM”), the IRS stated that on audit, agents should pursue plan disqualification for a failure to produce a signed plan document. The IRS was responding to a 2018 Tax...more
With the March 31 deadline to correct form defects in plan documents under the Initial Remedial Amendment Period fast approaching, employers now have less than two months to ensure that their 403(b) plans are in compliance...more
Tax laws have long required that qualified retirement plans timely adopt written plan documents and amendments. But what evidence must a plan sponsor provide to an IRS auditor to prove that they have timely adopted a written...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
Previously we posted on our blog about a deadline looming in the distance for 403(b) plan sponsors to adopt a pre-approved plan document. Now that 2020 has arrived, the deadline is just around the corner and imminent action...more
Generally, for a tax qualified retirement plan to be adopted, the plan document must be signed and dated by the sponsoring employer and retained. However, in Val Lanes Recreation Center Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal...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
Generally, a 403(b) plan is a retirement planning program whereby a public school or tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization (including churches) makes contributions for their employees (and certain ministers) to specific types of...more