The ‘Missive Gap’ — Employers to Cope Without Updated Plan IRS Determination Letters. For employers that sponsor and maintain individually designed qualified retirement plans (“IDPs”), such as 401(k), profit-sharing, or traditional defined benefit pension plans, beginning January 1, 2017, no IDP determination letter applications will be accepted by the IRS except in certain situations.
Articles about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and other issues relating to employee benefit topics
January 1st is Quickly Approaching – Have you Reviewed your Health Plan for Section 1557 Compliance?
Earlier this year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) finalized regulations that implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”). You can read our prior discussions of these regulations in our blog post and newsletter article.
The MPRA: One Size Fits No One
This is another in our series addressing the continuing deterioration of multi-employer defined benefit pension plans.
Criminal Liability for Failure to Contribute to Multiemployer Benefit Fund?
The precarious financial status of some multiemployer benefit funds has led to criminal indictment against non-contributors. This troubling expansion of potential sanctions for failure to make required contributions to multiemployer benefit plans appears in a case from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Comparison of Equity Based Compensation Options
Sue says there are three main options for this model: stock options, phantom stock and restricted stock. Each comes with its own advantages.
ERISA Cyber Security Threats and the Role of Human Resources
With the increasing threat to organizations from data breaches, HR plays a critical role in helping prevent and minimize the risk from cyber theft. This podcast will address how to identify potential cyber security problems, workforce challenges in data protection, and the use of policies, training and employee education that are designed to protect private and sensitive data.
IRS Publishes Guidance Allowing Taxpayers to Self-Certify An Excuse from the 60-day Rollover Rule in Specified Hardship Scenarios
If you ask, plan administrators will tell you that for every deadline or specified time limit that is imposed by law upon plan participants for taking action with respect to an employee benefit plan, there are always a significant number of participants who come forward with one or more “excuses” why they could not meet the deadline. Often these “excuses” are legitimate. However, only occasionally is there a legally authorized protocol provided to plan administrators and participants which can remedy the circumstance of the missed deadline. Such an occasion occurred on August 24, 2016.
New IRS Procedure for “Late” Rollovers
In Revenue Procedure 2016-47, which was released by the Internal Revenue Service on August 24, 2016, the IRS prescribes eleven circumstances in which taxpayers may qualify for automatic extension of the 60-day deadline for completing a rollover to an IRA or to an employer’s tax-qualified plan. The procedure described in the Revenue Procedure is effective starting August 24, 2016.
Are You Down With O.O.P.s?: Opt-Out Payments Under the Affordable Care Act
In Notice 2015-87, the IRS addressed the impact of employer opt-out payments — payments made to employees who decline enrollment in an employer’s group health plan — on affordability for ACA purposes. Employers who do not offer group health coverage that is affordable as defined under the ACA risk significant penalties. For 2016, group health coverage is considered affordable if the employee’s cost for the least expensive self-only coverage under the plan does not exceed 9.66% of the employee’s annual household income. For 2017, the percentage increases to 9.69%.
Smaller HIPAA Breaches To Get More Attention by Office for Civil Rights
The HIPAA breach notification rule has two buckets for classifying data breaches – those that involve “protected health information” (PHI) of 500 or more individuals and those that involve fewer than 500 individuals. Since the breach notification rule became effective, the Office of Civil Rights’ (OCR) focus has been on the 500 and over bucket. But no more.
Hire Me!
Financial Advisers and retail financial services firms face a number of challenges in dealing with the new fiduciary rule the Department of Labor announced this spring. But little did they know that they may confront the issues from their first contact with a potential client. That’s right—even before selling their advisory services, these new fiduciary issues pop up.
Affordable Care Act Mid-Year Checkup: Count Your Contingent Workers
The ACA requires “applicable large employers” (those with 50 or more employees) to offer health coverage meeting affordability and other standards to their full-time employees. Failing to offer minimum essential coverage to at least 95% of full-time employees, or offering coverage that is not “affordable,” may result in significant penalties if a full-time employee receives a federal premium tax credit to purchase coverage through an ACA exchange. A full-time employee is one who works on average 30 or more hours per week or 130 or more hours per month. The hours of part-time employees are converted to full-time equivalents to determine whether a business is an applicable large employer, but only full-time employees must receive offers of complying coverage.
Proposed Changes to Section 409A are Welcome (for the Most Part)
The Internal Revenue Service recently issued proposed regulations under Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 409A”) in an effort to clarify and modify parts of the current final regulations (issued in 2007) and proposed income inclusion regulations. For the most part, the proposed regulations are consistent with how most practitioners have been interpreting and applying the final regulations. The proposed regulations do provide some helpful new guidance as well. However, the revisions to the proposed income inclusion regulations limit the ability to make changes to unvested amounts without incurring Section 409A penalties.
Employee Benefits Newsletter – Summer 2016
What the New Fiduciary Rule Means for Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries. On April 8, 2016, the Department of Labor published its final rule on who is a fiduciary as a result of giving investment advice under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (the “New Fiduciary Rule”) as well as related exemptions. Although the New Fiduciary Rule is targeted mainly at the providers of investment advice, it contains a number of provisions that are relevant to sponsors and fiduciaries of qualified retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans and traditional pension plans).
Employers Wonder How to Respond to Marketplace Notices
Many employers have begun receiving Health Insurance Marketplace notices – letters stating that a particular employee reported that he or she wasn’t offered affordable minimum value coverage for one or more months during 2016. The letter states that the employee has been determined to be eligible for subsidized Marketplace coverage. This means, if the employer is an “applicable large employer” for purposes of the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility penalties, the employer may be subject to penalties with respect to that employee.