JAHIZ NOEL AGARD and KATURI KAYE, April 27, 2023 Starting in June 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) will start accepting determination letter applications for individually designed Internal Revenue Code Section 403(b) plans (“section 403(b) plans”) (also known as tax-sheltered annuity plans). As announced in Revenue Procedure 2022-40 (issued in November 2022), plan sponsors […]
Author: Trucker Huss
ALAINA HARWOOD and ELIZABETH LOH, April 27, 2023 On February 23, 2023, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) issued joint guidance (“Tri-Agency FAQs”) for group health plans and insurers regarding annual attestations on gag clause prohibition compliance as required under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). Attestations will […]
ELIZABETH LOH, April 6, 2023 During the COVID-19 National Emergency (NE) and Public Health Emergency (PHE) periods, the government issued guidance providing various forms of temporary relief to plan sponsors and plan participants, and also requiring plan sponsors to make certain plan design changes during these emergency periods (e.g., covering COVID-19 testing, the extension of […]
RYAN KADEVARI and NICHOLAS J. WHITE, March 30, 2023 On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. SECURE 2.0, which builds upon the original Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, contains numerous developments that affect […]
CATHERINE REAGAN and ROBERT GOWER, March 30, 2023 For employers operating in California who are considering alternatives to the CalSavers program, there are a number of qualified employee benefit plan options that may be a good fit. CalSavers is a program created by state law to help California residents save money for retirement. Today, most […]
NICOLAS DEGUINES and KEVIN E. NOLT, January 13, 2023 Background The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) was signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. SECURE 2.0 comes after many in the retirement plan community predicted […]
KEVIN NOLT, December 21, 2022 On November 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published proposed updates to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). VFCP is designed to encourage employers to voluntarily comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) by voluntarily correcting certain prohibited transactions and submitting those corrections to […]
SARAH KANTER, December 21, 2022 On December 12, 2022, the Treasury Department (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a “Final Rule” that automatically extends the timeframe for employers and other reporting entities to furnish IRS Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to individuals, regarding their health coverage each year, to March 2 of the following […]
ZACHARY ISENHOUR and ROBERT GOWER, November 29, 2022 On November 22, 2022, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new final rule (the “2022 Rule”) concerning climate change and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in selecting investments and exercising shareholder rights (including voting proxies) for plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income […]
JOSEPH C. FAUCHER and BRIAN D. MURRAY, November 10, 2022 In the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Org., which overturned Roe v. Wade and its progeny, many states have passed, or are in the process of passing, laws that severely restrict abortion services. Assuming no federal legislation […]
SUSAN QUINTANAR, November 10, 2022 In Notice 2022-27, the IRS extended (through December 31, 2022) the temporary relief from the requirement that participant elections under qualified plans be witnessed in the physical presence of a notary or plan representative, as set forth in Treas. Reg. 1.401(a)-21(d)(6)(i), including participant elections that require spousal consent. Unless the […]
SHANNON OLIVER, November 10, 2022 On October 21, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2022-55, containing the cost-of-living adjustments related to retirement plan limitations under the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). These changes will take effect on January 1, 2023. Below are some of the key highlights. Adjusted Limitations The limitation on the annual […]
DYLAN RUDOLPH and JOSEPH FAUCHER, September 29, 2022 Over the past several weeks, a single law firm, Miller Shah, LLP, has filed nearly a dozen lawsuits against fiduciaries of defined contribution plans that offer the BlackRock LifePath Index target date funds (“BlackRock Funds”). The cases represent a shift in approach relative to earlier waves of […]
BARBARA PLETCHER, September 29, 2022 Over the years, the Department of Labor (DOL), the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have published guidance regarding acceptable methods of searching for missing participants in tax-qualified retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In the September Benefits Report, we […]
MIA BUTZBAUGH, July 28, 2022 The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) includes rules that limit plan fiduciaries’ conduct. The limits set forth in ERISA Sections 406 and 407(a) are known as the “prohibited transaction rules” and are so broad that, absent exemptions, employee benefit plans would be unable to function. […]
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