KEVIN E. NOLT, October 2016 The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2016-51 on September 29, 2016 which updates the current version of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”), effective January 1, 2017. The current EPCRS, issued in 2013 in Revenue Procedure 2013-12, had become outdated due to changes made to the program […]
Retirement Plans
GISUE MEHDI, September 2016 Background In general, when a distribution from an individual retirement arrangement (“IRA”) or a retirement plan is paid directly to an individual, the individual has 60 days from the date on which he or she receives the distribution to roll it over to another plan or IRA, in order to qualify […]
NICHOLAS J. WHITE, August 2016 — On August 25, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule on the circumstances in which state payroll deduction savings programs with an automatic enrollment feature would not give rise to the establishment of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, […]
ROBERT R. GOWER, July 2016 Sponsors of calendar-year qualified plans working to complete the 2015 Form 5500 (Annual Return / Report of Employee Benefit Plan) by the extended filing deadline of October 15, 2016 may have noticed a handful of revisions to the Form 5500 for the 2015 plan year. These “compliance-focused” revisions indicate areas […]
T. KATURI KAYE, July 2016 — The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2016-37 on June 29, 2016, which provides much anticipated guidance on the elimination of the determination letter program for individually designed retirement plans effective January 1, 2017. The following is a summary of Revenue Procedure 2016-37 in order to assist plan sponsors with making […]
BARBARA PLETCHER, March 2016 – We are seeing a renewed interest in derisking of defined benefit pension plans by implementing a “lump sum window,” and wanted to share with you the employee communication below. For purposes of this article, a “lump sum window” is a limited period of time during which participants in a defined […]
T. KATURI KAYE, February 2016 – On January 29, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2016-6 (the “Notice”), providing important guidance on mid-year changes to safe harbor plans under Sections 401(k), 401(m) and 403(b) (collectively referred to as “safe harbor plans”) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). The Notice is welcome guidance […]
ADRINE ADJEMIAN, February 2016 On January 22, 2016, during a panel discussion (which included Brad Huss) at the Los Angeles Advanced Pension Conference, Elizabeth Hopkins, Counsel for Appellate and Special Litigation, Office of the Solicitor, Plan Benefits Security Division, United States Department of Labor (“DOL”), stated that the DOL has initiated an investigation into large […]
KEVIN E. NOLT, January 2016 On January 4, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2016-03, which provides that the Department of Treasury (“Treasury”) and the IRS will issue guidance in anticipation of the elimination, effective January 1, 2017, of the five-year remedial amendment cycle system for individually designed retirement plans under the IRS […]
ROBERT R. GOWER, January 2016 – On January 4, 2016, an order issued by U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton in Schuett v. FedEx Corp., (No. 15-CV-0189-PJH, 2016 WL 104267 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 4, 2016)) brought light to a long anticipated question surrounding the retroactive application of the United States Supreme Court opinion in United […]
FREEMAN L. LEVINRAD, January 2016 To help those employers that allowed employees to exclude more than $130 in nontaxable monthly transit benefits for 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2016-6 to facilitate their adjustment of employees’ federal nontaxable wages following the recent retroactive increase in excludable transit benefits. On December 18, 2015, the President signed the […]
ROBERT R. GOWER and ERIC J. SCHILLINGER, January 2016 — On December 9, 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2015-86, providing guidance on the application of the June 26, 2015 United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (“Obergefell”) to qualified retirement plans under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 401(a) and health […]
SUSAN QUINTANAR, December 2015 — Plan sponsors need to remain attentive about ensuring that elective deferrals are deposited into their 401(k) plans on a timely basis. Plans may be subject to a higher risk for audit where late deposits are concerned, especially in those cases where there has been a pattern of recurring delinquent deposits […]
MIKAELA C. HABIB, December 2015 — On Friday, December 4, 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (“FAST”) Act of 2015 was signed into law. The FAST Act repealed the additional one month extension of the Form 5500 filing deadline introduced by the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015. As a […]
MIKAELA C. HABIB, November 2015 — The recently enacted Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (the “Act”) includes changes to various reporting deadlines for corporations, partnerships, and certain tax-exempt entities. Included are the filing deadlines for the Form 5500 (Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan), the Form 990 (Return of […]
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