The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, generally provides the annual funding for the federal government and, in almost 5,600 pages, contains several important rules giving further COVID-19 relief, including the expansion of eligibility for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Employee Retention Tax Credit. The Act also relaxes several health, welfare, and retirement plan rules … Continue Reading
Beginning with plan years that end in 2020 California employers maintaining flexible spending accounts, or “FSAs,” will be required by a new amendment to the state’s Labor Code, enacted August 30, 2019, to notify the employee participants of any “deadline to withdraw funds before the end of the plan year.” FSAs are expense reimbursement plans … Continue Reading
We are aware that employers are being marketed various types of benefit arrangements designed to reduce the employer’s tax obligations by using a combination of wellness programs, voluntary benefits, and cafeteria plans. Not surprisingly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has taken interest in these designs and has provided guidance which may dampen the enthusiasm for … Continue Reading
While taxpayers were completing their holiday shopping and preparing to spend time with their families, Congress and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) were busy changing laws governing employee benefit plans and issuing new guidance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The results of that year-end governmental activity include the following: Protecting Americans … Continue Reading
As the calendar year comes to an end, group health plan sponsors must remember that if they took advantage of the ACA relief of IRS Notice 2014-55, amendments to their cafeteria plans by year end are needed. Notice 2014-55 was effective as of September 18, 2014, and it allowed participants to revoke a cafeteria plan … Continue Reading
