The CAA Transparency Rules Will Let Plans and Participants Know. The Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the IRS (collectively the Departments) recently released the Interim Final Rules with a request for Comment (IFC), Prescription Drug and Health Care Spending. These rules implement Section 204, Title II, another phase of the transparency provisions
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations on benefits and contributions for retirement plans generally effective for Tax Year 2022 (see IRS Notice 2021-61). Most notably, the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) or 403(b) plan will increase from $19,500 to $20,500. The more significant dollar
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) introduced the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA) on January 21, 2021. EPPRA represents the latest legislative attempt to address the well-documented multiemployer pension crisis.
EPPRA is significant in that it is the first legislation introduced by Chairman Neal under the Biden administration, signaling
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations on benefits and contributions for retirement plans generally effective for Tax Year 2021 (see IRS Notice 2020-79). Most notably, many of the retirement plan limitations, including the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, remain unchanged. The
The Internal Revenue Service has broadened the filing and payment relief provided under prior guidance. IRS Notice 2020-23 postpones, among other relief, the due date for employee benefit plans required to make the Form 5500 series filings due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. Plans with original due dates or
With the business disruptions and market turbulence being wrought by COVID-19, many employers sponsoring qualified retirement plans are facing key decisions about their 401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, and cash balance plans. From considering potential cost-savings measures such as suspending safe harbor contributions to a 401(k) plan and/or discretionary contributions to a profit sharing plan,
On December 19, 2019, the Senate passed, as part of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2020 (Public Law No. 116-94), the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act (Division O pg. H.R. 1865-604). It is touted as the most significant retirement act since the Pension Protection Act of 2006. President Trump signed
The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations on benefits and contributions for retirement plans generally effective for Tax Year 2021 (see IRS Notice 2020-79). Most notably, many of the retirement plan limitations, including the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, remain unchanged. The
As imagined by plan sponsors of closed defined benefit pension plans, the IRS issued Notice 2019-49, the fifth extension for an additional year of the temporary nondiscrimination relief for “closed” defined benefit pension plans originally announced by the IRS during 2014. The extended relief applies to plan years beginning before 2021 for those “closed”
Many employers have contacted us over the years asking whether they may offer an “employer–payment plan” rather than offer a traditional group health insurance plan. An employer-payment plan is a type of account-based plan that provides an employee reimbursement for all or a portion of the premium expense for individual health insurance coverage or other