The Internal Revenue Service recently announced its cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for retirement plans and Social Security generally effective for Tax Year 2016 (see IR-2015-118 ). Most notably, the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) plan (along with the other retirement plan limitations) remains unchanged. The dollar limits are as follows:
Joy M. Napier-Joyce
Joy M. Napier-Joyce is a principal in the Baltimore, Maryland, office of Jackson Lewis P.C.
Joy counsels clients in a broad range of benefit matters, including general compliance and administration of qualified retirement plans under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. She also assists clients with welfare plan issues involving cafeteria plans, health plans, flexible spending accounts, group insurance products, COBRA and HIPAA. Joy has a particular focus on assisting employers with the various compliance requirements associated with federal health care reform and has been a frequent speaker on the topic. Her practice also includes advice on non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements and other executive compensation matters, including issues related to compliance with Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code.
As part of her practice, Joy frequently assists clients with a variety of benefits issues arising in corporate mergers and acquisitions and restructurings of all forms. This includes analyzing benefits risks for buyers, handling plan corrections and terminations, strategizing and implementing benefits arrangements post-closing and advising on controlled group considerations.
Joy represents clients in dealings with the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor, including EPCRS applications, private letter rulings, determination letter applications and plan audits. She negotiates with outside benefits providers, including prototype plan sponsors, third party administrators, insurers, actuaries and auditors. She also counsels both public and private clients on a wide array of tax and securities law issues in relation to equity-based arrangements.
Employee Relief Charities – The Unbenefit That Keeps On Giving
Especially during the holidays, but also throughout the year, both employers and employees often seek a means of financially assisting distressed coworkers and their families. The various methods of targeting relief to employees are summarized in IRS Publication 3833, DISASTER RELIEF, PROVIDING ASSISTANCE THROUGH CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3833.pdf. Some employers establish a “donor-advised fund”…
Affordable Care Act Employer Penalties – Another Reason to Make Sure Workers are Properly Classified as Employees or Independent Contractors
Beginning next year, an applicable large employer that does not offer affordable minimum value group health coverage to its fulltime employees (and their children up to age 26) will be vulnerable to employer shared responsibility penalties under Internal Revenue Code §4980H. Whether an employer is an “applicable large employer” depends on its number of fulltime…
Dueling Decisions in the 4th and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeals Spell More ACA Uncertainty for Employers
Just as employers are gearing up to prepare for compliance with the Shared Responsibility rules under the ACA, a pair of decisions from two federal appeals courts has thrown a curve ball into what was already a complicated assessment of risk for employers and raised new questions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District…
