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 2025 (see IRS Notice 2024-80). Most notably, the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) or 403(b) plan will increase to $23,500, and the dollar threshold for
New Guidance: Emergency Personal Expense and Domestic Abuse Victim Distributions
Of interest to 401(k) plan sponsors and administrators, the IRS recently issued Notice 2024-55, providing guidance on SECURE 2.0’s new exceptions—effective January 1, 2024—to the additional 10% tax on early qualified retirement plan distributions for emergency personal expenses and victims of domestic abuse. Both types of distributions are optional and may be adopted through
Automatic Enrollment: This Is The Way
Thanks to SECURE Act 2.0, newly established 401(k) and 403(b) plans must now have an automatic enrollment. The SECURE Act 2.0 was passed in December 2022 and made sweeping changes to retirement plan regulations. We discuss many of those changes in our SECURE Act 2.0 blog series.
Plans with an automatic enrollment feature immediately
2024 Cost of Living Adjustments for Retirement Plans
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 2024 (see IRS Notice 2023-75). Most notably, the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) or 403(b) plan will increase to $23,000, and the dollar threshold for highly
The Time for Long-Term Part-Time Employee Eligibility Compliance Has Nearly Arrived!
When the original SECURE Act was passed in 2019, compliance with its new long-term part-time employee rule seemed far in the future—way out to January 1, 2024. Well, that time is nearly upon us, so sponsors of 401(k) plans should be ready to let these long-term part-time employees start participating in their plans with the
Just Catching-Up? Plan Sponsors Receive Eagerly Awaited Reprieve from Roth Catch-Up Implementation
With a multitude of questions surrounding implementation and administration, late on a summer Friday afternoon, the IRS issued Notice 2023-62 (Notice), providing Plan Sponsors with a transition period until 2026 to implement Roth catch-up contributions.
Catch-up contributions are a defined contribution plan feature many 401(k) and 403(b) Plan Sponsors are familiar with. Since being introduced
How the RMD Rules Are Like a New Puppy
On July 17, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an advance version of Notice 2023-54 (the Notice) which will include transition relief for plan administrators in connection with the change in the required beginning date for required minimum distributions (RMDs) under §401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) under §107 of the Setting Every Community
ESG Considerations for Retirement Plans: A Moving Target
For those with an eye on ERISA and its fiduciary rules, the past few years have caused whiplash when it comes to environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) investments in retirement plans. With a new rule from the Department of Labor imminent, let’s review where we are, how we got here, and what’s next.
ERISA
2023 Cost of Living Adjustments for Retirement Plans
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 2023 (see IRS Notice 2022-55). Most notably, the limitation on annual salary deferrals into a 401(k) or 403(b) plan will increase from $20,500 to $22,500 and the dollar threshold
Crypto, SDBAs, and Your 401(k) Plan: What Now?
Just over a month ago, we wrote about the Department of Labor’s guidance on cryptocurrency as a 401(k) investment option, and the landscape has already shifted multiple times.
Fidelity Investments made news on April 26 when it announced its new cryptocurrency-based investment option for 401(k) plans and other investment vehicles. If elected by a plan