Plan mergers and spin-offs are common prequels or sequels to corporate transactions. The mechanics of combining plans, splitting them, or transferring assets and liabilities between plans are wrought with complications. How to handle plan loans? Is the investment...
For plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, most cash or deferred arrangements (e.g., 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans) established after the SECURE 2.0 Act’s enactment date will be required to have an automatic enrollment feature. Such plan features...
The ever-increasing amount and sophistication of internet crimes targeting employee benefit plan data and assets has led to increased concern among ERISA fiduciaries who anticipate the consequences raised by cybersecurity threats and their preparedness in the context...
Incentives are good motivators. The SECURE 2.0 Act ( Pub. L. No. 117-328, Div. T ), allows employers to offer de minimis financial incentives to employees to participate in their 401(k) or 403(b) plans. IRS just issued Notice 2024-2 providing guidance on a host...
The SECURE 2.0 Act ( Pub. L. No. 117-328, Div. T ), which was included within the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, has provisions with effective dates from 2023 to 2033. For 2024, some rules are mandatory and some are optional. Learn more by reading this...
Qualified retirement plans can require that employees perform a certain number of hours of service before being eligible to participate in the plan. So requiring 1,000 hours in a year of service kept part-time employees out of most plans. The SECURE Act (now, fondly...
Educational assistance programs are a common tax-favorable employee benefit offered by employers. Statutory requirements under I.R.C. § 127 permit a great deal of flexibility in program design. This includes the ability to restrict assistance only to coursework...
An ever-increasing amount and sophistication of internet crimes targeting employee benefit plan data and assets has led to increasing concerns among ERISA fiduciaries who anticipate the consequences of cybersecurity issues raised in DOL audits of ERISA plans and...
Among the many health-related provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), in its No Surprises Act provisions, beginning in 2023, most group health plans and issuers of individual insurance coverage must provide a searchable web-based tool (and...
With so much focus on retirement plans, like 401(k) plans, in a corporate transaction, health and welfare plans often are overlooked or not addressed completely. If the seller retains ownership of the company in an asset sale, it’s likely it will continue...
Open enrollment can be a tricky time for employer plan sponsors and participants alike. It’s the time when employers open a “window” allowing eligible employees to choose health and welfare benefits (like dental, term life, long-term disability...
SECURE 2.0 gave some leeway to plan sponsors in revising their participant notice distribution options. Effective this year, defined contribution plan sponsors have the option to forgo providing notification to unenrolled participants (with zero account balances...
A Texas District Court recently issued an opinion, in Utah v. Walsh, favoring the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regarding the legitimacy of the DOL’s final regulations addressing “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder...
A supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) is a specific type of top-hat plan that supplements an employee’s qualified plan benefits. The plan can be structured so that it doesn’t simply supplement the qualified plan in which the executive participates...
Deferred compensation arrangements appeal to executives and other highly paid employees because they allow each participating executive to postpone their recognition of income taxes until a future year. There aren’t any caps on the amount that may be deferred...