This blog post addresses retirement plans that are intended to be tax-qualified under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). Specifically, this post will provide information related to: Quite often, we see employers, particularly smaller employers, design and implement tax-qualified retirement plans without a basic understanding of how these rules apply to their plans. … Continue Reading
Directly on the heels of the Biden Administration’s digital asset Executive Order issued on March 9, 2022[1] (Executive Order), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published its own guidance on the use of cryptocurrencies as a 401(k) plan investment in Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 (CAR). The DOL guidance is not limited to crypto, but … Continue Reading
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Rescue Plan”).[1] This post reviews Section 9641 of the Rescue Plan, which makes available tax credits to certain employers who voluntarily provide paid time sick leave and family and medical act leave to employees for absences occasioned by … Continue Reading
Section 9501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”)[1] requires employers to extend offers of free COBRA coverage to certain individuals for the period from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021. The ARPA then provides tax credits as means of offsetting the costs of the free COBRA coverage. The law also … Continue Reading
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) recently proposed regulations pertaining to employer wellness programs that, as will be explained below, may concern employers that have “Participatory” wellness plans. [1] Current Wellness Plan Rules under Other Laws To understand the EEOC’s proposal, one must first take note of the other pre-existing wellness plan rules. In general, … Continue Reading
Section 2206 of the CARES Act allowed an exclusion of up to $5,250 from an employee’s gross income, if an employer paid principal or interest on an employee’s “Qualified Education Loan”. Section 2206 of the CARES Act was only designed to be in effect for calendar year 2020. However, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the … Continue Reading
Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has also had its share of other disasters, including hurricanes, floods and fires. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) has provisions that are designed to provide tax relief for individuals and employers who have been adversely affected by one of the numerous federally declared “Qualified Disasters”. These provisions of … Continue Reading
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) extends through June 30, 2021, the Employee Retention Credit provisions of Section 2301 of the CARES Act. It also favorably modifies the rules for claiming the Employee Retention Credits. These changes are generally effective as of January 1, 2021. These provisions of the CAA are found in Sections … Continue Reading
On Saturday, August 8th, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster” (the “Order”). The Order provides for the deferral of certain payroll taxes. The Order will be effective for wages paid on or after September 1, 2020 and will have to be … Continue Reading
Following up on our prior post (here), regarding the Paycheck Protection Program loans (“PPP Loans”), President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 into law (the “Flexibility Act”) on June 5, 2020. The Flexibility Act relaxes and modifies certain requirements to obtain PPP Loan forgiveness. Specifically, the Flexibility Act makes five main … Continue Reading
There is a new electronic delivery option for retirement plan sponsors who are looking for an easier and more efficient means of providing required plan information disclosures to plan participants and beneficiaries. Retirement plan administrators can now electronically notify participants and beneficiaries that certain disclosures are available on a specified website. In addition, retirement plan … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced deadline relief for employee benefit plan notices, disclosures or document deadlines that must be furnished between March 1, 2020 and 60 days after the announced end of the COVID-19 National Emergency (“Outbreak Period”), if the employee benefit plan and responsible fiduciary act in good faith and furnish … Continue Reading
In our blog post dated May 7, 2020, we noted that the IRS Question and Answers regarding the Employee Retention Tax Credit (the “ERTC” & the “Q&As”) stated that an employer cannot claim an ERTC for qualified health care expenses, unless it also pays the employee other wages during the relevant time period. We further noted … Continue Reading
New guidance issued by the US Internal Revenue Service in the form of Q&As posted on its website, clarify the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) provisions contained in the CARES Act. The guidance is more restrictive than anticipated, and employers may face difficult decisions about claiming the tax credits. Our latest publication explores this issue … Continue Reading
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides employers a number of economic relief programs, including deferral of employers’ share of quarterly social security tax deposits and forgivable Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans. The IRS recently released a set of frequently asked questions and answers regarding the CARES Act’s deferral of quarterly Social … Continue Reading
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), commonly known as the “coronavirus” has raised many challenges for businesses. Among those challenges are the variety of employee related issues being raised. In addition to complying with various employment laws, including the new emergency leave laws and tax credits (see our blog), employers also have to consider the impact on … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to resolve a split between the Seventh and Eighth Circuits related to a federal program that is a well-kept secret. Nothing as intriguing as Russian spies or hacked emails… but, I think, interesting nonetheless. Of course, you have heard about the Social Security system. And you probably know … Continue Reading
The tax reform bill is done. President Trump signed the bill on December 22, meeting his deadline for completion by Christmas. While there is much to be said about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”), the update on the retirement plan provisions is relatively unexciting. Recall that when the tax reform process started, … Continue Reading
The recently released Republican tax reform proposal (H.R. 1 – Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) has a provision that would effectively be a death knell for many common types of nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Under the Bill, nonqualified deferred compensation will be subject to income tax when there is “no substantial risk of forfeiture”. In … Continue Reading
With U.S. tax reform on the horizon, there are some reports that lawmakers are considering limiting annual pretax contribution limits to 401(k) plans to $2,400. The current tax code allows most workers to contribute up to $18,000 on a pretax basis to 401(k) plans. At this time, it is uncertain whether there will be any … Continue Reading
Our recent client alert provides an overview of a recent lower court case confirming the risks to commonly managed private equity funds when they collectively own directly or indirectly 80% or more of certain operating companies. On remand from the First Circuit, the District Court for Massachusetts held private equity funds managed by Sun Capital … Continue Reading
On August 5, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a final rule that requires a public company to disclose the ratio of the compensation of its CEO to the median compensation of its employees. Companies will be required to provide disclosure of their pay ratios for their first fiscal year beginning on or … Continue Reading
