CALLAN CARTER, January 2017 Plan governance is the administrative oversight that assists in ensuring you are managing an effective and compliant employee benefit plan. It provides the structure, authority and processes for implementing and operating benefit plans. Thus, proper plan governance is crucial to plan sponsor functions pertaining to plan design and amendment, as […]
Author: Trucker Huss
TIFFANY N. SANTOS, December 2016 On December 19, 2016, the Department of Labor finalized the regulations governing disability benefit claims (see https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-12-19/pdf/2016-30070.pdf). Intended “to promote fairness and accuracy in the claims review process and protect participants and beneficiaries in ERISA-covered disability plans,” the regulations for the most part adopt the rules proposed in November […]
ELIZABETH LOH and MARY POWELL, December 2016 On December 13, 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act (“Act”) was enacted. The Act contains a special holiday gift for small employers. The Act allows a small employer to offer “Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangements” (“QSEHRA”) that may be used by eligible employees for the […]
ERIC J. SCHILLINGER, November 2016 President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican Party, which retained its House and Senate majorities during the November 8th election, have made no secret of their desire to “repeal and replace” the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”). The ACA, passed in 2010 by a then-Democratic controlled Congress […]
TIFFANY N. SANTOS and SHANNON OLIVER, November 2016 In a welcome surprise, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) on November 18, 2016, released Notice 2016-70 which delays the deadline from January 31, 2017 to March 2, 2017 for employers to furnish the Form 1095-C to full-time employees and for providers of health coverage (such as […]
JOSEPH FAUCHER, November 2016 ESOPs have been a “national project” of Department of Labor (DOL) enforcement since the 1980s. But unlike other regulatory agencies, the DOL has put off issuing clear guidance—other than a proposed regulation that has never been finalized—regarding how fiduciaries should meet the standards articulated in ERISA… Click to Read More. Published […]
SHANNON OLIVER and KEVIN E. NOLT, October 2016 The Internal Revenue Service has announced the annual cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for pension plans and other items for Tax Year 2017. Many of the pension plan limitations were increased, as the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory limits that initiate their adjustment. […]
FREEMAN L. LEVINRAD, October 2016 On September 26, 2016, the Fifth Circuit, in Whitley v. BP, P.L.C. (“Whitley”), 2016 WL 5387678 (2016), emphasized that conclusory statements will not satisfy the pleading standard for complaints alleging breaches of fiduciary duty related to retirement plans’ investment in employer stock (commonly known as stock-drop cases), as established in […]
KEVIN E. NOLT, October 2016 The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2016-51 on September 29, 2016 which updates the current version of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”), effective January 1, 2017. The current EPCRS, issued in 2013 in Revenue Procedure 2013-12, had become outdated due to changes made to the program […]
JAHIZ NOEL AGARD, October 2016 This client alert discusses how tax-exempt entities and state/local governments (“eligible employers”) can take advantage of the new rules in the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) proposed regulations (issued on June 22, 2016) regarding Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 457(f) (the “Proposed Regulations”) to design more flexible and easier-to-administer annual and […]
JAHIZ NOEL AGARD, September 2016 For those interested in the law of ERISA forum selection clauses, 2016 has been a year to remember. The majority of courts to address this issue have ruled in favor of enforcing forum selection clauses. However, going against the trend, two federal district courts recently determined that forum selection clauses […]
GISUE MEHDI, September 2016 Background In general, when a distribution from an individual retirement arrangement (“IRA”) or a retirement plan is paid directly to an individual, the individual has 60 days from the date on which he or she receives the distribution to roll it over to another plan or IRA, in order to qualify […]
DYLAN D. RUDOLPH, August 2016 — This summer, the Ninth Circuit quieted any uncertainty about the viability of claims for procedural penalties against plan administrators based on claimants’ requests, under a Plan’s benefit claims procedures, for documents related to their benefit claim. In Lee v. ING Groep, N.V., No. 14-15848, — F.3d — (9th Cir. […]
NICHOLAS J. WHITE, August 2016 — On August 25, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule on the circumstances in which state payroll deduction savings programs with an automatic enrollment feature would not give rise to the establishment of an employee benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, […]
TIFFANY N. SANTOS and SHANNON OLIVER, July 2016 — IRS Issues Early Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) Draft Forms 1094 and 1095-C for 2016 Coverage and New Proposed Rules for Section 6055 Reporting by Providers of Coverage In early July 2016, the IRS issued early drafts of the forms that applicable large employers must provide to […]
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