ROBERT R. GOWER, July 2016 Sponsors of calendar-year qualified plans working to complete the 2015 Form 5500 (Annual Return / Report of Employee Benefit Plan) by the extended filing deadline of October 15, 2016 may have noticed a handful of revisions to the Form 5500 for the 2015 plan year. These “compliance-focused” revisions indicate areas […]
Author: Trucker Huss
T. KATURI KAYE, July 2016 — The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2016-37 on June 29, 2016, which provides much anticipated guidance on the elimination of the determination letter program for individually designed retirement plans effective January 1, 2017. The following is a summary of Revenue Procedure 2016-37 in order to assist plan sponsors with making […]
J. MARC FOSSE, July 2016 The long-awaited Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) proposed regulations regarding implementation of Section 457(f) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Section 457(f)”) are finally here. The proposed Section 457(f) regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) provide some guidance that was expected, but also provide surprising new developments that tax-exempt non-profit and governmental1 employers (“eligible […]
JOE FAUCHER, June 2016 An unmistakable trend in the world of employee benefit plan litigation is underway, and that trend is decidedly in favor of plaintiffs. The trend has manifested itself in several ways. For example, several years ago, courts routinely entered early dismissals of cases alleging that very large companies breached their fiduciary duties […]
ROBERT F. SCHWARTZ and ALEX E. TRABOLSI, June 2016 On June 6, 2016, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) issued a new proposed rule clarifying the agency’s authority to facilitate the merger of multiemployer pension plans. The rule would implement some of the statutory changes made by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (“MPRA”). […]
MARY E. POWELL and JENNIFER TRUONG, May 2016 — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued final wellness plan rules under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) on May 16, 2016. The ADA rule focuses on wellness plan incentives for an employee […]
MARY E. POWELL and JENNIFER TRUONG, May 2016 — Health Savings Accounts (“HSA”) are an increasingly popular savings arrangement that allows enrollees to pay for certain out-of-pocket medical expenses on a tax-favored basis. Although there are many rules that govern HSA eligibility and contribution limits, one way an individual loses eligibility to contribute is if […]
J. MARC FOSSE, May 2016 — Section 956 of the Dodd Frank Act requires six different federal agencies (the “Agencies”) to jointly issue rules regulating incentive-based compensation at covered financial institutions by (1) prohibiting incentive-based compensation arrangements that encourage inappropriate risks by providing excessive compensation or that could lead to a material financial loss and […]
ELIZABETH LOH, April 2016 – Introduction On March 21, 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) launched Phase Two of its Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Audit Program. In this phase of the HIPAA Audit Program, the OCR intends to audit a wide variety of covered […]
JOSEPH C. FAUCHER, April 2016 – Citing the 1977 animated TV special It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision that might have a significant impact on who has the burden of proof in ERISA benefit claims. In Estate of Barton v. ADT Security Services Pension Plan, […]
ANGEL L. GARRETT, April 2016 – As we previously reported, on May 18, 2015, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in favor of the plan participants in Tibble v. Edison International, 135 S. Ct. 1823 (2015). In October 2014, the Supreme Court granted the plaintiffs’ petition for writ of certiorari to solely address whether […]
ADRINE ADJEMIAN, April 2016 – On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a pre-publication version of its long-awaited controversial final fiduciary advice regulatory package. The package is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on April 8, 2016. This rule is the first meaningful update to retirement advice regulations since 1975, […]
MICHELLE SCHULLER LEWIS, March 2016 – On March 1, 2016, the United States Supreme Court in Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company effectively hindered states’ efforts to collect health data from self-funded welfare benefit plans by holding in a 6-2 decision that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) preempts a Vermont statute […]
BARBARA PLETCHER, March 2016 – We are seeing a renewed interest in derisking of defined benefit pension plans by implementing a “lump sum window,” and wanted to share with you the employee communication below. For purposes of this article, a “lump sum window” is a limited period of time during which participants in a defined […]
CALLAN CARTER and TIFFANY N. SANTOS, February 2016 – This article was updated March 8, 2016. In a welcome set of “Questions and Answers,” IRS Notice 2015-87 (the “Notice”) provides guidance on various employer group health plan topics. The Notice formalizes and clarifies previously issued FAQs and informal guidance for group health plans implementing the […]
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