Beginning in May 2012 fiduciaries of participant-directed individual account plans, such as 401(k) plans, must provide additional disclosures to participants. We have previously written in detail about what information is required to be disclosed under Section 404(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), and the 404(a) regulations (see our […]
Author: Trucker Huss
On September 6, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that will prevent the State of California from entering into contracts of $100,000 or more with businesses that do not provide equal benefits to same-sex spouses of their employees. Referred to as the Equal Benefits bill, Senate Bill 117 (“SB 117”) is effective immediately and will […]
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Affordable Care Act”) added new Public Health Service Act section 2715(d)(4) that requires group health plans and health insurance issuers in the group and individual markets to provide a four page summary of benefits and coverage (“SBC”) and a uniform glossary to enrollees. On August 22, 2011, […]
On July 18, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down a decision in Brown v. Continental Airlines, Inc., 2011 WL 2780505, on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, that clarifies a plan administrator’s duties in connection with reviewing QDROs that may have been […]
In a welcome set of guidance published in the Federal Register on June 24, 2011, the Department of Labor (the “DOL”), the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), and the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) jointly amended the interim final rules implementing the internal claims and appeals and external review requirements for non-grandfathered health […]
In a welcome set of guidance published in the Federal Register on June 24, 2011 (http://webapps.dol.gov/FederalRegister/PdfDisplay.aspx?DocId=25131), the Department of Labor (the “DOL”), the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”), and the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) jointly amended the interim final rules implementing the internal claims and appeals and external review requirements for non-grandfathered […]
In our May 2008 issue (and again in our December 2008 update), we discussed the potential impact of same-sex marriage on employee benefit plans following the California Supreme Court’s May 15, 2008, landmark decision, In Re Marriage Cases, invalidating the requirement under California law (from Proposition 22) that only a man and a woman can […]
Over 4 years ago, the DOL put plan fiduciaries on notice that it intended to implement new rules to enhance the transparency of fees charged both to plans themselves and participants individually. In its first step, the DOL revamped Schedule C to the Form 5500 with respect to the disclosure of service provider compensation to […]
On April 11, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in George v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc.¹ which calls into question common and seemingly non-controversial practices in the administration of ERISA plans. In doing so, the Court’s opinion threatens to increase the administrative burdens on ERISA plan fiduciaries, increase […]
With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (the “Act”) on March 23, 2010, sweeping changes were made to the manner in which health care is provided in the United States. While many group health plan sponsors were required to implement a number of the Act’s reforms as of January […]
The IRS continues to provide both formal and informal guidance on the application of Internal Revenue Code Section 409A (“Section 409A”). Failure to comply with Section 409A creates serious and expensive tax issues. Below is a list of some common Section 409A errors. Substitution Payments When an executive is terminated, a company may seek to […]
The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) released Revenue Ruling 2011–7 (the “Ruling”) on February 22, 2011, to clarify tax issues with respect to the termination of 403(b) plans. In the Ruling, the IRS addresses the requirements for termination of a 403(b) plan, and the resulting tax consequences to participants. While the Ruling provides guidance on […]
In our June 2009 and April 2010 issues, we alerted readers that employee benefit plans and those involved with plan investments could be required to report foreign accounts maintained in connection with plan investments to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) on Form TD F 90–22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (“FBAR”). On February […]
The Department of Labor has released a final regulation (“Final Regulation”) under Section 404(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), requiring fiduciaries of participant-directed individual account plans to disclose certain plan and investment-related information, including fee and expense information, to participants and beneficiaries. The DOL states that the required […]
Now that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has issued final rules implementing the shareholder advisory voting provisions under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), it is a good time to consider how your company will allocate responsibilities between the board of directors, the compensation committee and management […]
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