The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) has released the 2010 Cumulative List of Changes in Plan Qualification Requirements (the “2010 Cumulative List”). In general, the Cumulative List identifies the changes in qualification requirements that must be taken into account when an application for an opinion, advisory or determination letter is submitted and reviewed by the […]
Author: Trucker Huss
Introduction On October 18, 2010, the IRS published final regulations, and a new set of proposed regulations, governing cash balance (“CB”) and other hybrid defined benefit pension plans. This article: reviews what hybrid plans are and how they work; reviews some of the controversy associated with hybrid plans; and briefly discusses the most recent IRS […]
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) and Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently released new guidance clarifying important provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”). The most recent DOL guidance comes in the form of a three-part series of FAQs posted to the PPACA section of its website. The most recent IRS guidance is […]
On October 21, 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a proposed regulation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), to define more broadly the circumstances in which a person may be considered a “fiduciary” by reason of providing “investment advice” to an employee benefit plan or its participants. […]
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 2011. For the second year in a row none of the major pension plan limitations have increased; Including the limitations under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) section 415 and all of the other […]
The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 (the “Small Business Act”), signed into law on September 27, 2010, will allow participants to convert non-Roth accounts in certain plans to Roth accounts within the same plan, if the plan so provides. This article explains these in-plan Roth conversion rules and what employers should consider […]
On July 23, 2010, the Departments of the Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services jointly released Interim Final Regulations under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) (75 Fed. Reg. 43,330 (July 23, 2010)), detailing the internal claims and appeals and external review processes for non-grandfathered insured and self-insured group health plans. Just […]
After a short but circuitous journey through the House and Senate, pension funding relief for multiemployer pension plans devastated by the collapse of the global financial markets in the fall of 2008 became law on June 25, 2010 when President Obama signed H.R. 3962 — P.L. 111–192 — the Preservation of Access to Care for […]
The recently passed healthcare reform bill amends Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “IRC”) to allow small employers to establish “simple cafeteria plans” for plan years beginning after December 31, 2010. If an eligible small employer satisfies the eligibility and contribution requirements discussed below, the employer can take advantage of a safe harbor […]
The Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 (the “Act”), enacted June 25, 2010, contains provisions designed to relieve the funding obligations of employers who sponsor single employer defined benefit pension plans. The primary measure of the Act relating to pension funding gives plan sponsors additional time to […]
On June 28, 2010, the Departments of the Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services issued interim final regulations (the “Regulations”) to implement certain provisions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as Amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (the “Affordable Care Act”). This article summarizes the Regulations as they implement […]
On July 15, 2010, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) took a significant step in finalizing a regulation meant to provide retirement plan fiduciaries with the information they need to determine the reasonableness of compensation paid to service providers and to assess how those services are affected by potential conflicts of interest. The interim final rule […]
In its second significant ERISA decision in as many months, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that a court may award an ERISA litigant attorney’s fees even if it does not actually “prevail” in its case. Earlier, in an April decision, the Court reaffirmed the vitality of the deferential standard of review that ERISA […]
On June 14, 2010, the Departments of the Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services issued Interim Final Regulations (“the Regulations”) regarding grandfathered health plan status under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the “Affordable Care Act”). The Regulations provide guidance […]
On May 13, 2010, three government agencies¹ jointly issued an interim final rule implementing the requirement to provide dependent coverage to adult children until age 26 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Affordable Care Act”), as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (the “Reconciliation Act”). The rule clarifies that […]
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