In the early fall of 2021, the IRS emailed employers a newsletter reminding them that they are not required to file a 2020 Form 5500 series return for retirement plans retroactively adopted in 2021.  Section 201 of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”) permits employers to adopt a retirement plan after the close of its tax year and elect to treat that plan as having Read More

In Luense v. Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc., 2021 WL 2103231 (D. N.J. 2021), a federal trial court dismissed certain allegations of a putative class action lawsuit brought by 401(k) plan participants, because they failed to prove that the defendants were fiduciaries when acting as alleged in the complaint. The lawsuit claimed that various parties violated their fiduciary duties based on the way that Read More

An Interim Final Rule (IFR) published by the Department of Labor (DOL) took effect September 18, 2021. The IFR pertains to the information required by § 105 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) to be provided on pension benefit statements. This regulation reflects amendments made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”) to ERISA § Read More

The IRS uses “Issue Snapshots” to analyze tax issues and provide links to additional resources such as Tax Code sections and regulations, revenue rulings, and IRS webpages. The IRS does not use issue snapshots as a comprehensive discussion of all issues related to a covered topic. Snapshots do not limit the IRS’s ability to use other approaches in examinations. The IRS has updated its “Issue Snapshot” summarizing Read More

  As the COBRA premium subsidy provided under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) expired on September 30, 2021, the IRS issued a second set of FAQs in Notice 2021-46 (the “Notice”) to supplement prior guidance while providing specific answers to some questions that were previously unanswered.  Some of the guidance provided in the Notice includes the following: Eligibility for COBRA Subsidy During Read More

As summer passed into its final months, the Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “Act”). While the Act’s $1 trillion in allocations tackles a large number of issues, it contains specific provisions covering pension interest rates and the employee retention tax credit. The White House stated that “[t]he bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will grow the economy, enhance our Read More

For decades, many Hollywood actors and actresses have battled the industry to assert their rights and defend themselves from exploitation. In December of 2020, actor Ed Asner and nine other members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) sued the trustees of their union’s health care plan. In August, making similar allegations to those contained in Asner’s Read More

  Two trade groups recently offered support to Cornell University after the academic institution settled a class-action lawsuit brought by participants in Cornell’s retirement program. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Benefits Council filed an amici curiae (friend of the court) brief in Cunningham et al. v. Cornell University et al., case number 21-88 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Read More