Congress’s Recent Spending Bill Includes Significant Changes to Health Plans and the ACA

A recent law signed by President Trump, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, is primarily a spending bill but includes significant changes that will impact all health plans as well as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These changes are mainly targeted at employer-sponsored group health plans. Repeal of ACA Taxes The Act repeals a number of taxes included in the ACA on taxes and fees that were already Read More

DOL’s EBSA “Restores” More Than $2.5 Billion to Employee Benefit Plans for Fiscal Year 2019

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), an office within the Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced that for fiscal year 2019, they recovered over $2.5 billion that went directly back to employee benefit plans, plan participants, and plan beneficiaries. The EBSA is tasked with investigating complaints against private employee benefit plans governed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act Read More

IRS Releases Long-Awaited 162(m) Regulations

In December, the Treasury Department and IRS released proposed regulations under 162(m) of the IRS Code to implement the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changes as well as provide guidance to employers. Section 162(m) focuses on publicly held corporations and deductions for compensation paid to covered employees. This section does not allow these corporations to deduct compensation that exceeds $1 million per year. The Read More

The CARES Act Contains Changes to Retirement Plan Withdrawal Rules – What Are They? [Part II]

Hardship Withdrawals General Requirements Under the Code In-service retirement plan distributions other than hardship withdrawals are typically limited to those participants who have attained age 59 ½. The Code permits hardship withdrawals specifically for the purpose of addressing an immediate and heavy financial need. Unlike plan loans, however, hardship withdrawals are immediately considered taxable Read More

Fifth Circuit Deems ACA Individual Mandate Unconstitutional But Defers on Severability

Several states have been challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the grounds that it is an overreaching piece of legislation and that, specifically, the individual mandate is unconstitutional. A January 2020 opinion by the Fifth Circuit agreed that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but did not answer the subsequent question regarding severability and whether that part can simply be cut from the Read More

The CARES Act Contains Changes to Retirement Plan Withdrawal Rules – What Are They? [Part I]

Over the past few weeks, the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (or “Coronavirus”) has hit businesses (and employees) financially across the U.S. in an unprecedented fashion. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, quarantines and shelter in place orders across the country, many businesses have come to a grinding halt and have been forced to furlough or lay off employees.  All this uncertainty has caused individuals to look to other Read More

Retirement Plan Participant QDROs

Benefits attorneys like to focus on businesses and benefit plan structures for employees.  However, there is an overlap between benefits law, family law, and estate law.  For example, a couple where one partner was the primary breadwinner while the other stayed home caring for family, the partner who stayed home may be entitled to part of the working partner’s benefit plan.  However, This can impact all plans when Read More

Life’s a Breach! HHS Increases HIPAA Penalties for 2020

The final version of regulations coming from Health and Human Services (HHS) includes adjustments for inflation of HIPAA penalties. These civil penalties are for violations of “administrative simplification” rules. Administrative Simplification HIPAA’s administrative simplification rules are a set of national standards for electronic transactions designed to maintain the privacy of protected health information Read More

When Should an Employer Consider an ESOP?

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are popular both with owners looking for ways to increase employee engagement and involvement and with employees seeking to have some ownership in and benefit from the work they do beyond their salaries. For business owners, considering implementing an ESOP is one of many options they consider when looking at retirement, but there are other reasons to consider ESOPs. Provide Read More

Profits Interest as an Attraction and Retention Tool for Executives

Companies are always looking for creative ways to compensate their top executives.  They want to be able to attract top talent as well as retain the knowledge and experience they already have.  One tool for doing so is profits interests, which are an option for businesses taxed as pass-through entities. A profits interest is an equity right that can be granted to any individual for their service to a partnership Read More