The IRS issued guidance on the application of the COVID-19 Outbreak Period extensions to COBRA election and premium payment deadlines. The guidance was released as a coordinated effort with the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In 2020, these agencies specified that taxpayers should disregard the COVID-19 Outbreak Period when calculating COBRA election and payment Read More

If you’re a wealth manager who offers investment advice to IRA owners, you must be aware of the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02 (the “Investment Advice PTE”). According to the PTE, ERISA considers most recommendations to roll over an IRA as fiduciary investment advice, effective as of February 16, 2021. The PTE lists several inherent conflicts of interest that investment Read More

The Transparency in Coverage Final Rules (the TiC Final Rules) require non-grandfathered group health plans and health insurance issuers to disclose certain billing information for covered items and services on a public website. This includes in-network provider rates, allowed amounts for out-of-network services, billed charges, and negotiated rates and historical net prices for covered prescription drugs in three Read More

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