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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Employee Stock Ownership Program or ESOP is a way for owners to share the wealth and success of a company with employees. It is often used for succession planning allowing long-term employees a way to buy out an aging owner and continue the business. ESOPs also offer some tax incentives to the company such as using deductible funds when servicing debt and creating deductible cash dividends. Tax Deductible Debt Read More

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) fiduciaries are governed by ERISA rules just as administrators of other qualified retirement and benefit plans are. This includes any person who has discretion or control in the management of plan assets, provides advice to the plan for a fee, or has responsibility for the administration of the plan. In some cases, these fiduciaries do not act completely independently but rather Read More

Pursuant to the December IRS Notice 2019-63 (the “Notice”), the deadline for providing forms 1095-C and 1095-B to covered individuals has been extended from the end of January until March 2, 2020. These forms must also be filed electronically with the IRS by March 31, 2020. These forms are part of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) reporting requirements. Employer Shared Responsibility Under IRS Code Section Read More