As you may be aware, last year, the IRS provided an extension for many retirement plans to adopt amendments under SECURE 2.0. However, it’s important to note that this extension does not apply to 457(b) plans sponsored by tax-exempt entities. These plans must continue to follow the original timeline, which requires plan amendments to be adopted ...
Football and plan corrections are often on my mind this time of the year. As the Bengals kick off their season, late summer is also the time when we receive an influx of questions from plan sponsors regarding correcting retirement plan errors. The timing is predictable because many of these issues come to light as plan auditors are finalizing their ...
While most plan sponsors understand that their plans must offer continuation coverage under COBRA for their medical benefits, many administrators find themselves on less solid ground when it comes to COBRA coverage and health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs). If an employee elects to contribute to a health FSA and terminates ...
Several new lawsuits have been filed recently alleging that employers violated HIPAA’s non-discrimination rule by charging higher health insurance premiums to employees who use tobacco products. As we have discussed in previous blogs, many employers include a “tobacco surcharge” in their plans, which typically asks employees to ...
As employers increasingly struggle with rising health plan costs, the IRS has provided some good news. Recently, the IRS announced that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affordability threshold will increase to 9.96% of household income for plan years starting in 2026. This is an increase from the 9.02% that applied to 2025. This significant ...
A terminated employee moves and doesn’t tell you and the check for the small benefit forced out of your retirement plan gets returned. A participant requests a distribution and the check gets delivered, but it is never cashed. Sound familiar? Almost every retirement plan deals with uncashed checks. Often these are small benefits that were ...
Student loan debt can be a major source of employee stress, and some borrowers will feel even more pressure with the recent budget bill’s changes to federal student loan repayment options. Education assistance programs enable employers to alleviate some of this pressure and can be utilized as a powerful tool for attracting and retaining ...
State laws seeking to regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have increased significantly over the past few years. As it stands, all 50 states have laws that regulate PBMs in some way, but all are unique. However, most of these laws have the same primary goals of reducing governmental waste and addressing the rising cost of drugs.
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”) has become a popular tool for succession planning and tax structuring, especially for S corporations. As more business owners look to retire and wish to avoid selling their life’s work to private equity, an ESOP provides an excellent transition vehicle. When set up thoughtfully, an ESOP can ...
If you serve on a retirement plan committee, you’ve taken on an important and legally significant role. As a fiduciary under the ERISA, you are personally liable for the decisions you make regarding the plan. That’s not a metaphor: your personal assets could be at risk in the event of a fiduciary breach.
Yet, many plan fiduciaries don’t ...