On August 25, 2023, the IRS issued IRS Notice 2023-62, providing much needed relief for employers who have been struggling to implement Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”), which requires high income employees to make all catch-up contributions to 401(k), 403(b), or governmental 457(b) plans on an after-tax “Roth”
Benefits Law Update
Members of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group provide timely updates and commentary on developments affecting employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements. The blog is edited by Eric Altholz and Suzanne Meeker, with guest posts from other members of the group.
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DOL Continues Enforcement of Non-Quantitative Treatment Limitation Requirements
Introduction: Fifteen months ago, we wrote that the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) had informed Congress that it intended to devote substantial resources to enforcing the new comparative analysis requirement for non-quantitative treatment limitations (“NQTLs”) required under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. (Read our blog post here.) Last month, the DOL…
How to Comply with the Health FSA Debit Card Claims Substantiation Rules
The IRS’s recent Chief Counsel Advice Memorandum 202317020 (the “Memo”) brings into focus the importance of compliance with the debit card claims substantiation requirements for medical care expenses reimbursed or paid for through a health flexible spending account (“health FSA”) offered under a cafeteria plan.[1] The risk of noncompliance is plan disqualification, which, in…
Update on the Debate over Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance Investing
The debate over investment of retirement plan funds based on environmental, social, and corporate governance (“ESG”) factors continues to make waves. This post provides a high-level overview of the current state of play for plans that are subject to ERISA. We last wrote about this topic in October 2021 when the Department of Labor (“DOL”)…
Establishing Practices and Procedures to Support Self-Correction of Operational Failures
The self-correction of retirement plan operational failures under IRS correction principles has been conditioned upon a plan sponsor’s establishment of compliance practices and procedures since the creation of the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”) 25 years ago. This condition was articulated in IRS Revenue Procedure 98-22, which refined and consolidated several prior correction programs…
Reasonable Compensation Under ERISA: Thoughts on Two Recent Cases
Two recent court decisions bring into focus two seldom-asked questions about the reasonable compensation requirement under ERISA. When must an ERISA plan’s service provider compensation be reasonable? And why shouldn’t a plan fiduciary be able to receive reasonable compensation from the plan even if the fiduciary had a hand in determining the amount of that…
Gag Clauses – New Guidance and Litigation Will Inform Compliance
Certain provisions of the Transparency in Coverage Final Regulations and the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2021 (“CAA”) require group health plans and/or their vendors to report information to federal agencies. On December 31, 2023, group health plans will have to provide an attestation concerning compliance with the prohibition on gag clauses for the first time. Fully-insured…
New Options for Retirement Plan Distributions Under SECURE 2.0
This post summarizes the new distribution options, including penalty-free withdrawals, applicable to defined contribution plans under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) and provides a timeline of their effective dates. The new options further evidence Congress’s growing appetite for approving legislation that allows greater pre-retirement access to funds intended for retirement.[1] It…
The End of the COVID-19 Emergency Declarations Raises Questions, but We’ve Got Answers
It seems the COVID-19 pandemic is ending in the benefits world the same way it started: in a flurry of new laws, announcements, and notices intended to offer clarity but sowing confusion. To begin, it is important to remember that COVID-19 triggered not one, but two federal emergency declarations: the Public Health Emergency (“PHE”), declared…
Alternatives for Sponsors of Defined Benefit Pension Plans
For decades, it was common for employers to maintain employer-funded defined benefit pension plans (“DB Plans” or “Plans”) to provide retirement benefits to their employees. In recent years, DB Plans have become increasingly expensive and difficult to administer due to funding, insurance premiums, and government filing requirements. As a result, employers have been freezing or…