401(k)

Working with an employee benefits consultancy ensures that you stay informed, minimize costs, and receive sound advice about the wellbeing of your employees. With the ability to walk you through your decision-making process, consultants can ensure that you’re looking at appropriate plans.

The IRS has now released all of the 2023 benefit limits on October 21, 2022. Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

The IRS has now released all of the 2022 benefit limits. Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

The IRS has new requirements for employers that utilize a fully discretionary matching contribution formula in their pre-approved plans.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) is the responsible agency for overseeing compliance with ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Penalties for a variety of ERISA violations are contained within the law and are indexed annually for inflation. They've increased substantially.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act contains many benefit changes, all of which are optional on the part of the employer. We know this is coming long after open enrollment has ended for most plans, but employers will want to pay close attention and decide which (if any) they'd like to adopt.

The IRS has now released all of the 2021 benefit limits. Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

The same IRS Notice (2020-68) that addresses Qualified Birth or Adoption Distributions (QBADs) also deals with how to handle the SECURE Act’s inclusion of long-term part-time employees and their eligibility for 401(k) plans.

While QBADs have been permissible since January 2020 under the SECURE Act, many employers have been waiting for some IRS guidance on how these distributions would be implemented before making a decision as to whether to include a QBAD as a plan feature. IRS Notice 2020-68 does that (and a bit more).

Much has been written about the calculations necessary to compute the amount of payroll costs that must be a major component of PPP loan forgiveness. In fact, at least 60% of the forgivable amount (previously 75%) must come from allowable payroll costs. So what constitutes payroll costs?

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) was signed into law on March 27, 2020. It's a mammoth bill of over 880 pages, and contains many employee benefit-related items. This post, the second in the CARES Act series deals with the qualified retirement plan provisions in the Act.

On February 26, 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled in Intel Corporation Investment Policy Committee v Sulyma that under ERISA a plan participant "must have 'actual knowledge' of the information contained in required disclosures he receives but does not read or cannot recall reading."