Compensation

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?

In an IRS News Release (IR 2020-57) issued on March 20, 2020, the IRS announced that they will shortly provide guidance that employers with fewer than 500 employees may retain payroll taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks for the tax credits for emergency paid leave.

Much later than usual, the IRS released the 2020 retirement plan contribution limits. Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits. We now also have the cafeteria plan, adoption credit, and transit benefit limits as well.

The US Department of Labor has suddenly realized that employers and their employees use a newfangled means of communicating in the real world: e-mail and the internet. In a bold move proposing their latest regulations he DOL has proposed new rules.

Starting in 2007, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA) requires that the IRS release the upcoming year’s new HSA limits prior to June 1st.

Kushner President and CEO Gary Kushner was invited to present a 5-minute (and exactly 5 minutes) speech at this year's DisruptHR conference. His topic was on "Total Rewards: Why are We Doing What We're Doing?" Here's the video of that talk.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published an Information Letter that confirms the general preemption under ERISA of state civil laws that require employers to obtain written consent before withholding amounts from employees’ wages for contribution to a benefit plan subject to ERISA.

The IRS has announced the limits for employee benefit plans for 2019.

The employer mandate penalty notices for 2016 have been mailed the week of November 12, 2018. Better known as Letter 226-J, these notices inform employers of a preliminary penalty under IRC Section 4980H.

The IRS has recently sort of, kind of, maybe, in special circumstances enabled employers to make a matching contribution to their 401(k) plan on behalf of eligible plan participants who, instead of contributing to the 401(k), make certain qualifying student loan repayments instead.

When small employers make operational errors in their 401(k) or other retirement plans, and before the IRS or DOL provide a notice of an audit, the employer has the ability to self-correct under two different IRS programs.

The IRS announced in Notice 2018-06 that employers will have more time to provide their employees with the 2017 required 1095-B or 1095-C forms. The new deadline moves from January 31, 2018 to March 2, 2018. However...