Kushner & Company Blog

The IRS has now released all of the 2025 benefit limits. These include both the cafeteria and health plan limits as well as all of the qualified retirement plan limits. Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

In an era where attracting and retaining employees is paramount to an organization’s success, a Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) is a valuable addition to employee benefits. LSAs can significantly boost employee engagement by providing flexibility and control over their benefits.

For plan years beginning in 2024, this new optional opportunity is for the plan to treat Qualified Student Loan Payments (QSLPs) as if they were elective deferrals to the plan (even though they were not contributed to the plan) and to provide a matching contribution to the plan as if they were.

Employers that offer prescription drug benefits are required to provide an annual notice to all Medicare-eligible plan participants and qualified beneficiaries before October 15th of each year, the start of the Medicare open enrollment period. Most send it to all participants.

In a recent PLR from the IRS, an interesting optional approach to allow an employee to direct their employer contributions to a qualified retirement plan (such as a 401(k) plan) opens the door to some possibilities for employers looking to expand their benefit offerinngs without increasing costs.

The IRS has released the 2025 ACA affordability percentage. Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) are subject to the affordability rules of the ACA. ALEs are defined as those employers who have 50 or more full-time equivalents during the appropriate Measurement Period.

Rather than seek out retirement plan consulting, many employers offer a take-it-or-leave-it retirement plan design from their payroll or other provider. They assume that all 401(k) plans are the same, not paying attention to the details. After all, don't we just have to say we have a plan?

We're often asked if vitamins of any kind (multivitamin, specific vitamins [such as B12, D, or K for example]) or others are eligible for reimbursement under a health care flexible spending account (FSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA).

Spousal Incentive HRAs aren't new. But they're getting new exposure as a means of helping employers control health care costs, increasing employee recruiting and retention, and aiding employees when they have choices between two group health plans to elect a spouse's coverage over the employer's.

As we explained previously, funding for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was supposed to end with filings and fees for plan years that began before October 1, 2019. In the words of the great philosopher Emily Litella, “Never mind.”

In a CNBC article, Kushner & Company President Gary Kushner is quoted on the issue of coverage of newer weight-loss prescription drugs in small to mid-sized employers' group health plans.

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. Thus, we now have the 2025 HSA limits.