Employee benefits are an important part of every employees' total compensation package. The continuously evolving landscape in the areas of health care reform, retirement plan design, and executive compensation makes it difficult for employee benefits professionals to keep up with relevant developments. The employee benefits attorneys at Leonard, Street and Deinard provide human resources professionals, plan fiducia- ries, actuaries, accountants, and others in the industry with practical and cost-effective assistance as they navigate through the complex laws, regulations and guidance that govern employee benefits plans. This blog highlights key developments in the employee benefits field and items of interest to our clients. Our Bloggers →
Cafeteria Plans, Payroll Every year the IRS issues optional standard mileage rates that can be used by taxpayers to calculate the deductible cost of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Many employers reimburse employees based on this standard mileage rate. The standard mileage rate also factors into...
Retirement Plans The bloggers who bring you BenefitsNotes.com are attorneys at Leonard, Street and Deinard. We are proud to announce that we will merge with Stinson Morrison Hecker on January 1, 2014, to form the firm of Stinson Leonard Street. You can learn more about our new firm at http://stinsonleonardmerger.com/. We welcome...
Compensation Questions, Deferred Compensation and 409A, Executive Compensation In an IRS Field Attorney Advice Memorandum (FAA 20134301F) dated September 18, 2013, the IRS Office of Chief Counsel reviewed several common bonus plan designs in connection with a request for an opinion with regard to the timing of the employer’s tax deduction with respect to the accrual and payment of bonuses....
Retirement Plans In Final Regulations issued under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(k) in 2004, the IRS outlined procedures for revoking a safe harbor matching contribution formula after the beginning of a safe harbor plan year. Under those Final Regulations a safe harbor matching formula can be suspended during a plan year if...
Fiduciary Guidance, Retirement Plans I blogged earlier this year about a tax court decision in which taxpayers used assets in their IRA to finance a new business in a structure sometimes known as ROBS or Rollover for Business Startups. Unfortunately, because of personal guarantees provided by the taxpayers at the time that the business owned by the IRA...
Welfare Plans I blogged recently about an ERISA case involving an executive severance plan where the executive sued claiming that his employment termination was effective before the first anniversary of a change in control, thereby entitling him to severance benefits under the plan. The court had concluded that the severance...
Welfare Plans It is not uncommon for employers to have executive severance plans that pay substantial severance if an executive loses employment in connection with a change in control. In a recent federal district court decision, a former chief executive officer sued an employer for $700,000 claimed to be owed as severance as a...
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation, Retirement Plans As a result of industry consolidation over the years, employers can find themselves responsible for pension plans of companies long out of existence. A recent federal district court decision imposed a penalty of $4,470 on a plan administrator who delayed providing the widow of a plan participant with the plan document...
Cafeteria Plans As employers who sponsor cafeteria plans know, flexible spending accounts (FSAs) under those plans have had a “use it or lose it” rule. Under that rule, employees who participate in the spending accounts must make elections at the beginning of the year to set aside amounts to pay medical expenses under a medical...
Retirement Plans The Internal Revenue Service has released the 2014 cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limits on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans. http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/COLA-Increases-for-Dollar-Limitations-on-Benefits-and-Contributions. The following chart summarizes 2014...
