On November 13, 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2025-67, which sets forth the 2026 cost-of-living adjustments affecting dollar limits on benefits and contributions for qualified retirement plans. The IRS also announced the health savings account (HSA) and high deductible health plan (HDHP) annual deductible and out-of-pocket expense adjustments earlier this year
Understanding Employee Benefits and key developments in the employee benefits field and items of interest to our clients. MORE
Retirement Plans
Managing Retirement Plan Litigation Risk – Know Your IPS
There are always plenty of new retirement plan investment performance and fee cases, and it’s hard for a plan sponsor, even one that is doing everything properly, to be assured that it won’t be the target of a lawsuit.
A recent case serves as a reminder of the very basic guidance plan sponsors often hear…
New Year Brings New Automatic Enrollment and Escalation Requirements for Some Recently Adopted 401(k) and 403(b) Plans
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 requires certain 401(k) and 403(b) plans to include automatic enrollment and escalation features for the first plan year beginning after December 31, 2024, meaning that for those plans with a calendar plan year, the new year brought a new compliance obligation.
Beginning on January 1, 2025, 401(k) and 403(b)…
IRS Announces Delay of Implementation of SECURE 2.0 Act’s Roth Catch-up Contribution Provision for Two Years
As signed into law, Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) required that effective as of January 1, 2024, participants in 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, or governmental 457(b) plans, who were age 50 or older and whose Social Security wages for the previous year exceed $145,000 (indexed), only be permitted…
Congress Delivers SECURE 2.0 for the Holidays
Revised January 11, 2023
Congress made several changes to retirement plans as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which recently passed both the House and Senate. The final bill contains several provisions affecting retirement plans under Division T of the bill titled “Secure 2.0 Act of 2022.” An official summary of all…
IRS EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR PLAN SPONSORS TO ADOPT AMENDMENTS REFLECTING RECENT LAW CHANGES
On August 3, 2022, the IRS published Notice 2022-33, which extends the deadlines for amending retirement plans and IRAs to reflect certain changes to the law made by the SECURE Act; the Bipartisan American Miners Act; and section 2203 (allowing waiver of 2020 required minimum distributions) of the CARES Act. Before the IRS released Notice…
DOL Issues First Ever Cybersecurity Guidance
On April 14, 2021, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration issued guidance on cybersecurity for the first time to help plan sponsors, fiduciaries, service providers, and participants protect personal information and retirement assets. In the guidance, the DOL identifies evaluating cybersecurity practices as part of the plan sponsor’s or other plan fiduciary’s…
AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT CONTAINS MANY EMPLOYEE BENEFITS RELATED PROVISIONS
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”) into law. Many of the provisions in this sweeping legislation bring changes to the employee benefits world of which employers should take note and which are summarized below.
Subsidized COBRA
The ARPA contains several new rules which impact COBRA…
DOL Provides its view on Private Equity Investment Exposure in Defined Contribution Plans
In a new information letter, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) concludes offering professionally managed asset allocation funds, which include a private equity component as an investment option in an individual account plan (e.g., a 401(k) plan), is not a per se violation of ERISA. Plan fiduciaries commonly invest defined benefit pension plan assets…
New DOL Electronic Disclosure Safe Harbor Offers Relief for Retirement Plans
The Department of Labor has issued final regulations that will enable employers to electronically provide required information and documents to more plan participants. Although employers have been able to electronically provide some documents and information to some participants under existing rules, use of electronic delivery was limited because of an affirmative consent requirement that applied…