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 →
Retirement Plans Various promoters have suggested to entrepreneurs that they use the assets in their 401(k) plans or IRAs to finance a new business. These programs are sometimes known by the acronym ROBS, or Rollovers as Business Start-ups. The basic structure involves the entrepreneur’s rollover from a prior employer of the amount...
Multi-employer Plans, Retirement Plans Employers know that benefits under a retirement plan can be split between a participant and a former spouse in the event of a divorce under the terms of a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO). A domestic relations order is qualified if it meets certain technical requirements. A recent decision from the Minnesota...
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation, Fiduciary Guidance, Retirement Plans On March 21, 2013 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Tibble v. Edison International, http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/03/21/10-56406.pdf in which the Court ruled that the plan fiduciaries of the Edison 401(k) Savings Plan (the “Plan”) had breached their fiduciary duty by...
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation, Retirement Plans Most employers know that a married participant in a qualified retirement plan must name a spouse as beneficiary for at least a portion of the benefit unless the spouse signs a notarized written consent or the spouse cannot be located. A recent U.S. District Court decision, Gallagher v. Gallagher, involved a...
Fiduciary Guidance, Retirement Plans Many plan sponsors have selected so-called “target date” funds as the default investment under the plan sponsor’s 401(k) or other qualified plan. A target date fund is one that includes investments in different asset classes (e.g., stocks, bonds, money market) where the balance among the asset classes becomes...
Payroll, Retirement Plans The recent “fiscal cliff” legislation, the American Taxpayer Relief Act 2012 includes a revenue raising idea for the government – more Roth conversions. The new provision would allow private company defined contribution plans (i.e., 401(k) and profit sharing plans); Section 403(b) plans for tax exempts and...
Retirement Plans On December 31, 2012 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Revenue Procedure 2013-12 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-13-12.pdf which replaces existing Revenue Procedure 2008-50, the procedure for voluntary correction of qualified retirement plan errors. The correction procedure, known as the “Employee Plans...
Retirement Plans On December 13 the IRS issued an Information Release reminding employers and individuals of the availability of the “Saver's Credit” for 2012. Those individuals who have remaining salary and bonuses for 2012 who have not made elective deferrals to their 401(k) or 403(b) plans may have an opportunity to do so with...
Retirement Plans A recent tax court decision considered the impact on a highly compensated participant of an ESOP that was disqualified retroactively for the period 2000-2004. The highly compensated participant was fully vested in the ESOP from its inception to its disqualification. The highly compensated participant argued that only...
Retirement Plans The Internal Revenue Service has released the 2013 cost-of-living adjustments for compensation and benefit limits related to retirement plans. http://benefitslink.com/src/irs/IR-2012-77.pdf The following chart summarizes 2013 retirement plan limits and other benefit plan limits. These limits are adjusted as often as...
