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 Stinson Leonard Street provide human resources professionals, plan fiduciaries, 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 →
Health Care Reform, Health Plan As noted in my two earlier blogs here and here, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) imposes a new fee to fund a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute that will research effective medical treatments. The fee is paid by insurance companies for fully insured plans and by plan sponsors for...
Fiduciary Guidance, Health Plan, Welfare Plans Last week I received copies of the first new fiduciary fee disclosures required by final Department of Labor Regulations under ERISA Section 408(b) (2). Fee disclosures were received from Fidelity Investments and Prudential Financial, providers to two client retirement plans. The details of the required...
Health Care Reform, Health Plan This is the second blog post discussing the recently proposed regulations (on which taxpayers can rely) on the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund fee. The first post is here. This new fee, required to fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, is imposed under the Patient Protection and...
Fiduciary Guidance, Retirement Plans In 1993, the IRS assembled a task force to develop guidelines for field agents to conduct COBRA examinations and compliance checks. However, these guidelines were not released to the general public. More recently, the IRS updated those guidelines to reflect certain changes in the laws that...
Health Care Reform, Health Plan Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) issuers of certain health insurance policies and plan sponsors of certain self-funded health plans must pay a fee to fund a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund. This trust fund will be used to allow the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute...
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation, Multi-employer Plans, Retirement Plans Employers who participate in multiemployer pension funds know that if they withdraw from those funds they may be required to pay withdrawal liability if the plan is underfunded. Employers who sell their assets to an unrelated buyer can avoid that withdrawal liability if the buyer agrees to assume an obligation to...
Fiduciary Guidance, Form 5500s, Retirement Plans According to the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), one out of every four (25%) of 401(k) plans surveyed in a recent study had engaged in prohibited transactions as a result of non-compliant participant plan loans and/or real estate investments that were not...
Retirement Plans BenefitsNotes.com is not the only blog maintained by attorneys at Leonard, Street and Deinard. Dodd-Frank.com, developed and maintained by attorneys at Leonard, Street and Deinard, is dedicated to making sense of the complex Dodd-Frank legislation and helping businesses understand how it will affect them specifically....
ERISA and Other Benefits Litigation, Health Care Reform, Health Plan, Welfare Plans On Monday March 26th, almost exactly two years after its enactment on March 23, 2010, the United States Supreme Court will begin the first of three days of oral arguments relating to the health care reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (“PPACA”). The Supreme Court agreed to hear six...
Retirement Plans The Department of Labor recently posted the report of the ERISA Advisory Council on Current Challenges and Best Practices for ERISA Compliance for 403(b) Plan Sponsors. The report contains a good side by side comparison of 403(b) and 401(k) plans that may be of interest to plan sponsors eligible for both types of...
