The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently said no. A group of seniors, including former US House Majority Leader Dick Armey, had sued the federal government to be allowed to accept Social Security payments, but decline Medicare coverage. They preferred to keep their private coverage to being... Read More
In many cases where the IRS claims that compensation is not “reasonable,” the focus is on whether the compensation is too high to be deductible by the employer. The arguments are often reversed in the S corporation context. Because there is only one level of tax in the S Corporation, some... Read More
I am of an age to be contemplating retirement (and I work in the field so that age may come sooner for me than for others). My parents are both in their late 80s; I had a grandmother who died a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. So I... Read More
This is one of several posts we intend to make on the recently issued guidance on the Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC). This is the four (double sided, so actually eight) page uniform summary that will be required for group health plans, as well as for individual insurance policies. ... Read More
Those of you interested in data regarding the prevalence of certain features in 401(k) plans may find of interest the Interim Report on the Section 401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire. This is the first report of the IRS on the extensive questionnaire that it sent to sponsors of 401(k) plans a... Read More
There has been a lot of talk in Washington about deficit reduction, tax expenditures and tax reform. One of the largest identified tax expenditures is the exclusion for employer provided retirement plans, both defined contribution and defined benefit. I was at a seminar recently where the reported number for 2011... Read More
Most qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) cases are fights that affect the formerly married spouses and the plan sponsor or plan administrator. They do not typically affect the other participants in the plan. The case of Milgram v. Orthopedic Associates Defined Contribution Pension Plan (No. 10-862-cv. 2d Cir. Nov. 29,... Read More
Most of us have heard that Congress finally extended the 2% payroll tax holiday for two months, namely, through February 29, 2012. In order to prevent highly paid employees from front loading their wages to take advantage of the payroll tax holiday for the entire $110,100 social security wage base,... Read More
This is the thirteenth in a series of articles about health care reform. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (the Act) amended Section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code to expand the types of payees and payments that must be reported by business taxpayers beginning in 2012.... Read More
This is the twelfth in a series of articles about health care reform. One year after the enactment of the health care reform legislation on March 23, 2010, changes are still being made on both the federal and state levels. This article addresses one recent federal policy and one state... Read More