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Group life insurance is perhaps the most common of the benefits provided by employers who sponsor employee benefit programs. Many times employees are given the opportunity to purchase supplemental coverage in addition to the employer-provided basic benefit. Administering a group life insurance plan is easy – right? It’s just a matter of enrolling the employee, …
Continue reading “Administration of Group Life Insurance – Not So Easy?”
For many employers, diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) programs are no longer mere “add-ons” to existing human resources initiatives—they are essential to conducting business in the current climate. The events of summer 2020, including the incidents and protests involving George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Elijah McClain, Jacob Blake, and others, have refocused …
A qualified retirement plan paying more in distributions than a participant is entitled to occurs frequently. Common reasons for overpayments include miscalculation of benefits due to systemic error, the plan sponsor being unaware of the death of a participant for some time, or the incorrect application of the provision of a plan (e.g., the definition …
Continue reading “Recovering Retirement Plan Overpayments: Process is Key”
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARP”) includes a 100% COBRA temporary subsidy for certain eligible individuals (“Assistance Eligible Individuals”) who lost health care coverage due to an involuntary termination of employment or a reduction in hours. As we previously discussed in our blog titled “New COBRA Subsidy Available April 1, 2021,” the ARP …
Continue reading “May 31, 2021 Notice Deadline Approaching for New COBRA Subsidy Relief”
Employers who sponsor employee benefits programs understand the importance of maintaining accurate records of benefit eligibility, elections, claims, payments, and other data. Besides complying with ERISA’s record keeping requirements, keeping accurate benefit records is simply a prudent business practice. In recognition of this, employers retain outside service providers such as consultants, third party administrators, insurers, …
Although it might not be obvious, tax law permeates most HR responsibilities – from paying an employee, to arranging for benefit coverages, to settling employment lawsuits, and paying pensions. Knowing a few key tax principles may help employers understand why things are done in a certain way, what questions to ask when discussing possible solutions …
Continue reading “Three Tax Principles that HR Professionals Should Know”
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires employers who file 250 or more W-2s to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan on an employee’s W-2.This is reported in Box 12, with Code DD. This does not mean that the coverage is taxable—the reporting is for informational purposes only and is intended …
Continue reading “Reporting Health Care Costs on Form W-2—The Devil is in the Details”
The IRS announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for employer plans for tax year 2021. Most IRS limits impacting employer retirement plans have remained the same because the increase in the cost-of-living index did not meet the legal thresholds that trigger their adjustment. See IRS Notice 2020-79 and IRS Revenue Procedure 2020-32 for …
Continue reading “The IRS Announces Updated Limitations Related to Employer Plans for 2021”
Most employers sponsoring 401(k) and 403(b) plans are well aware of the large number of lawsuits filed over the past decade or so alleging breach of ERISA fiduciary duty related to plan investment funds and service providers. Unfortunately for plan sponsors (and their employees who serve as investment related fiduciaries), the pace of these lawsuits …
With the delay in re-opening businesses, some companies are finding that they need to terminate employees who had been placed initially on furlough or a reduced-hours assignment. When analyzing the costs that will be incurred due to these terminations, companies that sponsor 401(k) plans or other qualified retirement plans should determine if the partial termination …