Benefits Forward

Document Excerpt This notice provides interim guidance for taxpayers to determine the amount of parking expenses for qualified transportation fringes (QTFs) that is nondeductible under § 274(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and for tax-exempt organizations to determine the corresponding increase in the amount of unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) under § 512(a)(7) attributable […]

Document Excerpt This notice provides transition relief from the “once-in-always-in” (OIAI) condition for excluding part-time employees under § 1.403(b)-5(b)(4)(iii)(B) of the Treasury Regulations. Under the OIAI exclusion condition, for a § 403(b) plan that excludes part-time employees from making elective deferrals, once an employee is eligible to make elective deferrals, the employee may not be […]

Document Excerpt Link: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/403b-pre-approved-plan-program-faqs-eligible-adopting-employers-and-reliance-on-letters

Document Excerpt This notice contains the Required Amendments List for 2018 (2018 RA List). Section 5 of Rev. Proc. 2016-37, 2016-29 I.R.B. 136, provides that, in the case of an individually designed plan, the remedial amendment period for a disqualifying provision arising as a result of a change in qualification requirements generally is extended to […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: This document contains proposed amendments to the regulations relating to imposing user fees for enrolled agents and enrolled retirement plan agents. The proposed regulations remove the initial enrollment user fee for enrolled retirement plan agents because the IRS no longer offers initial enrollment as an enrolled retirement plan agent. The proposed regulations […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: This document contains proposed amendments to the regulations relating to hardship distributions from section 401(k) plans. The amendments reflect statutory changes affecting section 401(k) plans, including recent changes made by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. These regulations would affect participants in, beneficiaries of, employers maintaining, and administrators of plans that contain […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to assist OCR in identifying provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy and security regulations that may impede the transformation to value-based health care or that limit or discourage coordinated care among individuals and covered entities […]

Document Excerpt On November 7, 2018 the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor (the Departments) announced two final rules, on display at the Federal Register, that provide conscience protections to Americans who have a religious or moral objection to health insurance that covers contraceptive methods, including certain contraceptives that many view as […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: These rules finalize, with changes based on public comments, the interim final rules issued in the Federal Register on October 13, 2017 concerning moral exemptions and accommodation. This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 11/15/2018 and available online at https://federalregister.gov/d/2018-24514, and on govinfo.gov accommodations regarding coverage of […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: These rules finalize, with changes based on public comments, interim final rules concerning religious exemptions and accommodations regarding coverage of certain preventive services issued in the Federal Register on October 13, 2017. These rules expand exemptions to protect religious beliefs for certain entities and individuals whose health plans are subject to a […]

Document Excerpt Link https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/faqs/hurricane-florence-and-michael.pdf

Document Excerpt WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor has published employee benefit plan compliance guidance and relief for victims of Hurricanes Florence and Michael. The Department recognizes that plan fiduciaries, employers, labor organizations, service providers, and participants and beneficiaries may encounter issues complying with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) over the […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: This rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2019. This table is needed to compute the value of early […]

Document Excerpt The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, a collection of information necessary for PBGC to determine whether a plan is covered under title IV of the Employee Retirement Security Income Act of 1974. This notice informs the […]

Document Excerpt Link https://www.pbgc.gov/news/press/releases/pr18-06

Document Excerpt Link https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain?operation=OPERATION_GET_AGENCY_RULE_LIST&currentPubId=201810&showStage=active&agencyCd=1212&Image58.x=33&Image58.y=17

Document Excerpt The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of collections of information under PBGC’s regulation on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements with modifications. This notice informs the public of PBGC’s request and solicits public comment on […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is amending its regulations on guaranteed benefits and asset allocation. These amendments incorporate statutory changes to the rules for participants with certain ownership interests in a plan sponsor. Link https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2018-21551.pdf

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to assist OCR in identifying provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy and security regulations that may impede the transformation to value-based health care or that limit or discourage coordinated care among individuals and covered entities […]

Document Excerpt The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a proposed rule on November 7, 2018 to strengthen program integrity for Exchanges with respect to subsidy payments in the individual market. The proposed rule is intended to advance the Administration’s goals of: •Strengthening CMS’ oversight over State-based Exchanges (SBEs) through monitoring,reporting, and oversight […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: This proposed rule would revise standards relating to oversight of Exchanges established by states, periodic data matching frequency and authority, and the length of a consumer’s authorization for the Exchange to obtain updated tax information. This proposed rule would also propose new requirements for certain issuers related to the collection of a […]

Document Excerpt On November 7, 2018 the Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor (the Departments) announced two final rules, on display at the Federal Register, that provide conscience protections to Americans who have a religious or moral objection to health insurance that covers contraceptive methods, including certain contraceptives that many view as […]

Document Excerpt SUMMARY: This guidance relates to section 1332 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and its implementing regulations. Section 1332 provides the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of the Treasury (collectively, the Secretaries) with the discretion to approve a state’s proposal to waive specific provisions of the […]

Document Excerpt This proposed rule would revise the Federal Health Insurance Programs for the Aged and Disabled by amending the Medicare Parts A, B, C and D programs, as well as the Medicaid program, to require direct-to-consumer (DTC) television advertisements of prescription drugs and biological products for which payment is available through or under Medicare […]