Benefits Forward » IRS Guidance

Guidance Making Obsolete Rev. Rul. 2003-102

administrator — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:12:19 +0000

As a result of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, guidance is now issued making Rev. Rul. 2003-102 obsolete.

Document Excerpt

Revenue ruling obsoleted. This ruling obsoletes Rev. Rul. 2003-102, 2003-2 C.B. 559, which provides guidance on employer reimbursements of amounts paid by an employee to purchase nonprescription medicines or drugs.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-10-23.pdf

Guidance On Reimbursement of Over-the-Counter Drugs under FSAs

administrator — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:07:07 +0000

Notice 2010-59 provides guidance on new section 106(f) of the Internal Revenue Code, added by section 9003 of the Affordable Care Act. That section sets forth a new standard, effective Jan. 1, 2011, for reimbursement of expenses for over-the-counter drugs from all workplace health plans, including flexible spending arrangements (FSA), health reimbursement arrangements (HRA), Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Archer Medical Savings Accounts (Archer MSA).

Document Excerpt

This Notice provides guidance on § 9003 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care Act), Pub. L. No. 111-148, enacted March 23, 2010, which revises the definition of medical expenses as it relates to over-the-counter drugs. Section 9003 generally applies after December 31, 2010.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-59.pdf

VCP Submission Kit For Pre-approved Plans Missing EGTRRA Deadline

administrator — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:03:48 +0000

The IRS has issued a Voluntary Correction Program submission kit for those plans that missed the April 30, 2010 deadline for amending to comply with EGTRRA.

Document Excerpt

This kit is designed for plan sponsors who failed to restate their retirement plan documents for EGTRRA by the April 30, 2010 deadline. Retirement plan sponsors who use pre-approved plan documents (i.e., documents that are pre-approved by the IRS and sold to plan sponsors through law firms, banks, brokers, other financial institutions, or plan administrative firms) were generally required to sign new plan documents, amended to reflect the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (commonly referred to as “EGTRRA”), by April 30, 2010. For some plan sponsors, this deadline may have been extended.*

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/0430_nonamender_submission_kit.pdf

Summer 2010 Edition of Retirement Plan News for Employers

administrator — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:44:34 +0000

IRS publishes the Summer 2010 edition of Retirement Plan News for Employers.

Document Excerpt

New relief for single-employer and multiemployer plans from certain minimum funding requirements and benefit restrictions under the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/rne_sum10.pdf

Employee Plans News

administrator — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 15:40:12 +0000

August Edition of the Employee Plans News includes a discussion of correction for plans that failed to be timely amended for EGTRRA.

Document Excerpt

April 30, 2010, was the last day of the two-year period for adopting employers of EGTRRA pre-approved defined contribution (DC) plans to adopt an approved restated document and file for a determination letter application, as described in Announcement 2008-23. Since then, the IRS has received numerous inquiries from adopting employers who failed to file a determination letter application with respect to a DC pre-approved plan by April 30, 2010, but would now like to do so. The inquiries relate to the following separate situations:

The adopting employer failed to adopt the approved EGTRRA restated plan document by April 30, 2010; or
The adopting employer timely adopted an approved EGTRRA restated plan document by April 30, 2010, but failed to submit a determination letter application for the plan to the IRS by April 30, 2010.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/se082010.pdf

Power Point Presentation for Upcoming IRS EPCRS Presentation

administrator — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:09:39 +0000

The IRS releases the Power Point presentation it will use in its upcoming presentation on plan corrections under EPCRS.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/epcrs_plancorrection_phoneforum.pdf

Corporate Bond Weighted Interest Rate

administrator — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:25:23 +0000

Notice 2010-57 provides guidance as to the corporate bond weighted average interest rate and the permissible range under Section 412(b)(5)(B)(ii)(II).

Document Excerpt

This notice provides guidance as to the corporate bond weighted average interest rate and the permissible range of interest rates specified under § 412(b)(5)(B)(ii)(II) of the Internal Revenue Code as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008. It also provides guidance on the corporatebond monthly yield curve (and the corresponding spot segment rates), the 24-month average segment rates, and the funding transitional segment rates under § 430(h)(2). In addition, this notice provides guidance as to the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities under § 417(e)(3)(A)(ii)(II) as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008, the 30-year Treasury weighted average rate under § 431(c)(6)(E)(ii)(I), and the minimum present value segment rates under § 417(e)(3)(D) as in effect for plan years beginning after 2007.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-57.pdf

Filing 5500 using Special Funding Rules

administrator — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:41:57 +0000

Notice 2010-55 provides guidance on filing Form 5500 and Schedule SB for single-employer defined benefit plans for sponsors considering using the special funding rules of Section 430(c)(2)(D) as added by the Pension Relief Act of 2010.

Document Excerpt

This notice provides guidance on the availability of special funding rules for singleemployer defined benefit plans under § 430(c)(2)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), as added by section 201(b)(1) of the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010 (PRA 2010), Pub. L. No.111-192, for a plan year for which the Form 5500 (and Schedule SB) has been filed. This notice also describes anticipated future guidance that will apply for sponsors of singleemployer defined benefit pension plans with respect to an election to use these special funding rules..

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-55.pdf

Final Regulations on Prohibited Tax Shelter Disclosure

administrator — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:48:33 +0000

The IRS has issued final regulations governing disclosure obligations of employee benefit plans and other tax exempt organizations engaged in prohibited tax shelter transactions.

Document Excerpt:

This document contains final regulations that provide guidance under section 4965 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), relating to entity-level and manager-level excise taxes with respect to prohibited tax shelter transactions to which tax-exempt entities are parties; sections 6033(a)(2) and 6011(g), relating to certain disclosure obligations with respect to such transactions; and sections 6011 and 6071, relating to the requirement of a return and time for filing with respect to section 4965 taxes. This action is necessary to implement section 516 of the Tax Increase Prevention Reconciliation Act of 2005. These final regulations affect a broad array of tax-exempt entities, including charities, state and local government entities, Indian tribal governments and employee benefit plans, as well as entity managers of these entities.Link http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-16237.pdf

Corporate Bond Weighted Interest Rates

administrator — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:05:43 +0000

Notice 2010-52 provides guidance as to the corporate bond weighted average interest rate and the permissible range of interest rates specified under § 412(b)(5)(B)(ii)(II) of the Internal Revenue Code. It also provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve (and the corresponding spot segment rates), the 24-month average segment rates, and the funding transitional segment rates under § 430(h)(2). In addition, this notice provides guidance as to the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities under § 417(e)(3)(A)(ii)(II) as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008, and the minimum present value segment rates under § 417(e)(3)(D) as in effect for plan years beginning after 2007.

Document Excerpt

This notice provides guidance as to the corporate bond weighted average interest rate and the permissible range of interest rates specified under § 412(b)(5)(B)(ii)(II) of the Internal Revenue Code as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008. It also provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve (and the corresponding spot segment rates), the 24-month average segment rates, and the funding transitional segment rates under § 430(h)(2). In addition, this noticeprovides guidance as to the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities under § 417(e)(3)(A)(ii)(II) as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008, the 30-year Treasury weighted average rate under § 431(c)(6)(E)(ii)(I), and the minimum present value segment rates under § 417(e)(3)(D) as in effect for plan years beginning after 2007.

Link http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-10-52.pdf