This WR Marketplace is created exclusively for AALU members by experts at K&L Gates and the AALU staff, led by James E. Earle, Matthew R. Jones, Richard H. Nettles, and Rebecca Liu. The AALU WR Newswire and WR Marketplace are published by AALU as part of the Essential Wisdom Series, the trusted source of actionable...
Regulation
IRS Blesses Employer’s 401(k) Plan Designed to Provide Retirement Benefits Tied to Student Loan Repayments
Topics: 401(k), IRS, Regulation
In an IRS Private Letter Ruling (“PLR”) issued last year, PLR 201833012, the IRS blessed a 401(k) plan design in which employees who repay student loan debt instead of making 401(k) employee contributions can receive employer retirement contributions to make up for missed 401(k) matching contributions. Incorporating a student loan repayment (“SLR”) feature into a…
New DOL Rules on Disability Claims May Impact Retirement and Deferred Compensation Plans.
Topics: DOL, Qualified Plans, Regulation
New DOL rules became effective on April 1, 2018 regarding claims procedures for disability benefits offered in employee benefit plans. The rules apply not only to long-term and short-term disability plans, but may also apply to 401(k) and other qualified retirement plans, as well as non-qualified deferred compensation plans and SERPs. The new rules provide…
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has published regulations that enhance plan participants’ rights in the context of benefit claim denials and appeals.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished – Does the Executor Know He Can be Personally Liable for Unpaid Taxes?
Topics: Fiduciary, Regulation
Protecting executors may start with life insurance. Executors are charged with paying the decedent’s federal tax liabilities before paying general creditorsor distributing assets to beneficiaries. Fiduciaries in possession of a decedent’s assets can be held personally liable for unpaid taxes if they make such payments or distributions and then have insufficient assets to pay taxes.
Feeling Charitable The IRS May Not Be When It Comes to Your Deductions – 5 Things to Know.
Topics: Charitable giving, Estate planning, IRS, Regulation
To support and incentivize charitable giving, the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) provides an income tax deduction for contributions to qualified charities. The substantiation requirements for claiming the income tax deduction for charitable donations, however, are numerous and complex, especially for non-cash gifts.
Hurry, Hurry, Exempt Organizations Step Right Up- IRS Announces Deadline for Retroactive Correction of 403(b) Plans.
Topics: IRS, Regulation
In Rev. Proc. 2013-22, the IRS provided two things: (1) a process by which 403(b) Plan document sponsors could have their prototype or volume submitter documents pre-approved by the IRS and (2) a “Remedial Amendment Period” for making corrections to plan documents retroactively to fix provisions that do not satisfy the requirements of Code §403(b)…
Making Late Portability Elections for Non-Taxable Estates.
Topics: Estate planning, Estate tax, IRS, Regulation
Portability of a deceased spouse’s unused estate tax exclusion (“DSUE”) to the surviving spouse has increased estate planning options for moderately wealthy couples. The IRS recently adopted a simplified procedure for an estate not otherwise required to file an estate tax return to make a late election and capture the DSUE. Until the later of…
Made a Mistake, No Problem- IRS Updates Correction Programs for Qualified Plans.
Topics: IRS, Qualified Plans, Regulation
Effective as of the beginning of this year, Revenue Procedure 2016-51 updated the EPCRS correction programs and procedures to reflect changes made to the program since the EPCRS was last restated in 2013. The most significant changes relate to the scaling back of the IRS’s determination letter program for individually designed plans and a change…
401(k) Hardship Distributions- IRS Eases Substantiation Requirements.
Topics: 401(k), IRS, Qualified Plans, Regulation
Most 401(k) plans allow participants to take distributions while employed in the event of a financial hardship, although IRS regulations strictly define what constitutes a financial hardship. Further, the IRS typically has set stringent audit standards for plans in documenting the satisfaction of distribution requirements, which has frustrated the goal of many plan sponsors and…