regulatory and legislative

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued a pre-publication version of highly-anticipated final regulations on default electronic delivery of retirement plan disclosures. These regulations become effective 60 days following their publication in the Federal Register, currently scheduled for Wednesday, May 27.

Retirement plan administrators and service providers have been awaiting these final regulations since they were issued in proposed form in October 2019. This guidance is expected to enhance the ability of retirement plans and their service providers to deliver required disclosures to participants and beneficiaries by electronic means.   

The House of Representatives late Friday passed H.R. 6800, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, providing additional aid to many who are adversely affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The bill also contained non-COVID-19-related provisions considered likely to prove controversial in the Senate.

During the last few months, the Department of Labor (DOL), Treasury Department, and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) have jointly issued multiple pieces of guidance intended to provide much needed relief to those suffering economic hardships from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In this article, we’ll explain how the most recent relief affects employee welfare benefit plans.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has issued Statement of Auditing Standards (SAS) Number 141, which provides for a delay in effective dates for several SAS’s, including SAS 136, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA.

In an atmosphere more partisan than earlier coronavirus relief efforts, the Democratic caucus of the House of Representatives has released a bill to fund another round of assistance as the nation attempts to cope with the health and economic effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This legislation, as yet unnumbered, is being referred to as the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act.

The IRS has issued news release OR-2020-01, announcing an extension of time to complete certain time-sensitive tax-related acts as a result of storms, flooding, mudslides, and landslides in Oregon. At this time, the only area to which the relief applies is Umatilla County, as well as the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Under this guidance, certain tax-related acts with deadlines falling on or after February 5, 2020, and before April 1, 2020, are extended through July 15, 2020. (This guidance is in addition to the nationwide coronavirus-related relief already available to taxpayers for time-sensitive tax act completions that are due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, which are extended through July 15.)

OR-2020-01 specifically notes that this extension applies to IRA contributions, as well as to the numerous time-sensitive acts described in Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1(c)(1). These acts include completion of rollovers or recharacterizations, correction of certain excess contributions, making plan loan payments, filing Form 5500, and certain other acts under this regulation.

This relief applies specifically to residents of the identified area, to those whose businesses or records necessary to meet a covered deadline are located there, and to certain relief workers providing assistance following the disaster events. Any individual visiting a covered disaster area who is injured or killed as a result of the events is also entitled to deadline relief.

Affected taxpayers who reside, or have a business located, outside the covered disaster area are required to call the IRS disaster hotline at 1-866-562-5227 to request relief.

The IRS’ posting earlier this week of new question-and-answer (Q&A) guidance on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020, was welcomed by those who administer retirement savings arrangements. The guidance provides some additional details on the IRA and retirement plan relief provided by the CARES Act.

The IRS has issued guidance in question-and-answer (Q&A) format on the special IRA and retirement plan relief granted in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, legislation signed into law on March 27, 2020. This relief is intended to aid those affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has impacted the health and economic welfare—or both—of many Americans.

Click here to download the PDF.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed the Paycheck Protection and Healthcare Enhancement Act, legislation that would provide $320 billion in additional funding to the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This lending program is intended to help small employers retain employees on their payrolls during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and resulting economic emergency. The legislation would also provide funding for hospitals dealing with the immediate effects of the pandemic, and, specifically, for enhanced COVID-19 testing.