On August 26, 2022, the Governor of California signed Senate Bill No. 1126 (“S.B. 1126”) into law, amending California’s CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (“CalSavers”). In general terms, CalSavers automatically enrolls eligible California employees in ROTH Individual Retirement Accounts if their employer does not provide a qualified retirement plan. CalSavers requires eligible employers to facilitate the […]
The IRS recently provided some welcome relief in the form of extended amendment deadlines for sponsors of qualified retirement plans (including collectively bargained plans). Notice 2022-33 extends the deadline for adopting amendments required by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (“SECURE Act”) and the Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019 […]
The Employee Plans Office of the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) announced a new pre-examination program for retirement plans to begin as of June 2022. The pilot program is designed to reduce the amount of time and resources the IRS expends on plan audits, while affording plan sponsors the opportunity to identify and correct errors. […]
In Compliance Assistance Release No. 2022-01 (the “Release”), the Department of Labor (the “Department”) signaled its intention to scrutinize inclusion of cryptocurrency assets and crypto-derivative products as investments in ERISA-covered retirement plans. In particular, the Release articulates the Department’s view that offering exposure to this asset class – either in a plan’s investment lineup or […]
On July 16, 2021, IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2021-30 to update the Employee Plans Compliance Resolutions System (the “EPCRS”). The update in part expands the opportunities for plan sponsors to self-correct failures under the EPCRS by: (1) extending the self-correction period from two to three years; (2) expanding the ability for plan sponsors to correct […]
On May 13, 2021, Phoenix executive compensation and employee benefits partner, Greg Gautam, joined Snell & Wilmer’s “CalCurrent” podcast. On his episode, Greg covered five common pitfalls private companies and startup companies should watch out for when structuring their equity compensation and incentive programs. You can listen to Greg’s full CalCurrent episode here if you […]
This year is off to a fast start and plan sponsors might find their heads spinning as they try to keep track of rapidly developing employee benefits legislation and guidance. We periodically consolidate key newsletters and blog posts to help our readers stay organized and catch up on items they might have missed. Below, please […]
As we previously reported, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”) provided for an employee retention credit (“ERC”) designed to encourage employers to retain workers during the COVID-19 crisis. In general, the ERC permits eligible employers to claim a refundable tax credit of a portion of qualified wages paid to employees […]
The IRS recently published Notice 2020-86 (the “Notice”), which provides clarification with respect to certain changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”). In particular, the Notice answers several outstanding questions related to the maximum default deferral rate for qualified automatic contribution arrangements. As previously reported […]
Each year, we publish health and welfare, cost-of-living, executive compensation, and qualified retirement plan checklists to help individuals and employers stay apprised of updates to the law of employee benefits. We recently published the last of these annual checklists. In case you missed them, the links are below. Happy holidays! 2020 End of Year Plan […]
