Insights

There has been a whirlwind of new legislation and guidance related to cafeteria plans and flexible spending accounts (FSAs), beginning with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020 through Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance issued March 26, 2021.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) provides a 100% subsidy of COBRA premiums for Assistance Eligible Individuals (AEIs) starting April 1, 2021.

On March 12, 2021, New York enacted legislation requiring that all employers in the state provide paid leave time to their employees in order to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed by President Biden on March 11, 2021, includes a six-month 100% subsidy of COBRA premiums.

The IRS and DOL (the Agencies) published new guidance on the extension of certain employee benefit deadlines.

As briefly mentioned in a recent Vorys’ client alert, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), signed December 27, 2020, requires that a group health plan and issuers that cover mental health/substance abuse disorder (MH/SUD) “perform and document” a comparative analysis of any non-quantitative treatment limitations that apply to the plan.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), signed December 27, 2020, will bring significant changes to group health plans in 2022.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), signed December 27, 2020, will bring significant changes to group health plans in 2022.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), signed December 27, 2020, will bring significant changes to group health plans in 2022, including new limits on surprise medical billing, reporting and disclosures.

In early 2020, the CARES Act created a refundable payroll tax credit (the Employee Retention Tax Credit, or the “ERTC”) for eligible payroll costs of certain employers who were negatively impacted by COVID.

Yesterday evening, the President signed into law the Bipartisan COVID-19 Emergency Relief Act of 2020 (the “Relief Act”).

Earlier this month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its COVID-19 technical assistance with new information on vaccinations.

On December 20, 2020, Congress passed the Emergency Coronavirus Relief Agreement, which, if approved by the president, will be signed into law as the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2021 (CTRA). The CTRA offers approximately $900 billion in relief and stimulus provisions (discussed in more detail here). However, not included in the CTRA is an extension of the mandatory leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which are set to expire on December 31, 2020. Instead, the CTRA extends the tax credits available to covered employers that continue to offer paid leave under the FFCRA framework through March 31, 2021.

On November 9, 2020, the Supreme Court announced that it would not reconsider the case of Retirement Plans Committee of IBM v. Jander, which the Court remanded to the Second Circuit in its last term.

On October 2, 2020, the IRS published Notice 2020-76 , announcing an automatic 30-day extension of the deadline to distribute 2020 Form 1095-Cs to employees.

On September 9, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1867, which requires private employers with 500 or more employees nationwide to provide COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave benefits to qualifying employees.

The clock has starting ticking for defined contribution plans to begin to provide a “lifetime income disclosure” on at least one benefit statement a year.

The DOL expanded the option for electronic delivery of retirement plan notices and documents.

This is the second part of our three-part series reviewing ERISA cases decided this term by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The IRS released proposed regulations on June 11, 2020 regarding the excise taxes imposed under Code Section 4960.