A special "ChrERISAmas Story” for the benefits of our readers …
Here’s a tale that we heard from the end of 2018. It illustrates how retirement plan operational defects from years ago can cause plan qualification problems today — even if you never thought you’d be haunted by them. Be careful. ...
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About Ken Ruthenberg
2018 Disability Claims Regulations Apply To More Than Just Disability Plans
Do They Apply to Your Plans?
In April 2018, new disability benefit claims regulations from the Department of Labor (DOL) went into effect.
The regulations apply to more than just ERISA plans that provide disability benefits in a traditional sense (e.g., a long-term disability plan). They ...
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COBRA: Don’t Pick It Up As Part Of Your Next Deal
"Who has to pay for COBRA coverage?" is a question we often hear from transaction lawyers and their clients in a stock sale or an asset sale. COBRA requires some employers to provide certain participants and their beneficiaries with group health plan coverage after certain events occur that would ...
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Form 5500: Are You Sure You Are Filing All That Are Required?
Advice on how and when to file Form 5500…
How can filing an annual return/report on a Form 5500, a relatively simple information return that does not require the payment of any taxes, become so complicated and result in such huge penalties for noncompliance? The answer lies in the complex filing ...
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Employee Benefits Plans In Mergers And Acquisitions
When businesses are bought, sold, merged, or reorganized into or out of existence, qualified retirement plans must be dealt with. This article provides an overview of some of the most common decisions faced by both buyers and sellers, acquirers and target companies; that is, what to do with the ...
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Health Care Reform: Are You A “Large” Employer
A large employer is one that for a year employed an average of at least 50 full-time employees (at least 30 hours per week) on business days during the preceding calendar year. In order to make this determination, the employer must not only count all of its full-time employees, it must count the ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
First In A Series
It was not a dark and stormy night--at least it didn't start out that way. Instead, it was a sunny and calm afternoon, and a routine year-end review meeting was taking place between the owners of SMALLCO (a manufacturing business), their accountant and their retirement plan ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: Controlled Groups
Second In A Series
In our last episode we left our heroes spending a dark and stormy night arguing about who screwed up and failed to recognize that SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards had to be considered one employer for employee benefit plan purposes.
SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards were ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: Affiliated Service Groups
Third In A Series
In the first two installments of this series on the aggregation of employers and employees, we spent a dark and stormy night with the owners of SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards and their advisors learning about the controlled group rules and why the employees of the two businesses ...
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