regulatory and legislative

The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), has issued several information and guidance items to provide administrative and operational relief to ERISA-governed retirement and health benefit plans as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Among the guidance items is a final rule jointly issued with the Department of the Treasury and the IRS.

Following passage by an overwhelming margin in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, President Trump today signed into law the Paycheck Protection and Healthcare Enhancement Act, infusing $320 billion in additional funding into the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the agency that insures benefits in certain single-employer defined benefit pension plans, has posted an announcement describing deadline relief being provided as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Scheduled to be published in the Federal Register is an interim final rule issued by the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), guidance that includes frequently-asked-questions (FAQs) on Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans available to small businesses to help them maintain their workforce during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

Much-awaited Department of Labor (DOL) final regulations on electronic delivery of retirement plan disclosures have made their way to the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), generally the final stop on their way to official issue. (Only if the OMB finds objections to guidance is it returned to the issuing agency for revision.)

On April 10, 2020, the IRS issued Notice 2020-23. This guidance—citing IRS Revenue Procedure 2018-58—identified a number of time-sensitive tax-related actions whose completion can be delayed to July 15, 2020, as a result of disruptions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

New Coronavirus Law Provides Retirement Plan Healthcare Relief

With virtually every part of the U.S. economy facing unexpected financial challenges from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Congress has passed the largest relief package in U.S. history. Signed into law on March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act is designed to assist the millions of Americans affected by the outbreak. The legislation has multiple provisions that affect retirement and health savings

The IRS has posted at its website much-anticipated guidance for claiming tax credits for amounts paid by employers under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) and the Emergency Family and Medical Expanded Leave Act (Expanded FMLA), as provided in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The guidance contains 66 FAQs that cover all aspects of the tax credits.

The House of Representatives today passed—by an expedited procedure—the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was passed by the Senate late on Wednesday, March 25. This afternoon, President Trump signed the legislation into law.

On Wednesday night, shortly before midnight, Eastern Time, the U.S. Senate cleared lingering objections of both Democrat and Republican members and unanimously passed H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act. The legislation has many elements intended to aid businesses and workers, and assist the U.S. health care system in working through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It also contains multiple provisions that would affect retirement savings arrangements, health savings accounts (HSAs), Archer medical savings accounts (MSAs), HRAs, and flexible savings accounts (FSAs).