ML BeneBits

For the 2020 tax year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) moved reporting of certain nonemployee compensation, including current and deferred compensation paid to independent contractors and corporate directors, from Form 1099-MISC to revived Form 1099-NEC (see our previous LawFlash). However, according to IRS Publication 1220, released on October 20, 2020,

Since 2012, US Department of Labor (DOL) regulations under ERISA Section 408(b)(2)—a statutory exemption from the ERISA prohibited transaction provisions—have required certain service providers to employer-sponsored retirement plans to make detailed disclosures about their services and related “direct” and “indirect” compensation to a “responsible plan fiduciary” of the plan.

San Francisco voters on November 3 approved Proposition L, which imposes an additional tax on businesses whose highest paid executive makes 100 times or more than the median salary of the business’s employees based in San Francisco.

To alleviate plan sponsor financial burdens during the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Section 3608 of the CARES Act delayed the due date for required minimum contributions for defined benefit pension plans otherwise due in 2020.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) released its 2020 statistics on ERISA enforcement activities on October 27, affirming that the agency’s investigations remain robust. In sharing the statistics, the DOL not only boasted that it had restored $3.1 billion to employee benefit plans, participants, and beneficiaries, but also that this amount is the “most ever” that the agency has recovered in one year.

As we noted in a post last year at this time, pension plans that are not fully funded for PBGC purposes have two parts to their PBGC premium. One part is a flat rate premium of $83 per participant in 2020 ($86 for 2021, as just announced by the PBGC). The other is a variable rate premium that looks to the value of the plan’s “unfunded vested benefits,” which is the excess, if any, of the plan’s Premium Funding Target over the fair market value of plan assets.

Recent LawFlash publications include IRS Notice 2020-68 Provides Secure Act And Miners Act Guidance and SECURE Act: IRS Sets Amendment Deadline For IRA Providers and Addresses Other IRA Issues.

Congratulations to Elizabeth (Liz) Goldberg and Erin Randolph-Williams on their election to the Morgan Lewis partnership in our employee benefits and executive compensation practice! Effective today, Liz (resident in Pittsburgh) and Erin (resident in Philadelphia) will join 23 other newly elected partners from 10 offices and eight practices.

Congratulations to our employee benefits and executive compensation partner Bob Abramowitz, who has been recognized as a Distinguished Leader by The Legal Intelligencer.

Amid the current climate of individuals engaging in protests for racial justice and other causes, some employers are looking for ways to help employees arrested in connection with exercising their first amendment rights to speech and assembly.