ERISA News

The IRS has issued a news release announcing the postponement of certain tax-related deadlines for West Virginia victims of severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding. The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting February 27. In addition to extending certain tax filing and tax payment deadlines, the relief includes completion of many time-sensitive, tax-related acts described in IRS Revenue Procedure 2018-58 and Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1(c)(1), which include filing Form 5500 for retirement plans, completing rollovers, and making retirement plan loan payments.

The IRS has issued a revised 2020 Publication 590-B, Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs), intended to clarify the application of required minimum distribution (RMD) rules under the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act).

Last week, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Climate-Related Financial Risk, which includes a directive to the Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary to consider publishing, by September 2021, a proposed rule to suspend, revise, or rescind the Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments and Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights final rules that were published during the Trump administration regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments and proxy voting by employee benefit plans.

Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), and Ben Cardin (D-MD), have introduced the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2021, legislation that was last introduced in 2019. This bill, like the Securing a Strong Retirement Act introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this month, is intended to build on the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE) of 2019. With more than 50 provisions, this bill contains a broad set of retirement reforms under the following categories, highlights of which are enumerated below.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), along with co-sponsors Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and James Lankford (R-OK), have re-introduced the Improving Access to Retirement Savings Act. The bill was originally introduced late in the last session of Congress and contains the following provisions.

On May 18, the IRS issued Notice 2021-31, which provides guidance affecting COBRA premium assistance pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). The notice includes 86 questions that clarify the application of the premium assistance to group health plans, employee eligibility, determination of the premium subsidy amount, and the advance payment or quarterly offset of taxes for employers.

The IRS has issued a news release announcing the postponement of tax-related deadlines for Tennessee victims of severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding. The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting March 25. Affected taxpayers with a covered deadline on or after March 25, 2021, and before August 2, 2021, will have until August 2, 2021, to complete certain time-sensitive, tax-related acts. This includes the May 17 deadline for filing 2020 individual income tax returns and paying any tax due. Taxpayers also have until August 2 to make 2020 IRA contributions.

IRS Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.) 2021-25 provides the 2022 inflation-adjusted amounts for health savings accounts (HSAs) and the maximum amount that may be made newly available for expected benefit health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).

On May 10, 2021, the IRS released Notice 2021-26, which addresses the taxation of dependent care benefits available during taxable years ending in 2021 or 2022 because of a carryover or extended claims period enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA).  This notice clarifies that amounts that would have been excluded in the prior tax year remain excludable from income in the subsequent tax year. In particular, Notice 2021-26 provides three examples to illustrate when amounts carried over or available under an extended claims period are excludable from income, as follows.

The IRS issued Notice 2021-24, which provides guidance following the passage of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARPA). The Notice provides information regarding the applicable penalty relief available to an employer under the ARPA for failing to pay employment taxes in anticipation of a credit for COBRA premium assistance paid to assistance-eligible individuals.