37 pages. "The risk adjustment program is working as intended ... Excluding results from the high-cost risk pool ... [1] Risk adjustment state transfers as a percent of premiums increased compared to the 2020 benefit year.... [2] The amount of paid claims remains strongly correlated with risk adjustment state payments and charges[.]'

• Appendix A: HHS Risk Adjustment Program State-Specific Data (XLSX)
• Appendix B: HHS Risk Adjustment Geographic Cost Factor (GCF) (XLSX)
• Appendix C: Table 4: Issuer-Specific Information for Non-Merged Market Issuers (XLSX)
• Appendix D: Table 5: Issuer-Specific Information for Merged Market Issuers (XLSX)
• Appendix E: Table 8: Default Risk Adjustment Charge (XLSX)
• Appendix F: Table 9: Default Risk Adjustment Charge Allocation (XLSX)

"These are the filing instructions for the report to the Secretary required by section 2718 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), which includes elements that make up the medical loss ratio (MLR) and the calculation and provision of rebates to enrollees. The data included in the MLR Annual Reporting Form (MLR Form) are the exact data that will be used to calculate an issuer's MLR and rebates, if any, under section 2718 of the PHSA[.] " [Also available: MLR 2021 Annual Reporting Form (XLSX) and MLR 2021 Calculator and Formula Tool (XLSM)]

10 pages. "In light of the changes to section 430(m) made by the ARP, this notice modifies the guidance provided in Notice 2020-60.... Definition of a community newspaper plan ... Definition of eligible newspaper plan sponsor and applicability of election to controlled group members ... Renumbering of paragraphs of section 430(m) ... Manner and content of election ... Extension of time to make retroactive section 430(m) elections and associated funding balance elections ... Plan sponsors that applied the pre-ARP provisions of Section 430(m)."

10 pages, rev. Jun. 2022. "What's New: The form and instructions have been updated to be completed on Pay.gov as of June 1, 2022.... Rev. Proc. 2022-4 contains the guidance under which the Determination Letter (DL) program is administered. The Rev. Proc. is updated annually[.]" [See also IRS Form 8717: User Fee for Employee Plan Determination Letter Request, rev. Jun. 2022]

Jun. 28, 2022. "This [draft of] Form 1095-B provides information about the individuals in your tax family (yourself, spouse, and dependents) who had certain health coverage (referred to as 'minimum essential coverage') for some or all months during the year.... [If] individuals in your tax family are eligible for certain types of minimum essential coverage, you may not be eligible for the premium tax credit." [Also available: Draft of 2022 IRS Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns]

Jun. 28, 2022. "Form 1095-A provides information you need to complete Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC). You must complete Form 8962 and file it with your tax return (Form 1040, Form 1040-SR, or Form 1040-NR) if any amount other than zero is shown in Part III, column C, of this Form 1095-A (meaning that you received premium assistance through advance payments of the premium tax credit (also called advance credit payments)) or if you want to take the premium tax credit."

Benefits-related items from EBSA and from the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) (changes from the Fall 2021 DOL Regulatory Agenda are noted):

Prerule Stage

• Improved Fee Disclosure for Welfare Plans
• Improving Participant Engagement and Effectiveness of ERISA Retirement Plan Disclosures
• Pooled Employer Plans

Proposed Rules

• Improvement of the Form 5500 Series and Implementing Related Regulations Under ERISA
• Definition of the Term 'Fiduciary'
• Prohibited Transaction Exemption Procedures
• Provider Nondiscrimination Requirements for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Issuers in the Group and Individual Markets
• Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
• Short-Term Limited Duration Insurance; Update
• Coverage of Certain Preventive Services Under the [ACA] (New)
• Requirements Related to Advanced Explanation of Benefits and Other Provisions Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (New)

Final Rules

• Pension Benefit Statements -- Lifetime Income Illustrations
• Adoption of Amended and Restated Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program
• Implement SECURE Act and Related Revisions to Employee Benefit Plan Annual Reporting on the Form 5500 (moved from Proposed to Final)
• Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part 1
• Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part 2
• Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights (moved from Proposed to Final)
• Amendment of Abandoned Plan Program
• Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations (moved from Proposed to Final)

No changes from the Fall 2021 PBGC Regulatory Agenda.

Proposed Rules

• Valuation Assumptions and Methods: Interest and Mortality Assumptions for Asset Allocation in Single-Employer Plans and Mass Withdrawal Liability Determination in Multiemployer Plans
• Multiemployer Plan Guaranteed Benefits
• Improvements to Rules on Recoupment of Benefit Overpayments
• Penalties for Failure to Provide Certain Notices or Other Material Information
• Actuarial Assumptions for Determining an Employer's Withdrawal Liability

Final Rules

• Benefit Payments and Allocation of Assets
• Examination and Copying of PBGC Records
• Adjustment of Civil Penalties
• Special Financial Assistance by PBGC

See also the preamble at Regulatory and Subregulatory Actions Under Development. ("Many of these actions are the result of PBGC's active retrospective regulatory review program to identify and ameliorate inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and requirements made irrelevant over time.")

"This notice provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve, the corresponding spot segment rates ... and the 24-month average segment rates ... [as well as] the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities ... as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008 and the 30-year Treasury weighted average rate[.]"

Partial list of benefit-related provisions (changes from the Fall 2021 IRS Regulatory Agenda are noted):

Proposed Rules

• Reporting and Notice Requirements for Deferred Vested Benefits Under Section 6057
• Nondiscrimination Relief for Closed Defined Benefit Plans (moved from Final to Proposed)
• SECURE Act Modifications to Certain Rules Governing 401(k) Plans
• Provider Nondiscrimination Requirements for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Issuers in the Group and Individual Markets
• Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
• Requirements in Connection With Coverage of Certain Preventive Services (New)
• Requirements Related to Advanced Explanation of Benefits and Other Provisions Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (New)

Final Rules

• Update to Minimum Present Value Requirements for Defined Benefit Plan Distributions
• Application of Normal Retirement Age Regulations to Governmental Plans
• Additional Rules Regarding Information Reporting of Minimum Essential Coverage (New)
• Withholding on Certain Retirement Plan Distributions Under Section 3405(a) and (b)
• MEPs and the Unified Plan Rule (moved from Proposed to Final)
• Application of the Employer Shared Responsibility & Certain Nondiscrimination Rules to HRAs and Other Account-Based Group Health Plans Integrated With Individual Health Insurance Coverage or Medicare (New)
• Guidance on 401(a)(9) Required Minimum Distributions (moved from Proposed to Final)
• Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part 1
• Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part 2 (moved from Proposed to Final)
• Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part 3 (Temporary Regulations)
• Requirements Related to Surprise Billing, Part 4 (Temporary Regulations)
• Information Reporting of Health Insurance Coverage and Other Issues Under Sections 6055 and 6056 (moved from Proposed to Final)

"This revenue procedure amplifies Rev. Proc. 2022-3 ... which sets forth areas of the Internal Revenue Code relating to issues on which the [IRS] will not issue letter rulings or determination letters.... The IRS will not issue letter rulings on whether an employer reversion from a qualified plan occurs for purposes of Section 4980(c)(2) in connection with a spin-off/termination transaction that involves excess assets."

Updated June 17, 2022, to include one new Q&A: "How will PBGC assess the reasonableness of a proposed change in the assumption regarding the inclusion of benefits for older terminated vested participants in the cash flow projection used to determine the amount of Special Financial Assistance (SFA)?"

"The third quarter 2022 interest assumptions will be 2.81 percent for the first 20 years following the valuation date and 2.94 percent thereafter. In comparison with the interest assumptions in effect for the second quarter of 2022, these interest assumptions represent no change in the select period (the period during which the select rate (the initial rate) applies), an increase of 0.41 percent in the select rate, and an increase of 0.82 percent in the ultimate rate (the final rate)."

"[HHS] Office for Civil Rights (OCR) developed this guidance to help covered entities understand how they can use remote communication technologies for audio-only telehealth in compliance with the HIPAA Rules, including when OCR's Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth Remote Communications (Telehealth Notification) is no longer in effect."

"The revised standard mileage rates are: [1] Business 62.5 cents per mile; [2] Medical and moving 22 cents per mile.... The revised standard mileage rates set forth in this announcement apply to deductible transportation expenses paid or incurred for business, medical, or moving expense purposes on or after July 1, 2022, and to mileage allowances that are paid both [1] to an employee on or after July 1, 2022, and [2] for transportation expenses paid or incurred by the employee on or after July 1, 2022."

"[T]he 2101h open meeting of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) will be held on July 18-20, 2022.... The three-day meeting will take place at the [DOL offices in Washington DC]. The meeting will also be accessible via teleconference and some participants, as well as members of the public, may elect to attend virtually.... The purpose of the open meeting is for Advisory Council members to hear testimony from invited witnesses and to receive an update from [EBSA]. The Advisory Council will study the following topics: [1] Cybersecurity Issues Affecting Health Benefit Plans, and [2] Cybersecurity Insurance and Employee Benefit Plans."

Jun. 8, 2022. "What's New: Specific user fee amounts are no longer listed on Form 8717. You must now enter the appropriate user fee when completing line 5. Notice 2011-86 is obsoleted."

362 pages. "The [SEC] is proposing ... to require registered investment advisers, certain advisers that are exempt from registration, registered investment companies, and business development companies, to provide additional information regarding their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment practices.... The proposed rules and form amendments are designed to create a consistent, comparable, and decision-useful regulatory framework for ESG advisory services and investment companies to inform and protect investors while facilitating further innovation in this evolving area of the asset management industry."

8 Q&As, including: "[1] May I use FMLA leave when I am unable to work because of severe anxiety? I see a physician monthly for this condition to manage my symptoms.... [2] I am under the care of a psychologist and attend psychotherapy sessions regularly for anorexia nervosa. Is my leave for treatment related to this condition protected under the FMLA? ... [3] My daughter, who is 24 years old, was recently released from several days of inpatient treatment for a mental health condition. May I use FMLA leave for her care? She is unable to work or go to school and needs help with cooking, cleaning, shopping, and other daily activities.... [4] May I use FMLA leave to attend a family counseling session for my spouse who is in an inpatient treatment program for substance abuse?"

"The notarization requirement was implemented as a measure to prevent fraud. There was not then, and is not today, any evidence showing that a notarization requirement decreases fraudulent TSP withdrawals. Our assumption that the security-related benefits of requiring notarization were appreciable enough to justify the burdens they impose on TSP participants and their spouses was grounded in speculation and custom.... [We] are adopting the proposal to remove the notarization requirement as final. The FRTIB will continue to require written spousal consent[.]"

62 pages. "This document proposes the methodology and data sources necessary to determine Federal payment amounts to be made for program year 2023 to States that elect to establish a Basic Health Program under the [ACA] to offer health benefits coverage to low-income individuals otherwise eligible to purchase coverage through Health Insurance Exchanges."

64 pages. "This document contains final forms and instructions revisions for the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan, effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2022. The changes to the forms and instructions in this document primarily implement annual reporting changes for defined benefit plans included in that proposal. A limited number of instruction changes focus on reporting for multiple-employer pension plans (including pooled employer plans). The remaining changes are technical changes that are part of the annual rollover of the Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF forms and instructions."

"This notice provides guidance ... on the federal income and employment tax treatment of cash payments made by employers under leave-based donation programs to aid victims of the further Russian invasion of Ukraine. This guidance is similar to the guidance provided in Notice 2001-69 ... as modified and superseded by Notice 2003-1 ... regarding charitable relief following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."

"This notice provides guidance on the corporate bond monthly yield curve, the corresponding spot segment rates ... and the 24-month average segment rates ... [as well as] the interest rate on 30-year Treasury securities ... as in effect for plan years beginning before 2008 and the 30-year Treasury weighted average rate[.]"

"This notice provides a 6-month extension, through December 31, 2022, of the temporary relief provided in Notice 2021-40 from the requirement in Section 1.401(a)-21(d)(6)(i) that certain participant elections be witnessed in the physical presence of a plan representative or a notary public (the physical presence requirement). This extension of relief is provided in response to the continuing [COVID-19] pandemic."