News

9 pages. "This notice provides guidance relating to certain specified required minimum distributions (RMDs) for 2024. In addition, this notice announces that the final regulations that the Department of the Treasury and the [IRS]  intend to issue related to RMDs will apply for purposes of determining RMDs for calendar years beginning on or after January 1, 2025....

"A defined contribution plan that failed to make a specified RMD will not be treated as having failed to satisfy Section 401(a)(9) merely because it did not make that distribution. ...

"To the extent a taxpayer did not take a specified RMD, the IRS will not assert that an excise tax is due under Section 4974....

"For purposes of this notice, a specified RMD is any distribution that, under the interpretation included in the proposed regulations, would be required to be made pursuant to Section 401(a)(9) in 2024 under a defined contribution plan or IRA that is subject to the rules of Section 401(a)(9)(H) for the year in which the employee (or designated beneficiary) died if that payment would be required to be made to:

• a designated beneficiary of an employee under the plan (or IRA owner) if: (1) the employee (or IRA owner) died in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023, and on or after the employee's (or IRA owner's) required beginning date, and (2) the designated beneficiary is not using the lifetime or life expectancy payments exception under Section 401(a)(9)(B)(iii); or
• a beneficiary of an eligible designated beneficiary (including a designated beneficiary who is treated as an eligible designated beneficiary pursuant to Section 401(b)(5) of the SECURE Act) if: [1] the eligible designated beneficiary died in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023, and [2] that eligible designated beneficiary was using the lifetime or life expectancy payments exception under Section 401(a)(9)(B)(iii) of the Code."

408 pages. "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is issuing this final rule and interpretive guidance to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires a covered entity to provide reasonable accommodations to a qualified employee's or applicant's known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause an undue hardship on the operation of the business of the covered entity."

"This notice requests public comment on the Department's proposed collection of information from plan administrators of retirement plans subject to ERISA for the purpose of establishing the Retirement Savings Lost and Found online searchable database to reunite workers with retirement benefits earned over their working lives and to help the Department assist them in that effort."

"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 2025 Final Letter provides updates on operational and technical guidance for the 2025 plan year for issuers seeking to offer qualified health plans (QHPs), including stand-alone dental plans (SADPs), in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (FFEs) or the Federally-facilitated Small Business Health Options Programs (FF-SHOPs). It also describes how parts of this 2025 Final Letter apply to issuers in State-based Exchanges on the Federal Platform (SBE-FPs).... The 2025 Final Letter focuses on guidance that has been updated for the 2025 plan year[.]"

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of Rhode Island affected by severe storms and flooding that began on Jan. 9, 2024 ... now have until July 15, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households that reside or have a business in Kent, Providence and Washington counties qualify for tax relief."

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in Rhode Island that were affected by severe storms and flooding that began on Dec. 17, 2023 ... now have until July 15, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households that reside or have a business in Kent, Providence and Washington counties qualify for tax relief."

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of Maine affected by severe storm and flooding that began on Jan. 9, 2024 ... now have until July 15, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households that reside or have a business in Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington, and York counties qualify for tax relief."

"[T]he 221st open meeting of the [ERISA Advisory Council] will be held on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.... The 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 to set the topics to be addressed by the Council in 2024. Also, the ERISA Advisory Council members will receive an update from leadership of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)."

748 pages. "This final rule includes payment parameters and provisions related to the HHS- operated risk adjustment program, as well as 2025 user fee rates for issuers offering qualified health plans (QHPs) through Federally-facilitated Exchanges (FFEs) and State-based Exchanges on the Federal platform (SBE-FPs). This final rule also includes requirements related to the auto re-enrollment hierarchy; essential health benefits; failure to file Federal income taxes to reconcile advance payments of the premium tax credit (APTC); non-standardized plan option limits in the FFEs and SBE-FPs and a related exceptions process; standardized plan options in the FFEs and SBE-FPs; special enrollment periods (SEPs); direct enrollment (DE) entities supporting Exchange applications and enrollments; the Insurance Affordability Program enrollment eligibility verification process; requirements for agents, brokers, web-brokers, and DE entities assisting Exchange consumers; network adequacy; public notice procedures for section 1332 waivers; prescription drug benefits; updates to the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO- OP) Program; and State flexibility on the effective date of coverage in the Basic Health Program (BHP)."

23 pages. "This document is revised from the 2024 AV Calculator Methodology to incorporate updates to the 2025 AV Calculator. The first part of this document provides background that includes an overview of the regulation that allows HHS to make updates to the AV Calculator as well as the updates that are incorporated into the final 2025 AV Calculator. The second part of the document provides a detailed description of the development of the standard population and the AV Calculator methodology." [Also available: 2025 Actuarial Value Calculator (XLSM)]

"As explained in the preamble to the final 2025 NBPP, the proposed 2025 NBPP primarily addressed the application of this policy with respect to issuers of non-grandfathered individual and small group market plans subject to the requirement to provide EHB. The final 2025 NBPP does not address the application of this policy to large group market health plans and self-insured group health plans. The Departments understand the questions raised by commenters with respect to large group market health plans and self-insured group health plans and intend to address the applicability of this policy to those plans in future notice-and-comment rulemaking."

"This document extends the comment period for the request for information entitled 'SECURE 2.0 Section 319 -- Effectiveness of Reporting and Disclosure Requirements' that was published in the January 23, 2024, issue of the Federal Register. The comment period for the request for information, which had been scheduled to close on April 22, 2024, is extended 30 days to May 22, 2024."

189 pages. "[T]his amendment: [1] requires a QPAM to provide a one-time notice to the Department that the QPAM is relying upon the exemption; [2] updates the list of crimes enumerated in the prior version of Section I(g) to explicitly include foreign crimes that are substantially equivalent to the listed crimes; [3] expands the circumstances that may lead to ineligibility; and [4] provides a one-year winding down (transition) period to help Plans and IRAs avoid or minimize possible negative impacts of terminating or switching QPAMs or adjusting asset management arrangements when a QPAM becomes ineligible pursuant to Section I(g), and gives QPAMs a reasonable period to seek an individual exemption, if appropriate. This amendment also: [1] provides clarifying updates to Section I(c) regarding a QPAM's authority over investment decisions; [2] adjusts the asset management and equity thresholds in the QPAM definition in Section VI(a); and [3] adds a new recordkeeping provision in Section VI(u)."

"The Social Security Administration announced it will decrease the default overpayment withholding rate for Social Security beneficiaries to ten percent (or $10, whichever is greater) from 100 percent ... There will be a short transition period where people will continue to experience the older policy. People placed in 100 percent withholding during this transition period should call Social Security's National 800 Number ... The change applies to new overpayments. If beneficiaries already have an overpayment with a withholding rate greater than ten percent and would like a lower recovery rate, they too should call Social Security[.]"

237 pages. "This document sets forth final rules that amend the definition of short-term, limited-duration insurance, which is excluded from the definition of individual health insurance coverage under the Public Health Service Act. This document also sets forth final rules that amend the regulations regarding the requirements for hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance to be considered an excepted benefit in the group and individual health insurance markets."

"The [IRS] today further postponed until Aug. 7, 2024, various tax-filing and tax-payment deadlines for individuals and businesses affected by the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires in Hawaii.... [A]ffected individuals, businesses and tax-exempt organizations will now have until Aug. 7, 2024, to file their 2023 returns and pay any taxes due.... The IRS is offering relief to Maui and Hawaii counties ... Individuals and households that reside or have a business in these localities qualify for tax relief."

"[CMS] today announced 41 drugs available through Medicare Part B will have a lowered Part B coinsurance rate from April 1-June 30, 2024, if the drug company raises prices faster than the rate of inflation. An estimated 763,700 people with Medicare use one or more of these drugs annually."

"The [IRS announced] tax relief for individuals and businesses in the Wrangell Cooperative Association of Alaska Tribal Nation that were affected by severe storms, landslides and mudslides that began on Nov. 20, 2023. These taxpayers now have until July 15, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments."

"CMS recognizes that some issuers are facing challenges ... related to the CHC cybersecurity incident ... CMS is exercising enforcement discretion to extend ... the BY 2023 EDGE server data submission deadline ... to 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.... CMS has also been working with interested parties to evaluate the impact of the CHC cybersecurity incident on ... reporting under the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) program.... CMS will consider BY 2023 MLR Reporting Forms to be filed on time as long as they are filed with HHS by August 15, 2024."

23 pages, rev. Mar. 20, 2024. " Issues that arise when examining NQDC include the timing of income inclusion for the employee or service provider, the timing of the deduction for the employer or service recipient, and when deferred amounts are subject to employment taxes."

28 pages, rev. Mar. 2024. "Reminders [1] The COVID-19 related credit for qualified sick and family leave compensation is limited to leave taken after March 31, 2020, and before October 1, 2021.... [2] The COVID-19 related employee retention credit has expired.... [3] Credit for COBRA premium assistance payments is limited to periods of coverage beginning on or after April 1, 2021, through periods of coverage beginning on or before September 30, 2021." [Also available: Form CT-1X: Adjusted Employer's Annual Railroad Retirement Tax Return or Claim for Refund (rev. Mar. 2024)]

"[CMS] will be ceasing the heavy-handed practice of intercepting 100 percent of an overpaid beneficiary's monthly Social Security benefit by default if they fail to respond to our demand for repayment.... [CMS will be reframing] guidance and procedures so that the burden of proof shifts away from the claimant in determining whether there is any evidence that the claimant was at fault in causing the overpayment. For the vast majority of beneficiaries who request to work out a repayment plan, ... [CMS] will approve repayment plans of up to 60 months."

"Updated information is now available on PBGC's website regarding the following interest rates: [1] Variable-Rate Premiums ... [2] ERISA 4044 Annuities ... [3] Late Premium Payment Interest Charges ... [4] Late or Defaulted Withdrawal Liability."

"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[.]"