ERISA preemption of state laws is determined using the following three rules. First, ERISA permits state laws that do not diminish or enhance any of the ERISA basic benefit protections. Second, ERISA preempts any state law that diminishes or enhances any of the three ERISA basic benefit...

The CARES Act provides cash flow relief for “qualified individuals” with savings and retirement benefits by enhancing provisions for direct loans and indirect loans (repayable distributions) of those individual's benefits. IRS Notice 2020-23 similarly extends due dates for pension plan loan...

The CARES Act provides cash flow relief for qualified individuals with savings and retirement benefits by enhancing provisions for direct loans and indirect loans (repayable distributions) of such benefits. Both the IRS and DOL have recently issued guidance with respect coronavirus-related...

The CARES Act forgives federal student loan payments with due dates between March 27, 2020 and September 30, 2020 and suspends the minimum required distribution rules for distributions otherwise due during the 2020 calendar year. The CARES Act also provides cash flow relief for qualified...

Individuals often fund charitable gifts with their savings or retirement benefits. However, such benefits, other than those from a Roth individual retirement arrangement, are generally included in the individual's gross income when received, and may not be deductible from the donor's income....

Questions are often raised about who is entitled to death or survivor benefits from a federally regulated employee benefit plan, whether for federal employees, or for private employees by a plan governed by ERISA. The following principles generally resolve these questions: • Federal law does...

The IRS has presented its first and only guidance about how the SECURE Act changed the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Rules. This was done in a detailed IRS guide for preparing 2020 returns, and an IRS FAQ web site that referenced the guide that had been released a day earlier. The SECURE...

In September, the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee released proposals requiring many employers without retirement plans to establish and automatically enroll employees in IRAs with the default contributions going to Roth IRAs or in simple 401(k) plans. The proposals would also...

IRS Notice 2020-50 clarified many issues with the respect to how the CARES Act allows participants and beneficiaries to access their own savings and retirement plan benefits to address their cash-flow problems without adversely affecting their benefits. However, the Notice also highlights the...