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....

Individuals often fund charitable gifts with their savings or retirement benefits. Such benefits, other than those from a Roth individual retirement account or annuity, are generally included in the individual's gross income when received. However, individuals may not be able to deduct for...

On August 13, 2014, Alfred J. Gobeille, the chair of the Vermont Green Mountain Care Board, filed a certiorari petition with the United States Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a decision by the Second Circuit of Appeals holding that ERISA preempts Vermont's health-care database-reporting...

On March 1, 2016, the Supreme Court held, in Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., (“Gobeille”), that ERISA preempted a Vermont law to the extent the Vermont law requires an ERISA plan, its third party administrator, or its insurer to report benefit payments and other information relating to...

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...

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...