Defined benefit plan

On Wednesday night, March 25, shortly before midnight, Eastern Time, the U.S. Senate cleared lingering objections of both Democrat and Republican members and unanimously passed H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act. The legislation has many elements intended to aid businesses and workers, and assist the U.S. health care system in working through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It also contains multiple provisions that would affect retirement savings arrangements, health savings accounts (HSAs), Archer medical savings accounts (MSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), and flexible spending arrangements (FSAs).

In these final days of the 2019 congressional session, as lawmakers negotiated to avert a shutdown of federal government functions and to authorize spending for the coming fiscal year, a number of tax-advantaged savings and health care-related changes found their way into the legislative mix. The majority are provisions found in legislation passed earlier in 2019 by the House of Representatives, in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, which is legislation that was not taken up by the Senate.