News

The Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services have issued final regulations expanding the flexibility of grandfathered group health plans and grandfathered group health insurance coverage to make changes to cost-sharing requirements, without causing loss of grandfathered status. The guidance is in response to Presidential Executive Order 13765, “Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal,” which required agencies to minimize what the order described as “unwarranted” economic and regulatory burdens imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The final regulations are effective January 13, 2021, and are applicable June 15, 2021.

The IRS has issued Revenue Ruling 2020-23 to address how employers may terminate 403(b) plans that contain custodial accounts. This guidance gives plan administrators direction on how they can distribute plan assets to participants in order to satisfy plan termination requirements. The revenue ruling also gives the option for plan participants to preserve their accounts—as 403(b) accounts—following a plan termination, or to roll them over to an eligible retirement plan.

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued a pre-publication version of final regulations, entitled Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights. These regulations were published in the Federal Register in proposed form on September 4, 2020, followed by a 30-day comment period that ended October 5, 2020. Accompanying the final regulations just issued are an EBSA fact sheet and news release.

The Office of Civil Rights within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced proposed changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, changes the agency claims will "support individuals’ engagement in their care, remove barriers to coordinated care, and reduce regulatory burdens on the health care industry." The changes are part of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) drafted by HHS.

The IRS has issued News Release PR-2020-03, providing for the postponement of certain tax-related deadlines for victims of September 13, 2020, storm and flood events on the island of Puerto Rico. In addition to extending certain tax filing and tax payment deadlines, the relief includes completion of many time-sensitive, tax-related acts described in Treasury Regulation 301.7508A-1(c)(1), which include filing Form 5500 for retirement plans, completing rollovers, making retirement plan loan payments, etc.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has requested from the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) permission to continue collecting information on certain retirement plan missing participant accounts under the authority of the Paperwork Reduction Act. This information collection request (ICR) differs somewhat in that PBGC is asking the OMB for authority to modify the scope of information that the agency collects on missing participants.

The IRS has issued Notice 2020-86, providing guidance for implementing provisions of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019. Specifically, the SECURE Act provisions addressed deal with features and procedures of 401(k) and 403(b) plans that incorporate safe harbor designs for satisfying nondiscrimination testing requirements, and automatic enrollment and automatically increased deferral rates.

The SECURE Act makes pooled employer plans (PEPs) a reality as of January 1, 2021. Many details need to be clarified by the Department of Labor (DOL) and IRS. But one initial hurdle has been cleared: The DOL has issued final regulationson registering as a pooled plan provider (PPP), which is one of the initial steps that such providers must take before offering PEPs. While the final rule is quite similar to the proposed rule (published on September 1, 2020), it contains several noteworthy revisions, including a provision that makes it easier to register in time for the January 1 PEP effective date.

The IRS has issued final regulations implementing a provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that permits an extended period—beyond 60 days—to roll over the proceeds of certain retirement plan loans that are offset and treated as distributions. This guidance was issued in proposed form on August 20, 2020, followed by a 45-day comment period. Publication as final in the Federal Register is pending.

On December 4, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Treasury jointly issued proposed regulations that permit states to leave a state-sponsored insurance exchange, and permit private agents and brokers to conduct enrollments beginning in 2023. The proposed regulations streamline Affordable Care Act (ACA) Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers, and permit states to accelerate approval of modifications to their exchange programs. Moreover, the guidance includes the following changes affecting these exchanges.