Erwin Kratz – Page 6 – ERISA Benefits Law

Supreme Court Rejects “Yard-Man” Inference of Vesting of Retiree Health Benefits

The United States Supreme Court has ruled in the case of CNH Indus. N.V. v. Reese, that courts cannot simply infer lifetime vesting of retiree health benefits from a collective bargaining agreement. Instead, lifetime vesting must be expressly written into the agreement.

The Case

The employer in this case provided health benefits to certain employees who were eligible for benefits under the employer’s pension plan, in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). When the CBA expired in 2004, some retirees sued, arguing that their health benefits were vested for life.

While the lawsuit was pending, the Supreme Court decided M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett, which held that courts must interpret CBAs according to “ordinary principles of contract law.” The trial court in this case then ruled for the retirees, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed, relying on presumptions the 6th Circuit originally established in UAW v. Yard-Man, Inc., even though the Supreme Court had explicitly rejected those presumptions in Tackett. The Sixth Circuit’s decision turned on its holding that the CBA’s 2004 expiration date was inconclusive as to whether the retiree health benefits terminated in 2004 or were vested for life because (1) the CBA specified that certain benefits, such as life insurance, ceased at a time different from other provisions, and (2) the CBA tied health care benefits to pension eligibility. The court acknowledged that Tackett precluded it from inferring vesting based on these plan provisions, but concluded that the provisions nevertheless rendered the CBA ambiguous, allowing consideration of extrinsic evidence that supported lifetime vesting.

The Supreme Court reversed, stating that “inferences applied in Yard-Man and its progeny” do not represent ordinary principles of contract law and therefore cannot be used to generate a reasonable inference that then creates ambiguity. The Court acknowledged that, when a contract is ambiguous, courts can consult extrinsic evidence to determine the parties’ intentions—but a contract is not ambiguous unless it is susceptible to at least two reasonable but conflicting meanings. In this case, the Supreme Court held that the CBA contained a durational clause that applied to all benefits, with no exception for retiree health benefits, and that therefore there is only one reasonable interpretation of the CBA – that it does not vest retiree health benefits for life.

Take-Aways

This case is re-assuring for employers offering retiree medical plans – that they are less at risk of inadvertently creating a vested lifetime retiree health benefit than if the Plantiffs had prevailed in this case. However, the long standing advice still stands: Employers should be explicit in their retiree health plan documents and SPDs that the benefit is not vested and that the employer retains full and unfettered discretion to amend or terminate the plan and the benefits at any time.

IRS Releases Sample Notice CP 220J Notice of Assessment of Employer Mandate Penalty

The IRS has released a sample of Notice CP 220J, which the IRS will use to notify applicable large employers (ALEs) that it has charged them an employer mandate penalty under Code § 4980H for failure to offer adequate health coverage to full-time employees and their dependents.

The release of Notice CP 220J follows last year’s release of Letter 226J (the initial letter that the IRS will use to notify employers of the assessment of proposed employer mandate penalties) and Forms 14764 (Employer’s response to proposed penalties) and 14765 (list of employees receiving premium tax credit). Employers may use Form 14765 to change information previously reported to the IRS, which could potentially reduce or eliminate employer mandate penalties.

Employers receiving a Notice CP 220J will have three choices:

Pay the assessment
File a claim for refund on Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for
Abatement.
If you want to take your case to court immediately, include a written request to issue a Notice of Claim Disallowance. Employers will then have two years from the date of the notice of disallowance to file suit in the United States District Court that has jurisdiction or the United States Court of Federal Claims.

Updated Disability Claims Procedures Go Into Effect April 2, 2018

The Department of Labor’s final rules updating the procedures for disability claims goes into effect on April 2, 2018. This post summarizes the new rules; which plans are affected by the new rules; and the next steps affected plans should take.

Affected Plans

The Claims Procedure Regulations at C.F.R. §2560.503-1 affect all ERISA Plans, including pension plans such as defined benefit and 401(k) plans, welfare benefit plans like medical and disability insurance plans. As a practical matter, the changes to the rules for disability claims only impacts plans that actually make disability determinations. Therefore, if your pension or 401(k) Plan relies on disability determinations made by a third party, like the Social Security Administration, you should not need to make any changes to your plan documents or your claims procedures as a result of the new rules.

Next Steps

Affected plans have until December 31, 2018 to adopt the necessary plan amendments, but the amendment will need to be effective, and Plans will need to comply with the revised rules, as of April 2, 2018. Affected Plans will also need to update their Summary Plan Descriptions to reflect the new rules.

Summary of the Changes

The new rules amend the claims procedure regulation at 29 C.F.R. §2560.503-1 for disability benefits to require that plans, plan fiduciaries, and insurance providers comply with additional procedural protections when dealing with disability benefit claimants. Specifically, the final rule includes the following changes in the requirements for the processing of claims and appeals for disability benefits:

Basic Disclosure Requirements. Benefit denial notices must contain a more complete discussion of why the plan denied a claim and the standards used in making the decision. For example, the notices must include a discussion of the basis for disagreeing with a disability determination made by the Social Security Administration if presented by the claimant in support of his or her claim.
Right to Claim File and Internal Protocols. Benefit denial notices must include a statement that the claimant is entitled to receive, upon request, the entire claim file and other relevant documents. Previously, this statement was required only in notices denying benefits on appeal. Benefit denial notices also have to include the internal rules, guidelines, protocols, standards or other similar criteria of the plan that were used in denying a claim or a statement that none were used. Previously, instead of including these internal rules and protocols, benefit denial notices have the option of including a statement that such rules and protocols were used in denying the claim and that a copy will be provided to the claimant upon request.
Right to Review and Respond to New Information Before Final Decision. The new rule prohibits plans from denying benefits on appeal based on new or additional evidence or rationales that were not included when the benefit was denied at the claims stage, unless the claimant is given notice and a fair opportunity to respond.
Avoiding Conflicts of Interest. Plans must ensure that disability benefit claims and appeals are adjudicated in a manner designed to ensure the independence and impartiality of the persons involved in making the decision. For example, a claims adjudicator or medical or vocational expert could not be hired, promoted, terminated or compensated based on the likelihood of the person denying benefit claims.
Deemed Exhaustion of Claims and Appeal Processes. If plans do not adhere to all claims processing rules, the claimant is deemed to have exhausted the administrative remedies available under the plan, unless the violation was the result of a minor error and other specified conditions are met. If the claimant is deemed to have exhausted the administrative remedies available under the plan, the claim or appeal is deemed denied on review without the exercise of discretion by a fiduciary and the claimant may immediately pursue his or her claim in court. The revised rule also provides that the plan must treat a claim as re-filed on appeal upon the plan’s receipt of a court’s decision rejecting the claimant’s request for review.
Certain Coverage Rescissions are Adverse Benefit Determinations Subject to the Claims Procedure Protections. Rescissions of coverage, including retroactive terminations due to alleged misrepresentation of fact (e.g. errors in the application for coverage) must be treated as adverse benefit determinations, thereby triggering the plan’s appeals procedures. Rescissions for non-payment of premiums are not covered by this provision.
Notices Written in a Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Manner. The final rule requires that benefit denial notices have to be provided in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner in certain situations.

Budget Act Relaxes Hardship Distribution Rules

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which was signed into law on Friday, February 9, 2018, changes the rules related to hardship distributions from qualified defined contribution plans, effective for Plan Years starting after December 31, 2018, in three significant ways:

The Act removes the requirement that Participants exhaust the ability to take any available loans under the plan before taking a hardship distribution.
The Act allows Participants to take a hardship distribution from their elective deferral contribution accounts, qualified nonelective contributions (“QNECs”), and qualified matching contributions (“QMACs”), as well as from earnings on those contributions. Previously, hardship distributions could only be taken from elective deferral contributions only, and not from any earnings on deferrals.
The Act repeals the rule prohibiting participants from making elective deferrals and other employee contributions for six months after taking a hardship distribution.

Employers that want to implement any or all of the above relaxations in the hardship distribution rules will almost certainly need to amend their plans. While I am generally not a fan of permitting hardship distributions in qualified plans, because they undermine the purpose of retirement savings and add administrative complexity, if your plan provides for hardship distributions you will probably want to incorporate these changes because they will simplify and streamline plan administration.

Cadillac Tax Delayed to 2022

The legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Trump on January 23, 2018 to continue funding the government through February 8, 2018 also delays the “Cadillac Tax” another two years.

The Cadillac Tax is now not scheduled to become effective until 2022. While it is likely future Congresses will continue to delay, or perhaps eliminate the tax entirely, employers and others that sponsor Cadillac plans should continue to monitor the situation and have contingencies to deal with it if the tax does in fact go into effect.

See our prior post on this related topic: IRS Proposes Various Approaches to Cadillac Tax Implementation

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Includes Employee Benefits Changes and Elimination of ACA Individual Mandate Penalty

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the President signed into law on December 22, 2017 enacts significant tax reforms that include a number of employee benefits changes. Significant employee benefits changes include:

Individual Mandate Repeal.

Effective in 2019, the Act will reduce to zero the individual shared responsibility (individual mandate) penalty. This will inevitably lead to more people deciding not to purchase health insurance. Coupled with guaranteed issue, which remains the law, this will contribute to the potential “death spiral” in the individual insurance market.

Extended Rollover Period for Qualified Plan Loans.

If a participant’s account balance in a qualified retirement plan is reduced to repay a plan loan and the amount of that offset is considered an eligible rollover distribution, the offset amount can be rolled over into an eligible retirement plan. Under current law, the rollover must occur within 60 days. The legislation extends the 60-day deadline until the due date (including extensions) for the participant’s tax return for the year in which the amount is treated as distributed. Plan loan offset amounts qualifying for this extended deadline are limited to loan amounts that are treated as distributed solely by reason of either termination of the plan or failure to meet the loan’s repayment terms because of a severance from employment.

New Employer Tax Credit for Paid Family and Medical Leave.

The Act creates a new tax credit for eligible employers providing paid family and medical leave to their employees. To be eligible, employers must have a written program that pays at least 50% of wages to qualified employees for at least two weeks of annual paid family and medical leave.

Eligible employers paying 50% of wages may claim a general business credit of 12.5% of wages paid for up to 12 weeks of family and medical leave a year. The credit increases to as much as 25% if the rate of payment exceeds 50%. The provision is generally effective for wages paid in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2020. Leave provided as vacation, personal leave, or other medical or sick leave is not considered to be family and medical leave eligible for this credit.

Moving Expense Deduction Eliminated.

For an eight-year period starting in 2018, most employees will not be able to exclude qualified moving expense reimbursements from income or deduct moving expenses. During that period, the exclusion and deduction are preserved only for certain members of the Armed Forces on active duty who move pursuant to a military order.

Qualified Transportation Plans Eliminated.

The Act eliminates the employer deduction for qualified transportation fringe benefits and, except as necessary for an employee’s safety, for transportation, payments, or reimbursements in connection with travel between an employee’s residence and place of employment.

The tax exclusion for qualified transportation fringe benefits is generally preserved for employees, but the exclusion for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursements is suspended and unavailable for tax years beginning after 2017 and before 2026.

Other Fringe Benefits Deductions Eliminated.

Effective for amounts paid or incurred after 2017, the Act repeals the rule under Code § 274 that previously allowed a partial deduction for certain entertainment, amusement, and recreation expenses (including expenses for a facility used in connection with such activities) if those expenses are sufficiently related to or associated with the active conduct of the taxpayer’s business.

Also, effective after 2017, the deductibility of employee achievement awards is limited by a new definition of “tangible personal property” that denies the deduction for cash, cash equivalents, and gift cards, coupons, or certificates, except when employees can only choose from a limited array pre-selected or pre-approved by the employer.

Other nondeductible awards include—vacations, meals, lodging, theater or sports tickets, and securities.

Inflation Adjustments.

Beginning in 2018, many dollar amounts in the Code—including some benefit-related amounts—that are currently adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (“CPI-U”) will instead be adjusted using the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (“C-CPI-U”). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (which determines and issues the CPI), the C-CPI-U is a closer approximation to a true cost-of-living index for most consumers, and it tends to increase at a lower rate than the CPI-U.

IRS Issues 2017 “Required Amendments List”

The IRS has issued the 2017 “Required Amendments List” for qualified plans. This is the second list issued since the IRS eliminated the five-year remedial amendment cycle and significantly curtailed the favorable determination letter program for individually designed plans. The IRS will issue a new List each year.

This new List, set forth in Notice 2017-72 contains amendments that are required as a result of changes in qualification requirements that become effective on or after January 1, 2017. The plan amendment deadline for a disqualifying provision arising as a result of a change in qualification requirements that appears on the 2017 List must be adopted by December 31, 2019.

The Required Amendments List is divided into two parts:

Part A lists the changes that would require an amendment to most plans or to most plans of the type affected by the particular change. Part A of the 2017 List contains two changes applicable to most plans of the type affected by the changes:

• Final regulations regarding cash balance/hybrid plans. Cash balance/hybrid plans must be amended to the extent necessary to comply with those portions of the regulations regarding market rate of return and other requirements that first become applicable to the plan for the plan year beginning in 2017. (This requirement does not apply to those collectively bargained plans that do not become subject to these portions of the regulations until 2018 or 2019 under the extended applicability dates provided in § 1.411(b)(5)-1(f)(2)(B)(3).)

Note: The relief from the anti-cutback requirements of § 411(d)(6) provided in § 1.411(b)(5)-1(e)(3)(vi) applies only to plan amendments that are adopted before the effective date of these regulations.

Note: See also Notice 2016-67, which addresses the applicability of the market rate of return rules to implicit interest pension equity plans.

• Benefit restrictions for certain defined benefit plans that are eligible cooperative plans or eligible charity plans described in section 104 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, as amended (“PPA”)). An eligible cooperative plan or eligible charity plan that was not subject to the benefit restrictions of § 436 for the 2016 plan year under § 104 of PPA ordinarily becomes subject to those restrictions for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2017. However, a plan that fits within the definition of a “CSEC plan” (as defined in § 414(y)) continues not to be subject to those rules unless the plan sponsor has made an election for the plan not to be treated as a CSEC plan.

Part B lists changes that the Treasury Department and IRS do not anticipate will require amendments in most plans, but might require an amendment because of an unusual plan provision in a particular plan. Part B of the 2017 List contains a single change that may apply to certain defined benefit plans as follows:

• Final regulations regarding partial annuity distribution options for defined benefit pension plans (81 Fed. Reg. 62359). Defined benefit plans that permit benefits to be paid partly in the form of an annuity and partly as a single sum (or other accelerated form) must do so in a manner that complies with the § 417(e) regulations. Section 1.417(e)-1(d)(7) provides rules under which the minimum present value rules of § 417(e)(3) apply to the distribution of only a portion of a participant’s accrued benefit.

Section 1.417(e)-1(d)(7) applies to distributions with annuity starting dates in plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, but taxpayers may elect to apply § 1.417(e)-1(d)(7) with respect to any earlier period.

Note: The regulations provide relief from the anti-cutback rules of § 411(d)(6) for certain amendments adopted on or before December 31, 2017.

Note: Model amendments that a sponsor of a qualified defined benefit plan may use to amend its plan to offer bifurcated benefit distribution options in accordance with these final regulations are provided in Notice 2017-44.

Additional Background

In Rev. Proc. 2016-37, the IRS eliminated, effective January 1, 2017, the five-year remedial amendment/determination letter cycle for individually-designed qualified plans. After January 1, 2017, individually-designed plans will only be able to apply for a determination letter upon initial qualification, upon termination, and in certain other circumstances that the IRS may announce from time to time. See Announcement 2015-19.

To provide individually designed plans with guidance on what amendments must be adopted and when, the IRS announced that it would publish annually a Required Amendments List. The Required Amendments List generally applies to changes in qualification requirements that become effective on or after January 1, 2016. The List also establishes the date that the remedial amendment period expires for changes in qualification requirements contained on the list. Generally, an item will be included on a Required Amendments List only after guidance (including any model amendment) has been issued.

Where a required amendment appears on the List, then for an individually-designed non-governmental plan, the deadline to adopt the amendment is extended to the end of the second calendar year that begins after the issuance of the Required Amendments List in which the change in qualification requirements appear (i.e. until December 31, 2018 for items on the 2016 List; and until December 31, 2019 for items on the 2017 List.)

See our prior post regarding the 2016 Required Amendment List Here.

Updated Form 5500s Released for 2017

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) have releasedadvance informational copies of the 2017 Form 5500 annual return/report and related instructions. The “Changes to Note” section of the 2017 instructions highlight important modifications to the Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF and their schedules and instructions.

Modifications are as follows:

IRS-Only Questions. IRS-only questions that filers were not required to complete on the 2016 Form 5500 have been removed from the Form 5500, Form 5500-SF and Schedules, including preparer information, trust information, Schedules H and I, lines 4o, and Schedule R, Part VII, regarding the IRS Compliance questions (Part IX of the 2016 Form 5500-SF).
Authorized Service Provider Signatures. The instructions for authorized service provider signatures have been updated to reflect the ability for service providers to sign electronic filings on the plan sponsor and Direct Filing Entity (DFE) lines, where applicable, in addition to signing on behalf of plan administrators.
Administrative Penalties. The instructions have been updated to reflect an increase in the maximum civil penalty amount under ERISA Section 502(c)(2), as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. Department regulations published on Jan. 18, 2017, increased the maximum penalty to $2,097 a day for a plan administrator who fails or refuses to file a complete or accurate Form 5500 report. The increased penalty under section 502(c)(2) is applicable for civil penalties assessed after Jan. 13, 2017, whose associated violation(s) occurred after Nov. 2, 2015 – the date of enactment of the 2015 Inflation Adjustment Act.
Form 5500/5500-SF-Plan Name Change. Line 4 of the Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF have been changed to provide a field for filers to indicate the name of the plan has changed. The instructions for line 4 have been updated to reflect the change. The instructions for line 1a have also been updated to advise filers that if the plan changed its name from the prior year filing(s), complete line 4 to indicate that the plan was previously identified by a different name.
Schedule MB. The instructions for line 6c have been updated to add mortality codes for several variants of the RP-2014 mortality table and to add a description of the mortality projection technique and scale to the Schedule MB, line 6 – Statement of Actuarial Assumptions/Methods.
Form 5500-SF-Line 6c. Line 6c has been modified to add a new question for defined benefit plans that answer “Yes” to the existing question about whether the plan is covered under the PBGC insurance program. The new question asks PBGC-covered plans to enter the confirmation number – generated in the “My Plan Administration Account system” – for the PBGC premium filing for the plan year to which the 5500-SF applies. For example, the confirmation number for the 2017 premium filing is reported on the 2017 Form 5500-SF.

Information copies of the forms, schedules and instructions are available online

IRS Will Begin Assessing 2015 Employer Shared Responsibility Payments in Late 2017

The Internal Revenue Service has issued some updated Q&As explaining how it will notify employers that it intends to assess employer mandate penalties for 2015. The new Q&As (#55-58, set forth below) are part of a larger set of Questions and Answers on Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions Under the Affordable Care Act.

Tip for employers: be on the lookout for Letter 226J from the IRS, because if you receive one of these letters you have 30 days to respond. That will not leave you much time to consult with legal counsel and formulate a response. Failure to respond will make it difficult or impossible to contest the assessment of the penalties.

The new Q&As are set forth below:

How does an employer know that it owes an employer shared responsibility payment?

The general procedures the IRS will use to propose and assess the employer shared responsibility payment are described in Letter 226J. The IRS plans to issue Letter 226J to an ALE if it determines that, for at least one month in the year, one or more of the ALE’s full-time employees was enrolled in a qualified health plan for which a premium tax credit was allowed (and the ALE did not qualify for an affordability safe harbor or other relief for the employee).

Letter 226J will include:

a brief explanation of section 4980H,
an employer shared responsibility payment summary table itemizing the proposed payment by month and indicating for each month if the liability is under section 4980H(a) or section 4980H(b) or neither,
an explanation of the employer shared responsibility payment summary table,
an employer shared responsibility response form, Form 14764, “ESRP Response”,
an employee PTC list, Form 14765, “Employee Premium Tax Credit (PTC) List” which lists, by month, the ALE’s assessable full-time employees (individuals who for at least one month in the year were full-time employees allowed a premium tax credit and for whom the ALE did not qualify for an affordability safe harbor or other relief (see instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, Line 16), and the indicator codes, if any, the ALE reported on lines 14 and 16 of each assessable full-time employee’s Form 1095-C,
a description of the actions the ALE should take if it agrees or disagrees with the proposed employer shared responsibility payment in Letter 226J, and
a description of the actions the IRS will take if the ALE does not respond timely to Letter 226J.

The response to Letter 226J will be due by the response date shown on Letter 226J, which generally will be 30 days from the date of Letter 226J.

Letter 226J will contain the name and contact information of a specific IRS employee that the ALE should contact if the ALE has questions about the letter.

Does an employer that receives a Letter 226J proposing an employer shared responsibility payment have an opportunity to respond to the IRS about the proposed payment, including requesting a pre-assessment conference with the IRS Office of Appeals?

Yes. ALEs will have an opportunity to respond to Letter 226J before any employer shared responsibility liability is assessed and notice and demand for payment is made. Letter 226J will provide instructions for how the ALE should respond in writing, either agreeing with the proposed employer shared responsibility payment or disagreeing with part or all or the proposed amount.

If the ALE responds to Letter 226J, the IRS will acknowledge the ALE’s response to Letter 226J with an appropriate version of Letter 227 (a series of five different letters that, in general, acknowledge the ALE’s response to Letter 226J and describe further actions the ALE may need to take). If, after receipt of Letter 227, the ALE disagrees with the proposed or revised employer shared responsibility payment, the ALE may request a pre-assessment conference with the IRS Office of Appeals. The ALE should follow the instructions provided in Letter 227 and Publication 5, Your Appeal Rights and How To Prepare a Protest if You Don’t Agree, for requesting a conference with the IRS Office of Appeals. A conference should be requested in writing by the response date shown on Letter 227, which generally will be 30 days from the date of Letter 227.

If the ALE does not respond to either Letter 226J or Letter 227, the IRS will assess the amount of the proposed employer shared responsibility payment and issue a notice and demand for payment, Notice CP 220J.

How does an employer make an employer shared responsibility payment?

If, after correspondence between the ALE and the IRS or a conference with the IRS Office of Appeals, the IRS or IRS Office of Appeals determines that an ALE is liable for an employer shared responsibility payment, the IRS will assess the employer shared responsibility payment and issue a notice and demand for payment, Notice CP 220J. Notice CP 220J will include a summary of the employer shared responsibility payment and will reflect payments made, credits applied, and the balance due, if any. That notice will instruct the ALE how to make payment, if any. ALEs will not be required to include the employer shared responsibility payment on any tax return that they file or to make payment before notice and demand for payment. For payment options, such as entering into an installment agreement, refer to Publication 594, The IRS Collection Process.

When does the IRS plan to begin notifying employers of potential employer shared responsibility payments?

For the 2015 calendar year, the IRS plans to issue Letter 226J informing ALEs of their potential liability for an employer shared responsibility payment, if any, in late 2017.

For purposes of Letter 226J, the IRS determination of whether an employer may be liable for an employer shared responsibility payment and the amount of the potential payment are based on information reported to the IRS on Forms 1094-C and 1095-C and information about full-time employees of the ALE that were allowed the premium tax credit.

Proposed Tax Reform: Ignore The Noise

While I usually do not post about proposed legislation, because it is so speculative, I am going to make an exception in the case of the House Republicans’ proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for several reasons.

The first reason is that, the much-hyped potential reduction to $2,400 in pre-tax deferral limits to 401(k) and 403(b) Plans is not in the actual proposed legislation. In any event, given the popularity of 401(k) Plans, I would rate the chances of this particular proposal ever making it into law at about as close to zero as one could get. My advice is: don’t spend any time worrying about how to deal with it.

The second reason is that there has been virtually no press coverage of the proposed evisceration of non-qualified deferred compensation plans and other employee benefits changes, which are part of the proposed legislation. More on that below, if you are interested.

The third, and bigger point, is that it is way too early to start spending your precious time figuring out how to deal with this this proposed legislation. Recent history tells us that, even with Republican control of all three branches of government, major legislation is very difficult to pass. I can count this year’s major legislative accomplishments on no hands. And even if tax reform legislation does pass, it will likely look quite different from the initial House proposal once it has gone through the House, the Senate and a joint committee. So again, my advice is: don’t spend any time worrying about how to deal with the potential changes in the tax code. You have better things to do with your precious time.

If you are still interested in more details on these proposals you can read the proposed legislation, the House Committee on Ways and Means section-by-section summary, or the short summary below.

Summary of employee benefits tax proposals

The most significant proposal, in my view, is to eliminate the ability to defer taxation of compensation earned and vested in one year into a subsequent year, which is generally governed by Code Sections 409A and 457(b). If enacted, this would essentially eliminate future non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements.

In addition, proposed changes to qualified plans would repeal the special rule permitting recharacterization of Roth IRA contributions as traditional IRA contributions, expand the source accounts from which hardship distributions could be taken, and repeal the six month prohibition on making deferrals after taking a hardship distribution.

Other proposed benefits changes would repeal income exclusions for employee achievement awards, dependent care assistance programs, qualified moving expense re-imbursement, and adoption assistance programs.