News & Insights

POSSIBLE REFUNDS OF FICA TAX PAID ON SEVERANCE PAYMENTS Protective Refund Claims Due April 15, 2010 For 2006

A new case may require speedy action to protect your rights to recover FICA taxes paid on severance payments in 2006. In Quality Stores, Inc. v. US, 2010-1 USTC 50,250 (W.D. Michigan, Feb. 23, 2010), the Court held that severance payments made to employees pursuant to an involuntary separation are not subject to FICA taxation ...read more

New Proposed Regulations Permit Suspension of 401(k) Plan Safe Harbor Contributions

Under proposed regulations released on May 18, 2009, employers suffering a "substantial business hardship" may reduce or suspend nonelective employer contributions to a safe harbor 401(k) plan in the middle of a plan year. Under previously existing law, safe harbor matching contributions could be reduced or suspended during a plan year provided certain conditions were met, but the only way an employer could stop making safe harbor nonelective contributions mid-year was to terminate the plan. ...read more

Aiming to Safeguard Retirement Investments, New Law Provides 2009 Hiatus from Required Distributions

The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 was signed into law in late December. This new law, among other things, suspends required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRAs and qualified retirement plans for 2009. ...read more

ERISA Fee Disclosure Requirements Part I: Service Providers

Effective July 1, 2012, agreements between retirement plans and plan service providers must describe most direct and indirect fees associated with the services in writing in order to avoid "prohibited transaction" penalties under ERISA. Effective October 1, 2012, plan fiduciaries are required to disclose to plan participants all fees that can affect plan balances. This article discusses the first of these rules, and we will discuss the second in an upcoming article. ...read more

TIMING OF 401(k) DEPOSITS

A new Safe Harbor rule provides that, if a Plan has under 100 participants at the beginning of the Plan Year, deposits of employee salary deferral contributions and loan repayments must be in the Plan no more than seven business days after those amounts have been withheld from an employee-participant’s pay. The deposit period for Plans with 100 or more participants is shorter, unless the Plan Sponsor can prove that a longer period is reasonable. ...read more

Possible Refunds of FICA Tax Paid on Serverance Payments Protective Refund Claims Due April 15, 2010 For 2006

A new case may require speedy action to protect your rights to recover FICA taxes paid on severance payments in 2006. In Quality Stores, Inc. v. US, 2010-1 USTC 50,250 (W.D. Michigan, Feb. 23, 2010), the Court held that severance payments made to employees pursuant to an involuntary separation are not subject to FICA taxation. ...read more

Gerarld Rigby Quoted in New Jersey Business Magazine About Shifting Retirement Benefit Trends

L. Gerald Rigby, Chair of Archer's Employee Benefit Plans/Executive Compensation/ERISA Practice Group, was quoted in a January 2012 New Jersey Business magazine article about shifting retirement benefit trends in private industry. Click here to read the article. ...read more