Client Alerts

Perhaps the biggest news involving health care plan administration for 2012 was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requirement to prepare and distribute a four-page Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC). Another issue for 2012 is the requirement to report employee health care plan costs on Form W-2. Finally (for purposes of this bulletin), employers should be anticipating the application of the health insurance plan discrimination rules. These issues have been the subject of delay, partial delay and delay... Read full article.

The most important issue for 401(k) plan sponsors in 2012 will be responding to the new participant-level fee disclosure regulations. Plan sponsors have a fiduciary duty to make sure that fees paid from plan assets are reasonable. But historically this information has been presented in a dizzying array of sometimes inconsistent information. How does a plan sponsor sort through this information when choosing an investment fund line-up and how do participants evaluate this information when making their individual investment decisions? .. Read full article.

Recently the Michigan legislature adopted a law limiting the flexibility of cities, villages, townships, counties and other Michigan public employers providing medical benefit plans for their employees and elected public officials. Governor Snyder signed the legislation and it became effective September 27, 2011. This law is known as PA 152 and can also be found at MCL sections 15.561-569.
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In 2001, Congress passed tax legislation that increased the estate tax exemption from $1,000,000 over several years through 2010 when the estate tax was repealed for one year. .. Read full article.

2009 ended without Congress having taken action to change our current transfer tax laws (estate, gift and generation-skipping law). Under current law, estate and generation-skipping taxes are repealed for 2010. While this may sound like a good thing to many, the repeal will only last for one year. Unless Congress takes further action, the tax breaks that led to the one year repeal under the 2001 tax act will end on January 1, 2011 when the estate tax returns with an exemption of only one million dollars. Last year, the estate tax exemption was 3.5 million dollars. .. Read full article.

On February 17, 2009, Congress authorized the special COBRA premium reduction in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The ARRA allowed assistance eligible individuals (“AEIs”) to purchase COBRA coverage at a reduced premium rate of 35% of standard COBRA rates for a period of nine months. This reduced premium was available only if the individual experienced a COBRA qualifying event that was an involuntary termination and only if the qualifying event occurred between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009... Read full article.

Just when you thought you were on top of the 2009 changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Congress has changed it yet again. On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (2010 NDAA), which (among many other things) amends the recently-enacted “qualifying exigency” and “care for servicemember” provisions of the FMLA... Read full article.

The current political and economic climate has resulted in an unprecedented push by federal and state governments towards policies supporting alternative and renewable energy research, production, and distribution. The federal government is enacting new legislation and updating old legislation to stimulate investment in alternative and renewable energy projects through the use of a broad array of tax credits and other incentives. Competition among states to attract new and hopefully lucrative industries in the alternative and renewable energy field has caused states to aggressively pursue developers with a variety of tax credits and business incentives. As a result of these public policy initiatives, developers of alternative and renewable energy projects will likely qualify for some form of tax credit or incentive... Read full article.

On Tuesday, February 17, 2009, the President signed the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Act”). The stated purpose of the Act is to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery utilizing approximately $790 billion in federal funds for transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure, to assist those impacted by the recession, and to stabilize state and local government budgets. Approximately 65% of the total amount, or approximately $507 Billion, is earmarked for federal spending. The balance of the stimulus funds are allocated to tax cuts and other forms of assistance.

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On Thursday, January 15, 2009, the Democrats introduced an $825 Billion stimulus bill in the House of Representatives. The stimulus bill is called the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 and is designed to jumpstart the American economy. The bill contains $275 Billion in tax cuts and $550 Billion in federal investments. .. Read full article.