Pension Protection Act Blog

June 30th marks the end of the IRS’ 2007-2008 Priority Guidance Plan. Tomorrow, making barely a ripple in the employee benefits universe, the IRS’ 2008-2009 Priority Guidance Plan will begin. Of course, the IRS has not released the 2008-2009 Priority Guidance Plan yet. They traditionally release Priority Guidance Plans during the month […]

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In a fascinating and completely unexpected twist to the U.S. Sugar ESOP class action lawsuit, the governor of Florida today announced that the State of Florida will buy U.S. Sugar for $1.75 billion. With the purchase, Florida will gain control over 187,000 acres of farmland in the northern Everglades while leasing the land back […]

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The new edition of Employee Plan News, released today by the IRS, contains this warning information about the new Form 5307 - it is important that customers send in the original copy of the application and not a photocopy. Photocopies of the bar code will not scan properly.
It seems that the bar code contains […]

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Often the entity that administers the plan, such as an employer or an insurance company, both determines whether an employee is eligible for benefits and pays benefits out of its own pocket. We here decide that this dual role creates a conflict of interest; that a reviewing court should consider that conflict as a factor […]

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At what point does a member of a corporation’s board of directors qualify as an “outside director” of purposes of Code section 162(m)(4)(C)(i) after serving as an interim chief executive officer? The IRS answered this question today in Rev. Rul. 2008-32.
In Rev. Rul. 2008-32, the IRS addresses the situation where a CEO suddenly resigns, […]

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The American Bar Association’s Section on Taxation has sent their recommendations for guidance to be included in the 2008-2009 IRS Priority Guidance List. Their list of items is reasonable and highlights a few items which are sorely needed. Their guidance recommendations for employee benefits are:
1. Nonqualified programs/executive compensation
a. Guidance on section […]

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The IRS released Announcement 2008-56 today. In the short 2-page announcement, the IRS states that it will require dividends on employer securities that are distributed from an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) under Code section 404(k) to be reported on Form 1099-R that does not report any other distributions. If there are other […]

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Today, the IRS released 2 pieces of guidance for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) - Notice 2008-51 and Notice 2008-52.
First, the IRS released Notice 2008-51. It provides guidance on Code section 408(d)(9), which was added to the Tax Code in 2006 by Section 307 of the Health Opportunity Patient Empowerment Act of 2006, which was […]

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When the IRS issued Announcement 2002-2, the Service made a tantalizing offer to taxpayers with possible tax shelter issues. In exchange for disclosure, the IRS offered to waive the accuracy penalty and underpayment of tax related to tax shelters. Announcement 2002-2 contains a list of 7 items under the title of “Information Required […]

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