By Greg Daugherty and Dave Tumen on Public company nonqualified plans and incentive plans may need to be amended to avoid a potential violation of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 409A as a result of changes to IRC Section 162(m) under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This amendment most likely is required for employers that mandated deferrals of amounts that exceeded … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty and Dave Tumen on On May 22, 2020, the IRS released an Office of Chief Counsel Memorandum that addresses (i) the date that fair market value is determined and when gross income and federal income tax withholding liability arises for stock-settled awards and (ii) the timing for remitting FICA taxes for such awards. This question comes up frequently and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Employers generally must withhold income taxes on behalf of employees based on where the employee works. Typically this determination is simplified by the location of the employer’s offices. The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding stay-at-home orders have altered the working situations for most Americans. Only time will tell what things will look like moving forward. Employers … Continue Reading
By Victoria Hanohano-Hong, Dave Tumen and Porter Wright on Employers may claim the Employee Retention Tax Credit and the tax credits available under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) for relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. They do this first, by reducing the employer portion of Social Security taxes, and then, by reducing the employer’s payroll deposits in an amount equal to the refundable portion … Continue Reading
By Victoria Hanohano-Hong on On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law. The CARES Act introduced the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC), a new tax credit to incentivize employers, who are economically distressed due to COVID-19, to retain employees.… Continue Reading
By Victoria Hanohano-Hong on There are three COVID-19 related tax credits that were introduced under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which are subject to various limitations: Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act tax credits – a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for qualifying wage payments of emergency paid sick … Continue Reading
By Victoria Hanohano-Hong on On March 18, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed into law requiring employers with fewer than 500 employees to make payments for COVID-19 related FLMA leave and paid sick leave required by the Act. To lessen this financial burden to employers, the act provides for refundable tax credits to offset payroll … Continue Reading
By Victoria Hanohano-Hong on This post was updated on April 7, 2020. Please read the update here. On March 18, 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) was signed into law requiring employers with fewer than 500 employees to make payments for COVID-19 related FMLA leave and paid sick leave required by the act. To lessen this financial … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty on The IRS recently issued Notice 2019-09 (Notice), which provides guidance with respect to the 21 percent excise tax on remuneration in excess of $1 million and excess parachute payments by “applicable tax exempt organizations” (ATEOs) applies under Code Section 4960. In general Code Section 4960 and the Notice apply concepts from Code Sections 162(m) (which … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty and Porter Wright on The IRS recently issued Notice 2018-95 (the Notice), which clarifies the circumstances under which part-time employees must be given the opportunity to make deferral elections under their employers’ 403(b) plans. In particular, the Notice provides transition relief from the once-in-always-in (OIAI) condition for excluding part-time employees. Tax-exempt and governmental employers who sponsor 403(b) plans will … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty on The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued a private letter ruling, PLR 201833012 (PLR) that has generated interest among employers about student loan benefit programs. An IRS official at a recent conference, however, cautioned practitioners to read the PLR because the scope of the PLR is more narrow than what some headlines may have led … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty and Dave Tumen on A week after telling everyone to “relax” about the proposed executive compensation changes in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we have to admit that we have been watching anxiously as the proposed bills move through the legislative process. The executive compensation items that we discussed last week have experienced quite a journey in the … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty and Dave Tumen on Three games into the 2014 National Football League season, the Green Bay Packers had a 1-2 record. Fans were panicking. Many were questioning whether the Packers and its quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, were doomed to have a bad season. Rodgers responded with a simple message for fans: “R-E-L-A-X”. The Packers redoubled their efforts and made the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Natural forces wreaked havoc on a number of states and territories this fall when Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria made landfall. The federal government sprang into action by making disaster declarations for affected areas to provide aid in the aftermath of these tragic events. More recently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declared parts of … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty on The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance on Jan. 4, 2016, that clarifies certain implications of its previously announced changes to the employee plans determination letter program. These clarifications, announced in Notice 2016-03 (Notice) are necessary to cover open issues raised from prior guidance that in effect shuts down the determination letter program for most … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Leaders in the U.S. Congress reached a deal on Tuesday night to permanently extend many of the 52 provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that expired on Dec. 31, 2014. The full Congress approved the bill on Dec. 18, 2015 and President Obama signed the bill into law. The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty on Ever since the series finale of “Mad Men,” I’ve been thinking a lot about old commercials. One commercial in particular involves Heinz ketchup. In the ad, someone would turn the bottle upside down, and the ketchup would take an extremely long time to pour out of the bottle and onto a sandwich. An announcer would … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Cunningham v. Testa, Slip Opinion No. 2015-2744 (July 8, 2015) Recently, the Supreme Court of Ohio issued an opinion in Cunningham v. Testa which significantly alters the application of a statute for determining non-Ohio domicile for state tax purposes. Prior to the ruling, the statute seemed to set forth two factors which, when verified, would … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Announcement 2015-19 on July 21, 2015, in which the agency announced that its long-standing and widely used retirement plan determination program for individually designed plans was being significantly curtailed. The IRS indicated that this curtailment, which has been rumored for months and now becomes official, is attributable to … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty on The Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) recently confirmed that violations of Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) could be corrected without penalty in any taxable year before the taxable year in which an arrangement became vested. However, the IRS went on to clarify that the Code would … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In Comptroller of Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne, 135 U.S. 1787 (2015), the Supreme Court held that Maryland’s tax scheme was unconstitutional because it discouraged interstate commerce in violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Maryland’s tax scheme gave taxpayers credit for taxes paid to other states against the Maryland state income … Continue Reading
By Greg Daugherty on The IRS and Treasury Department recently issued final regulations under Code Section 162(m) that, as the IRS describes it, “clarifies” stock and equity-based compensation plan drafting issues. Of course, whether something represents a clarification or a substantive change lies in the eye of the beholder (particularly if that beholder is a politician or regulator in … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Back in 2011, I mentioned a missing link in the health care reform Section 4980H shared responsibility employer excise tax scheme. 42 U.S.C. Section 18081 requires the establishment of an appeals and redeterminations process for penalty assessments, and acknowledges a problem with the provision itself. It requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Plan administrators who fail to timely file Form 5500 annual returns/reports are subject to penalties under both Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). The Department of Labor (the “DOL”) has the authority to assess civil penalties of up to $1,100 per day … Continue Reading
