SEARCH

… sponsors can rely on their carriers to submit the fee on their behalf, but fully insured plan sponsors that sponsor a self-funded plan component, such as a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), will need to file and pay for the self-funded component plan. Payment amounts due in 2025 will differ based on the employer’s plan year. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provides a chart showing applicable fee amounts depending on the plan’s year-end date. The fees due in July 2025 are as follows: $3.22 per covered life for plan years ending after September 30 …

… Service (IRS) annually reviews and periodically updates Publication 969. This document provides general information about the taxation rules associated with health savings accounts (HSAs), medical savings accounts (MSAs), health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). The most current version is now available on the IRS website to be used in preparing individuals’ 2024 tax returns. Updated ERISA Civil Penalties The Department of Labor (DOL) recently released updated penalty amounts for violations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The updated penalties were published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2025. For failure to timely …

… services under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) first published in February 2023. The proposed rule sought to resolve long-running litigation regarding religious objections to contraceptive coverage. The proposed rules would have rescinded the regulation allowing an exemption to required contraception coverage based on non-religious moral objections, while maintaining an exemption for religious objections. The proposed rules would have established a new individual contraception arrangement that individuals with coverage subject to a religious exemption could use to obtain contraception services at no cost directly from a provider or facility that furnishes contraception services, without any involvement on the …

… an attestation year of 2024. The gag clause prohibition requirements apply to almost all employer-sponsored health plans but not to excepted benefits (e.g., stand-alone dental or vision, health flexible spending account (FSA), employee assistance program [EAP]), retiree-only plans, or account-based plans (e.g., health reimbursement arrangements [HRAs], including individual coverage HRAs [ICHRAs]). While the instructions from the agencies indicate that carriers or third party administrators (TPAs) may attest for the group health plan on behalf of sponsoring employers, carriers and TPAs are taking a varied approach as to their willingness to attest on behalf of …

… under §4980H(b). IRS Private Letter Ruling Allows Employee Allocation of Funds Outside the Cafeteria Plan In private letter ruling (PLR) PLR 202434006, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) concluded that an employer may allow employees to allocate non-elective, discretionary employer contributions among a 401(k) plan, retiree health reimbursement arrangement (HRA), health savings account (HSA) or educational assistance program (EA Program) without jeopardizing the tax advantages offered under these programs. The letter, dated May 20, 2024, responds to a letter dated April 3, 2024, in which the Taxpayer proposes to amend these tax-advantaged programs to allow eligible employees …

… commuting expenses. The letter reminds readers that qualified transportation fringe benefits are not qualified benefits under a cafeteria plan and are not part of a flexible spending arrangement, and further explains that unused salary reduction amounts under an employer’s qualified transportation plan can be carried over to subsequent periods and used for future qualified transportation fringe benefits offered under the plan, so long as the employee does not receive benefits that exceed the maximum excludable amount in any month. However, refunds not based on qualifying commuting activity are not permitted. The letter states, “funds designated as qualified transportation …

… separate ERISA plan sponsor. In 2019, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. invalidated portions of the final rule, removing the expanded AHP option. Recently, agencies released clarifying regulations, along with a Department of Labor announcement, that formally rescind the 2018 AHP rules and confirmed that in most cases, when unrelated entities offer shared benefits via a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA), the coverage available for a participating member will be based on that particular member’s size, and each participating member will be seen as sponsoring their own separate group benefit plan(s). For the vast majority of