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In this episode, host Jonathan Havens, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Tony Pavel, Senior Food Lawyer and Global Food Law Team Leader at Cargill, a global food, agricultural, financial and industrial products company. These former colleagues discuss how food law has grown more complicated over the years, particularly in relation to FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), traceability, the increasing globalization of supply chains, and consumers demanding labeling transparency and vast product information. They also discuss potential regulatory changes on the horizon given both technological advances in data-driven areas, such as rapid testing, and the beginning of the Biden Administration.
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If you have part-time employees and sponsor a 401(k) plan, the SECURE Act requires your plan to permit part-time employees who complete at least 500 hours of service over three continuous 12-month periods (and satisfy any eligibility age requirement) to make elective deferral contributions. Periods of service before January 1, 2021 are not counted to determine participation eligibility, and the plan does not have to provide other employer contributions to these “long-service, part-time employees.”
The coronavirus relief and government funding bill enacted on December 27, 2020, includes many tax provisions among its more than 5,500 pages. This alert summarizes the key tax credits available to support employers through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Tax rules require retirement plan participants to start their benefits by a specific date. Generally, this date is based on the age of the participant and whether the participant is still working after reaching that age. Before the SECURE Act, these distributions – called Required Minimum Distributions or RMDs – had to start by a “Required Beginning Date” which was April 1 of the calendar year following the date the participant reaches age 70-1/2, or, if later, April 1 of the calendar year after the participant’s employment terminates.
Plan sponsors of safe-harbor 401(k) plans find it difficult to satisfy the conditions permitting them to amend safe-harbor plans mid-year to reduce or eliminate the employer safe harbor nonelective or matching contribution. They either had to reserve the right to amend the plan in the annual safe harbor notice provided to plan participants or be operating at an economic loss. In addition, in order to make any change to a safe harbor plan mid-year, participants had to be given an advance 30-day notice of the amendment.
There is new COBRA guidance that applies to ALL GROUP HEALTH PLANS subject to federal COBRA. (See our recent client alert). Rules and FAQs were issued jointly by the IRS and DOL that reflect the COVID-19 environment and the possibility that qualified beneficiaries may not timely elect COBRA or pay COBRA premiums. This guidance essentially “stays” or “tolls” the timelines for COBRA elections for the period starting March 1, 2020 and ending 60 days after the date the President declares that the COVID-19 national emergency has ended. In the meantime, even if COBRA is not elected and/or COBRA premiums are not paid, group health care coverage for these qualified beneficiaries cannot be terminated. In separate guidance plan administrators have been given additional time to issue COBRA notices and election forms.
Section 2202 of the CARES Act includes certain provisions relating to COVID-19 distributions from defined contribution plans (including 403(b) programs), and COVID-19 related loans. In Informal Guidance, the IRS has confirmed that it is optional to include these provisions in your plan.