Payroll officers contact the Firm frequently. For deferred compensation, the special rules of IRC §§ 3121(v) and 409A have been a problem since inception. The Affordable Care Act, especially for sponsors of self-insured health plans, promises sleepless nights as payroll departments get ready to prepare the new series of 1094 and 1095 disclosure forms. The Firm’s larger clients realize that outside payroll services are not one-stop resources, and that counsel is critical.
In the catch-all category of “other fringe benefits,” clients contact the Firm for matters as diverse as creation of §125 plans to the use of company vehicles and to employer-owned life insurance.
Engagements include:
- Establishment of computer model so that payroll department of well-known large employer could properly collect FICA at vesting events for plans with graded vesting schedules.
- Creation of numerous §125 cafeteria plans allowing for benefits in addition to medical and dental, and drafting employee communications or editing vendor documents so that they are easier to understand and legally accurate.
- Assistance to payroll departments so that they may properly code the new series of 1094 and 1095 disclosure forms required under the Affordable Care Act.
- Assistance to payroll departments so that the “cost” of self-funded health insurance can be properly reported on W-2 Forms.
- Creation and IRS qualification of VEBA so that employees can self-fund for short term disability needs. We also assistance clients to terminate VEBAs when they no longer provide appropriate savings.
- Structuring of split dollar insurance plans and advice to clients whose split-dollar arrangements are either out of kilter with the 2003 IRS regulations, or IRC §409A, or both.
- Advise clients on tax treatment for various employee award and holiday gift programs they sponsor for their workforces.
