The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and the Internal Revenue Code Of 1986, as amended (“Code”) contain broad prohibitions on transactions between ERISA-covered employee benefit plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (“Plans”), as well as certain people or entities closely connected to such Plans, known as “parties in interest” or “disqualified … Continue Reading
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020, teleworking has been at the forefront of work-life-balance conversations and has become an increasingly popular option for employees. Not only did it make sense for most, but it called into question the true commitment required to pay for a higher cost of living, particularly … Continue Reading
If you terminate an employee in Belgium you will often need to pay a severance indemnity. This is calculated in part by reference to the employee’s pay for his notice period. It is calculated on the “full salary”, including not just base salary, 13th month and vacation pay, but also all other benefits enjoyed by … Continue Reading
This blog post addresses retirement plans that are intended to be tax-qualified under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). Specifically, this post will provide information related to: Quite often, we see employers, particularly smaller employers, design and implement tax-qualified retirement plans without a basic understanding of how these rules apply to their plans. … Continue Reading
In the first part of our mini blog series we discussed the training plan you are required to introduce for your employees in Belgium before 31 March. In this second blog, we will zoom in on the biking allowance which was introduced recently. Although we are not quite at the level of the Dutch (the … Continue Reading
There is a long-established legal principle that you can only imply an employment relationship in the face of a contract saying something different if it is necessary to do so, i.e. if the found facts of the relationship are not consistent with any other explanation, in particular, worker status or genuine self-employment. Until the Court … Continue Reading
Register for this event The Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision reversing long-standing precedent protecting abortion rights has created complexities for employers and other organizations across the US. As we continue to watch the impact of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision unfold, please join our team of lawyers in a conversation highlighting where we are now … Continue Reading
Just before Christmas, somewhat lost perhaps amidst the Plan B vs the did-he, didn’t-he Christmas Party merry-go-round, the government released the latest list of employers being “named and shamed” for failing to pay the minimum wage. As you may recall, although the naming and shaming scheme has been around since 2011, it was paused in … Continue Reading
In this second part of our “Working from home” series, we look at the element that has so far attracted by far the most questions, which is around who pays the costs of working from home. It should come as no surprise that this topic has generated so many queries. Belgium has introduced a number … Continue Reading
Lovely people, the HMRC – completely above criticism in all respects, I have always thought. Just wanted to put that out there in a way obviously wholly unrelated to this week’s news that the Revenue has launched over 12,800 “probes” into misuses of Coronavirus support schemes. The majority of these relate to the CJRS furlough … Continue Reading
From our Capital Thinking blog, our public policy colleague Stacy Swanson shares the latest federal employment law developments in in the legislative and executive branches during the week of March 29. *** This is a weekly post spotlighting labor topics in focus by the US legislative and executive branches during the previous week. In this issue, … Continue Reading
This is a Supplement to our post on March 25, 2021 regarding Section 9641 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”). This Supplement addresses state and local governmental employers. Section 9641 of the Rescue Plan makes available tax credits to offset the costs borne by certain employers who voluntarily provide emergency paid … Continue Reading
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “Rescue Plan”).[1] This post reviews Section 9641 of the Rescue Plan, which makes available tax credits to certain employers who voluntarily provide paid time sick leave and family and medical act leave to employees for absences occasioned by the … Continue Reading
This blogpost reviews the “partial termination” rules for certain tax-qualified retirement plans and certain regulatory and statutory rules that have, to the benefit of employers, relaxed the partial termination rules in 2020 and 2021.… Continue Reading
Section 2206 of the CARES Act allowed an exclusion of up to $5,250 from an employee’s gross income, if an employer paid principal or interest on an employee’s “Qualified Education Loan”. Section 2206 of the CARES Act was only designed to be in effect for calendar year 2020. However, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the … Continue Reading
Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 has also had its share of other disasters, including hurricanes, floods and fires. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) has provisions that are designed to provide tax relief for individuals and employers who have been adversely affected by one of the numerous federally declared “Qualified Disasters”. These provisions of … Continue Reading
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “CAA”) extends through June 30, 2021, the Employee Retention Credit provisions of Section 2301 of the CARES Act. It also favorably modifies the rules for claiming the Employee Retention Credits. These changes are generally effective as of January 1, 2021. These provisions of the CAA are found in Sections … Continue Reading
On Monday, December 21, Congress unveiled the nearly 5,600-page text of the latest COVID-19 relief package. If signed into law by the President, the omnibus spending and stimulus relief package will provide direct cash payments to many adults in the U.S., extend unemployment benefits, reopen the Paycheck Protection Program, and provide wide-ranging rental and educational … Continue Reading
The Chancellor has announced that the rate of the National Living Wage will increase to £8.91, with corresponding increases to all the underlying national minimum wage rates, from April 2021. Importantly, the NLW (a higher rate than the NMW) will also now apply for those aged 23 and above (previously it was for 25 and … Continue Reading
On August 8, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster” (the “Order”). The Order directs the Secretary of the Treasury to permit deferral of employee Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (“OASDI”) taxes for payroll dates on and after September 1, … Continue Reading
On Saturday, August 8, 2020, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Memorandum on Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 Disaster” (the “Order”). The Order provides for the deferral of certain payroll taxes. The Order will be effective for wages paid on or after September 1, 2020 and will have to … Continue Reading
The period of time in which employers can correct any errors and amend claims under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme without incurring penalties has been extended to: 90 days after the day on which the Finance Act 2020 was passed (22 July 2020); or 90 days after the day on which the income tax on … Continue Reading
The logical extension from the discovery that all or most or your staff can work from home without anything catastrophic happening is to ask yourself whether you actually need an office in the first place. Obviously it has potential advantages in terms of staff cohesion and corporate identity, but decisions are being made across the … Continue Reading
Providing much needed assistance to employees’ who were blindsided by COVID-19 and who were incapable of making health care coverage elections with COVID-19 in mind, the IRS on May 12, 2020, provided temporary relief that allows employers, during 2020, to expand the permissible reasons for employees to make prospective mid-year election changes to their health … Continue Reading
