The SECURE Act of 2019 made three statutory changes to ERISA regarding lifetime income benefit payments from defined contribution plans (e.g., 401(k), 403(b), profit sharing, and money purchase pension plans). This blog will cover one of those changes – an amendment to Section 105 of ERISA. Section 105 requires the plan administrator to issue periodic benefit statements to participants and requires the disclosure of certain information on those statements, such as the participant’s account balance, vesting, and the value of each investment in the account. The SECURE Act ...
PPP loans under the CARES Act are being audited by the SBA. All PPP loans over $2 million will be audited, and many more under $2 million will be audited as well. Applying for forgiveness of a PPP loan increases the likelihood of an audit.
An audit or “review” by SBA of a borrower and its PPP loan can result in an SBA determination that the borrower (1) was ineligible for a PPP loan; (2) was ineligible for the PPP loan amount received or used the PPP loan proceeds for unauthorized uses; (3) is ineligible for PPP loan forgiveness in the amount determined by the lender in its full or partial ...
The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”) became law on April 7, 1986. For most of its nearly 35-year history, litigation involving COBRA has been relatively quiet. Most COBRA claims are tag-alongs, added as an afterthought to various sorts of discrimination claims, and a few cases involving the definition of “gross misconduct” (essentially the one narrow exception where an offer of COBRA coverage is not required).
In the wake of the pandemic, this is changing. Recently, there have been a number of cases filed (most filed as class actions) involving ...
The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently issued a new interim final rule clarifying whether paycheck protection program (“PPP”) loan proceeds may be used for certain payroll and nonpayroll costs and remain eligible for forgiveness, notwithstanding earlier guidance or uncertainty. Generally, PPP loans may be forgiven so long as used for a borrower’s payroll costs (generally, all compensation, capped at $100,000 on an annual basis, plus benefits) and certain mortgage interest, rent and utility expenses. Various guidance in the wake of the implementation ...
In March, Congress passed the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) to aid businesses and individuals. One CARES Act relief provision offered the deferral of certain payroll taxes. In particular, Section 2302 provides that employers may defer the deposit and payment of the employer’s portion of the Social Security taxes arising between March 27, 2020, and December 31, 2020 (the “Employer Deferral”). Any deferred taxes are repaid over the following 2-year period. The CARES Act failed to offer similar deferrals for the employee portion of ...
The South Carolina Department of Revenue (“DOR”, “SCDOR”, the “Department”) recently issued SC Information Letter #20-22 in which it released a series of helpful “Information Guides” concerning updated and specific administrative appeal procedures involving the following South Carolina tax/tax areas:
- State Tax Appeal Procedures for State Tax Refund Claims (Other than Property Tax, Bingo, and Alcoholic Beverage Matters);
- State Tax Appeal Procedures for State Tax Assessments including License Revocations and Denials (Other than Property Tax, Bingo, and ...
On August 4, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released an initial set of frequently asked questions regarding the forgiveness of paycheck protection program (“PPP”) loans (the questions, the “Forgiveness FAQs”). The SBA explicitly provides that both borrowers and lenders may rely on the guidance in the Forgiveness FAQs, in consultation with the applicable law and related regulations. This resource will likely be a valuable tool to borrowers looking to understand exactly how much of their PPP loans may be forgiven. As with the general PPP frequently asked ...
South Carolina enacted a state low income housing tax credit on May 14, 2020. An overview of the credit, which mirrors the federal credit, can be found here.
The South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority (SC Housing) is required to issue an eligibility statement in order for a project to receive the state LIHTC. The eligibility statement also specifies the amount of the state LIHTC a project will receive. SC Housing has now issued a policy document to set forth the procedures to obtain an eligibility statement, which can be found here.
The SC Housing policy sets forth ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) recently released an information letter that concludes, if certain conditions are met, a plan fiduciary will not violate his fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) by offering a “professionally managed asset allocation fund with a private equity component as a designated investment alternative for an ERISA covered individual account plan.” This information letter (DOL Information Letter to Jon W. Breyfogle, June 3, 2020; hereinafter referred to as the ...
The SBA and the United States Treasury have now released a list of over 600,000 PPP loan borrowers who received PPP loans of $150,000 or more. This list includes the name of the borrowers, the general loan range of the PPP loans received, the state in which the borrower is located, and other information.
The list released by SBA/Treasury contains expected information about borrowers in many industries, including restaurants, construction, and other industries hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and certainly in need of financial help to get through the economic uncertainly and ...