Employee Benefits in Mergers and Acquisitions

Employee Benefits in Mergers and Acquisitions This comprehensive, easy-to-use book provides expansive coverage of employee benefits issues that arise as a result of mergers and acquisitions, including analysis of the required legal and tax compliance strategies to avoid costly litigation and the soundest business practices for administering benefits and compensation plans in a merger and acquisition setting. It is intended to guide benefits experts who have little experience with mergers and acquisitions and acquisitions specialists who have little background in benefits administration. The 2020-2021 Edition updates the coverage of legislative and regulatory developments in the past year that affect employee benefits in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including: - Updates of chapters to reflect the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act legislation and their impact on plans of companies involved in M&A transactions, as well as guidance published by the Departments of Treasury and Labor in relation to these changes
- Discussion of the impact of the Main Street Employee Ownership Act on employee stock ownership plan lending
- Explanation of how the SECURE Act changes make it easier to modify safe harbor 401(k) plans to accommodate changes caused by a transaction
- Analysis of funding issues for closely held businesses with Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation- (PBGC) covered defined benefit plans, and actions that may be taken post-transaction to preserve the ability of a sponsor to terminate an underfunded plan
- Review of the current status of court challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- Explanation of the SECURE Act safe harbor for fiduciaries involved in purchasing annuity products for participants, particularly in a pension plan termination situation
- Discussion of the availability of the lost participant program by the PBGC for terminated defined contribution plans
- Continued discussion of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS’s) current rules relating to the availability of individual favorable determination letters for most plans, and recent modifications to those rules
- Discussion of multiple employer plans (MEPs) and pooled employer plans, how they are affected by a company transaction, and how to terminate a plan’s participation in an MEP structure
- Analysis of how the SECURE Act rules regarding post-year-end plan adoptions and 401(k) safe harbor initiation may offer more options for dealing with transaction-related issues
- Current updates to PBGC premiums
- Continued update of the IRS’s most recent changes to plan correction programs, particularly the expansion of the self-correction program, and the use of these programs to repair compliance errors found during or occurring in connection with an M&A transaction
Note: Online subscriptions are for three-month periods. Previous Edition: Employee Benefits in Mergers and Acquisitions, 2019-2020 Edition ISBN 9781543812534