The fourth quarter of 2008 ended with governments revising their 2009 budgets in light of the economic crisis. Few major systemic initiatives were initiated. The two areas experiencing the most legislative activity as a result of the economic downturn are social security/retirement and taxation.
United States of America
As state legislatures reconvene, the states' political climate may reveal what's in store for 2009.
On December 5, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2008-113, which sets out methods employers and employees can use to obtain relief from full-blown penalties under Internal Revenue Code section 409A as a result of certain operational errors in the administration of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements.
This two-part report rounds up key legislation and regulatory guidance enacted in 2008 and forecasts the outlook for legislative activity in 2009 under a new Congress and the new Obama administration.
On December 23, 2008, Hewitt Associates submitted comments to the Senate Finance Committee on the discussion draft of legislation requiring an employer to disclose the amount of money it pays for an employee's health insurance coverage on the employee's annual Form W-2.
The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 has been enacted, which provides a number of technical corrections to the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and offers defined benefit funding relief for single-employer and multiemployer plans.
With the threat of bankruptcy looming for two of the Big Three U.S. automakers, the Bush administration stepped in to provide financial relief to both General Motors (GM) and Chrysler on December 19, 2008.
On October 23, 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a supplemental final rule outlining safe harbor procedures for employers that receive a no-match letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) or a notice of suspect documents from DHS.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended the deadline to adopt a written 403(b) plan to December 31, 2009.
Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. and continues to affect an increasing number of people every year. Hewitt takes a look at the latest state and federal legislation, along with ways employers can address diabetes-related health care costs.
On December 4, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2008-104, which provides additional transition relief for health flexible spending account (FSA) and health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) debit card use at drug stores and pharmacies.
On October 20, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor's (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued regulations that finalize the 1998 interim final rules implementing the Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act of 1996 (Newborns' Act).
On November 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued revised regulations under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).
