Like a number of states, New York requires nonresidents to pay income taxes on wages earned in the state. Those rules extend to an allocable portion of deferred compensation and gain from the exercise of stock options earned while employed in the state. The state’s ability to tax a nonresident is limited to this extent:
Understanding Employee Benefits and key developments in the employee benefits field and items of interest to our clients. MORE
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Health Care Reform – What Employers Should be Thinking About Now
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Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will require employers employing 50 or more full-time equivalent employees to offer full-time employees affordable, minimum essential health coverage. If such health coverage is not offered, and if at least one employee receives a premium tax credit on a state or federal exchange, the employer will be assessed…
A Wrap Plan Can Be Helpful
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Many employers know that one benefit to an ERISA plan is the standard of review available when the participant brings a lawsuit for benefits under the plan. If the plan documents give the plan administrator discretion to decide claims, then the court will review the exercise of the plan administrator’s discretion under an arbitrary and …
Who Cares if I Give a COBRA Notice for My Dental Plan?
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Employers are generally aware that medical plans are subject to continuation coverage under the federal law known as COBRA. They may forget that COBRA extends to all group health plans, including dental, vision and medical flexible spending account plans. A recent federal district court decision highlighted the risk to employers who forget those facts.
The …
You Can be Liable for COBRA Even if You do Not Meet Statutory Requirements
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Small employers (those who normally employ fewer than 20 full-time equivalent employees during the preceding year) are not subject to health care continuation requirements under the law known as “COBRA.” (Some states have their own “mini-COBRA” laws; this post is speaking only about the federal requirements.) A recent district court decision from Ohio considered the …
What is a Trade or Business and Why Does it Matter – Part 2
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I blogged earlier in the year about a decision in which a district court concluded that various related companies were part of a controlled group of trades or businesses and therefore liable for the withdrawal liability of one of the companies. In that case, the court noted that to be a trade or business the …
Do I Have A Top Hat Plan?
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A standard part of an executive compensation package can be participation in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan. This is a plan not subject to tax code limitations on qualified retirement plans and not subject to many provisions of ERISA, including the requirement that plan assets be set aside in a trust, protected from company creditors. …
Can I Add a No Compete Provision to a Severance Agreement?
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Pactiv Corporation sponsored a severance plan subject to ERISA. The plan required an employee to sign a separation agreement and release in a “form acceptable to the company” in order for the employee to be entitled to a payment under the plan. The severance plan itself did not contain a no compete provision. When an …
Assisting Victims of Hurricane Sandy
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Although our main office is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we have clients located in other parts of the country, and ourselves have an office in Washington, D.C. Some of our clients have employees who have been hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. Employers want to help their employees, and employees not affected by the hurricane want to …
Bad Tax Consequences for Disqualified ESOP
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A recent tax court decision considered the impact on a highly compensated participant of an ESOP that was disqualified retroactively for the period 2000-2004. The highly compensated participant was fully vested in the ESOP from its inception to its disqualification. The highly compensated participant argued that only the portion of the benefit that accrued during …