Retirement Plans
Our retirement plan attorneys counsel public and private employers on a wide variety of retirement plan matters including the following areas:
- Design and compliance for all types of qualified and nonqualified retirement plans for both for-profit and tax-exempt employers, including:
- Defined contribution 401(k) and profit-sharing plans
- 403(b) plans
- 457 plans
- Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and 401(k) ESOPs (KSOPs)
- Money purchase pension plans
- Defined benefit and individual account pension plans
- Cash balance plans
- IRAs
- Documents and amendments for individually designed and pre-approved retirement plans, including:
- Review of other providers’ documents under Private Determination Letter Program (“PDLP”)
- Draft and maintain individually designed documents
- Sponsorship of three IRS pre-approved documents for adoption by our clients:
- Defined contribution plan – nonstandardized, with 401(k), profit sharing, matching and money purchase contribution options (approved on June 30, 2020)
- Defined benefit pension plan, with traditional and cash balance options (approved on March 31, 2018)
- 403(b) plan (approved on April 13, 2017)
- Retirement plan regulatory compliance issues, including:
- Nondiscrimination, coverage and top-heavy testing; annual addition and benefit limitations; controlled group and affiliated service group analyses
- Bankruptcy issues
- 401(a), 403(b) and 457(b) plan compliance issues for public sector employers (governmental plans).
- Tax consequences to employers and employees of retirement plans, including income and excise taxes for excess contributions; unrelated business taxable income; prohibited transactions; and failure to meet minimum funding standards
- Voluntary IRS and DOL compliance and correction programs applicable to qualified plan operational and document failures; reporting and disclosure failures; and breaches of fiduciary duty
- Employee benefit plan administration, including:
- supporting clients’ benefits personnel in matters involving participant communications
- qualified domestic relations orders
- plan investment policies and plan loan policies
- contract negotiations with service providers
- contributions, distributions, rollovers, terminations (including partial terminations)
- plan self-audits.
- Terminations of pension and other retirement plans, including Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and IRS filings
- ERISA reporting and disclosure, including preparation or review of annual reports, summary plan descriptions and other employee communications
- Applications for IRS determination letters and other rulings, and DOL exemptions and advisory opinions
- IRS, DOL and PBGC audits and examinations
- Employee benefit plan issues in mergers and other corporate transactions
- Multiemployer (union) plan compliance, including employer withdrawal liability issues.
Our Firm’s Retirement Plan Clients Include:
- Taxable employers, both publicly traded and closely held
- Tax-exempt employers (particularly hospitals and their affiliates)
- Professional and trade associations
- Retirement plan trustees
- Retirement plan consulting firms and third party administrators
- Governmental entities
- Investment advisers
- Plan participants and beneficiaries.
Learn More About Our Services
Our experienced lawyers are award-winning and some of the top legal minds in the country. Learn how we can help you with your retirement plans. We have locations nationwide. Please call 617-357-5200 or email us here.