With the arrival of a new year comes the availability of several SECURE 2.0 provisions that affect how workers can save for their retirement.

Final federal withholding regulations were released in Treasury Decision (TD) 10008 on October 21, 2024. They address withholding requirements for payments made outside the United States.

Traditional Individual Retirement Accounts, better known as IRAs, were created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and have revolutionized how Americans save for their golden years. They became available on January 1, 1975.

Although IRAs are meant to provide individuals with a source of income during retirement, many clients may want to incorporate their IRAs into their overall estate planning. In such cases, while making clear that you are not providing tax or legal advice, you may find yourself  discussing IRA beneficiary options with clients. Beneficiary options—especially for Roth IRAs—can be confusing.

A provision allowing high deductible health plans (HDHPs) to waive the deductible for telehealth and other remote care services without causing plan participants to lose the ability to contribute to a health savings account (HSA) expires for calendar year plans on December 31, 2024. 

Financial organizations are responsible for paying out HSA assets to beneficiaries after an HSA owner’s death and properly reporting these distributions to the IRS, so your role as an HSA administrator is important. And because HSA beneficiary options differ from IRA and employer plan beneficiary options, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the options and distribution process.

It is not turning age 65 that makes people ineligible to contribute to HSAs, but rather enrollment in Medicare that prevents HSA owners from making further contributions. And while most people do enroll in Medicare when they turn 65, it is not necessarily required.

You may have noticed an increase in clients making late IRA transactions because they live or work in a federally declared disaster zone. This disaster relief can affect your financial organization and how you report certain IRA transactions.

One unique feature to a Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) is the requirement that the account terminates when the designated beneficiary reaches age 30. If you don’t stay on top of these accounts, you risk not reporting them correctly to the IRS and possibly losing contact with the designated beneficiary.

To assist Ascensus clients during the busy contribution and tax season, the 800 Consulting telephone lines will be open for extended hours.

It's a brand-new year filled with fresh reporting deadlines, and perhaps a good time to take note on whether your financial organization is on track to meet these obligations—or to refresh your memory on when specific deadlines occur. First quarter is always a busy reporting season.

If it’s been a while since you’ve worked with Coverdell ESAs, here’s a refresher on the rules and your responsibilities when processing ESA distributions.

With the arrival of a new year comes the availability of several SECURE 2.0 provisions that affect how workers can save for their retirement.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a proposed regulation, providing guidance for employers that are required to include an automatic enrollment provision with their 401(k) or 403(b) plan in order to comply with the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0).

Working with plans that include both nonunion and union employees is not as intimidating as it may seem. There are a few things to keep in mind if you work with a plan that manages both employees that are a part of a union and those that are not union employees.

During the Great Depression, a common practice among contractors bidding for federal contracts was reducing workers’ wages; and thereby, their labor costs, to win bids. While prevailing wage laws had existed on a state and local government level for more than three decades at this time, the first and most significant federal law–protecting the workers’ and their families’ welfare–was the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931.