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Communications Committee
This month we will highlight the three committee members that work with the Communications Chair Andrea Bapst to provide us with updates for the newsletter.
Bard Brockman is a Partner and an ERISA litigator in the Atlanta office of the national law firm of Bryan Cave LLP. He has been an active SEBC member for about five years and on the communications committee for the past couple of years.
He earned his B.A. and his J.D. (with honors) from the University of Florida. He is a member of the General Practice and Trial Section of the State Bar of Georgia, the Litigation Section of the Atlanta Bar and The Florida Bar - Out-of-State Practitioners Section of which he is a 2 term former President.
Bard lives near Emory University in Atlanta with his wife Kathy, who is an Emory seminary student and their two teenage boys. His current hobbies include teaching his 15-year-old son to drive, and with a wife in college and two teenage boys - pinching pennies to save for college.
Justin Deasy has been a member of the Communications Committee since 2010. Although he recently worked for the Atlanta office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of the Solicitor, in April 2011 Justin took an in-house attorney position with Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, a pension plan recordkeeper in Denver, Colorado.
Justin is currently getting adjusted to a climate with no humidity, beautiful mountains, and the lack of old green trees like those that lined his former Atlanta street in Candler Park. Justin has also been surprised by how fanatical everyone in Colorado is about exercise and outdoor activities.
Justin and his wife Mali have been married since 2004 and have two children: Harper (age 2.5) and Charlie (age 10 months). In his spare time, Justin likes to cook and ride his bike in the mountains.
Sean McMahan is a senior associate in the ERISA Litigation Group in Alston & Bird LLP's Atlanta office. Sean represents employers in both complex class action litigation and individual benefit disputes. He is experienced in litigation involving employer securities in 401(k) plans, calculation of pension benefits, fiduciary liability, welfare plan claims and disclosure responsibilities under ERISA. Sean earned his J.D. degree from the University of Virginia in 2004 and his B.S. in computer information systems, cum laude, from Chapman University in 2001. He is a member of the Georgia Bar and the Atlanta Bar Association. Before attending law school, Sean served nine years in the United States Air Force. He enjoys spending time with his wife Angela and children Cameron, Aislynn and Connor.
Legislative update - provided by Bard Brockman from Bryan Cave LLP - This is not meant to provide legal advice and you should consult your legal counsel for how this may affect your plan or contact Bard at bard.brockman@bryancave.com.
W-2 Reporting of Employer-Provided Health Care Costs
The Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") recently issued Notice 2011-28, which provides interim guidance on W-2 reporting of the cost of employer-provided group health care coverage. This reporting requirement, found in Internal Revenue Code Section 6051(a)(14), was added as part of the 2010 health care reform legislation. This reporting obligation is intended only to inform participants of the cost of their health coverage, not to impose additional taxation. Employer-provided health insurance continues to be excludable from an employee's income. Employers can rely on this Notice to report the cost of teh coverage until further guidance is issued.
The reporting requirements generally will be applicable beginning with W-2s for the 2012 tax year (i.e. the W-2s provided to employees in January 2013), but employers may choose to report earlier. The reporting requirements for certain small employers, those issuing less than 250 Form W-2s in the preceding calendar year, will continue to be optional (at least through the 2012 tax year) until further guidance is issued.
The interim guidance is presented in a questions and answer (Q&A) format and addresses a variety of topics, including the following:
· General reporting requirements,
· Employers subject to the reporting requirements,
· Methods for reporting the cost of coverage,
· Types of coverage included, and
· Calculation methods.
Although reporting is not required until January 2013, it is important for employers to review Notice 2011-28 in a timely manner to ensure that the appropriate systems and procedures are in place.
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