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News of commercial database hackings may seem commonplace in 2019. But while many of these stories focus on hacked bank and credit card accounts, 401(k) plan sponsors and participants probably don’t realize that their plan assets also are at risk. Employers who offer 401(k) plans to their employees need to take precautions against identity theft. Part of this is educating participants. Role of sponsors If your organization sponsors a 401(k)...

Congress has yet to tackle several outstanding uncertainties frustrating both businesses and individual taxpayers. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), for example, contains several “glitches” requiring legislative fixes. Congress also has neglected to pass the traditional “extenders” legislation that retroactively extend certain tax relief provisions that expired at the end of an earlier year, in this case 2017. TCJA glitchesThe sprawling TCJA signed into law in late 2017 contains...

Protecting assets from creditors is a critical aspect of estate planning, but you need to think about more than just your own creditors: You also need to consider your heirs’ creditors. Adding spendthrift language to a trust benefiting your heirs can help safeguard assets. Spendthrift language explainedDespite its name, the purpose of a spendthrift trust isn’t just to protect profligate heirs from themselves. Although that’s one use for this trust...

Many organizations are adopting qualified transportation plans. Under these arrangements, employers contribute dollars toward mass transit expenses and allow employees to use pretax compensation reductions to pay for any additional qualified transportation expenses. A common conundrum of offering such a plan, however, is how to handle unused balances credited to terminated employees. Must they be immediately forfeited? Are employer and pretax compensation reductions subject to the same rules? Let’s take...

It’s every business owner’s nightmare. Should hackers gain access to your customers’ or employees’ sensitive data, the very reputation of your company could be compromised. And lawsuits might soon follow. No business owner wants to think about such a crisis, yet it’s imperative that you do. Suffering a data breach without an emergency response plan leaves you vulnerable to not only the damage of the attack itself, but also the...