Please refer to the following list of recent tax and tax controversy-related COVID-19 alerts in addition to original articles for insight and guidance pertaining to updates from the Biden Administration. For a comprehensive list of related thought leadership, please refer to the COVID-19 landing page.
Update: On July 15, the Internal Revenue Service announced in news release IR-2020-158 that taxpayers who have experienced delays with the process of Form 7200, Advance Payment of Employer Credits Due To COVID-19 will receive letters. If the IRS rejected taxpayer’s Form 7200 or made a change to the requested amount of advance payment due to a computation error, the taxpayer will receive letter 6312 explaining the reason for rejection or list the new payment amount if the old amount was due to a computation error. The taxpayer will receive letter 6313 if the IRS needs written verification of the taxpayer’s current mailing address in order for the IRS to process the taxpayer’s Form 7200.
Update: On July 8, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2020-54 as guidance for employers regarding the requirement to report amounts of qualified sick and family leave wages paid to employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Under Notice 2020-54, employers will be required to report payment to employees either on Box 14 of Form W-2, or in a separate statement. The notice also provides employers with language to use on Form W-2 or in the statement to employees. This reporting requirement is imposed to assist employees who are self-employed to properly claim their qualified sick and family leave equivalent credits.
On Friday, March 20, 2020, the Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Labor issued primary guidance on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act) (commonly referred to as Phase 2) in Notice IR-2020-57 (the Notice). Please see alert for discussion of two new important tax details provided in the Notice regarding the Act’s employer tax credits, and for additional discussion of the Act, generally. The two new important tax details are (1) that employers can be “paid” by retaining certain funds otherwise due to the government (including income tax withholding from ALL employees), and (2) that rebate requests will be processed by IRS within two weeks or less.
Continue Reading Published Guidance on Implementation of Families First Coronavirus Response Act
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), commonly referred to as Phase 3 of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, was enacted on March 27, 2020. See Ropes & Gray Alerts on CARES Act, and certain key tax provisions of CARES Act. The CARES Act created opportunities for
In this Ropes & Gray podcast, litigation & enforcement partner Dan Ward, ERISA and benefits partner Josh Lichtenstein, and benefits principal David Kirchner discuss the recent $12 million settlement that has been agreed to in the Oracle 401(k) fee litigation, which includes some non-monetary requirements that could have a ripple effect on the routine
In a recent Law360 article, members of the international arbitration group, Kat Gregor (also tax partner and tax controversy group co-founder) Nick Berg and Dan Ward (litigation and enforcement partners), discuss how investment agreements can be powerful tools for companies with foreign investments to recover or prevent loss in response to public health crises and
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), commonly referred to as Phase 3 of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, was enacted on March 27, 2020. The act provides relief to many sectors of the economy negatively impacted by the coronavirus. (See Ropes & Gray Alerts on CARES Act,
The CARES Act provides for economic impact payments of $1,200 per individual ($2,400 for joint filers). (See Ropes & Gray Alerts on CARES Act, and certain key tax provisions of CARES Act.) The chart below summarizes the CARES Act, the IRS Press Release IR-2020-61, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury
In this Ropes & Gray podcast, benefits partners Loretta Richard and Josh Lichtenstein discuss the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (also known as the CARES Act) in the context of 401(k) plans and other tax-qualified defined contribution retirement plans, including coronavirus-related distributions and loans that can be taken from qualified defined contribution