Key Notes and Reminders for 2023

When the New Year rings in, there may be a jolt of anxiety as you wonder what needs to be on your radar. To ease your stress, here is a list of what Wrangle monitors for you, key notes to consider, and our upcoming webinar. We will of course keep you abreast of any other changes that may happen.

Plan Documents

1. There is an optional amendment to announce for our cafeteria and Wrap Plan Documents: At an employer’s discretion, they may adopt the “family glitch fix” permissible election change that allows an employee, on or after January 1^st, 2023, to modify or revoke their group health plan family coverage during the plan year in order for one or more family members to enroll in a Qualified Health Plan (QHP) through a Health Insurance Exchange on the individual market during the exchange’s special or open enrollment periods. The deadline to adopt the amendment is the last day of the plan year in which the new permitted election change is permitted. However, for an amendment effective for a plan year beginning in 2023, the employer has until the last day of the 2024 plan year to amend their plan. Reach out to ERISADeskInfo@ascensus.com to initiate an Amendment and SMM project.
2. If your client needs a new Plan Document, please remember to use our new Plan Doc Platform. You can access it here. Some mistakenly try to use the 5500 Dashboard, and this will not work.
3. Need updates to Plan Documents other than the one mentioned in #1 above? Reach out to ERISADeskInfo@ascensus.com to initiate an Amendment and SMM project.

Form 5500s

1. There are no changes to the 2022 Form 5500 for health and welfare plans (this is not the case for pensions).
2. If you need an amended filing this year or need to use the DFVCP (Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program) from the DOL, the forms that are to be used are: 2020, 2021, and 2022. Our dashboard automatically uses the correct form. For years prior to 2020, they will be completed on the Form Year 2022.

Legislation and Penalty Fees

1. Be sure to follow the 408(b)(2) disclosure requirements annually as imposed by the CAA. It requires disclosure of direct and indirect compensation received by brokers and consultants of group health plans to plan fiduciaries. This guidance is intended to assist plan fiduciaries to determine whether a service is necessary and if the compensation is reasonable. The disclosure requirements imposed by the CAA apply to any contract executed, extended, or renewed on or after December 27^th, 2021. Lynda, Taylor, VP of Wrangle stated the following as Wrangle does follow this mandate with our clients,

“While Wrangle is not required under 408(b)(2) to proactively provide disclosure statements, we are committed to supporting our partners in meeting their obligations.  If you or your client need pricing and/or service descriptions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at ltaylor@wrangle5500.com, and I will ensure you are provided with these details.”

Click here to read more from an earlier blog.

2. The PCORI fee is now $3.00 per enrolled employee. See this article from Ascensus on this subject.
3. Penalty fees for 2023 will increase due to inflation. The new fees will be announced around January 15^th. We will provide these when the DOL releases them.

National Emergency and Special Extensions so Far for 2023

1. National Emergency due to Covid: On February 24^th, 2022,  President Biden declared to continue the national emergency due to Covid 19. As clarified in the EBSA Disaster Relief 2021-01, the DOL has continued to extend the time for Plan Sponsors to distribute the SAR until 60 days after the announcement of the end of the Covid-19 National Emergency. There is plenty of speculation that the National Emergency will come to an end in Q1 of 2023. We will continue to monitor this and keep you posted. Here is more information from our parent company on this subject.
2. Special Extension: Large-scale natural disasters as declared by the President often lead to the IRS providing special extensions on deadlines including those for the Form 5500. We monitor these and keep them updated in our blog. There are several that were extended to February 15^th, 2023. Those were areas in the following states: Mississippi, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Florida, South and North Carolina, and Illinois. Certain areas of New York and Florida recently had a special extension until March 15^th, 2023. Finally several counties in California, Alabama and Georgia have a special extension until May 15th. See our blog for more details on these special extensions.

5500 Dashboard

1. New enhancements are in the works and will be reported in our upcoming blogs.

Wrangle National Webinar:

Wrangle will have its national webinar in February:

• February 28^th: Wrangle will present on Plan Documents and NDT. Learn more and register here.

If you have any questions on the items listed above, feel free at any point to reach out to Ann McAdam, Project Manager, at amcadam@wrangle5500.com.