Tax Treatment of Refunds Changing for 2008

Beginning with the 2008 plan year, ADP and ACP refunds attributable to the 2008 plan year are taxable in the year of distribution. Therefore, for the 2008 plan year, refunds distributed between January 1, 2009 and March 15, 2009 are taxable in 2009, the year distributed (as opposed to the year contributed). Also beginning with the 2008 plan year, gap period earnings (earnings from the last day of the plan year to the date of distribution) are no longer required on ADP and ACP refunds and for refunds of Excess Deferrals.

StaffScapes provides and manages a 401k retirement plan for its PEO clients with Transamerica 401k services. Employers can participate in the traditional 401k plan as well as the new ROTH 401k plan.

The US DOL has released, on their website, the model notices for COBRA subsidyThe Department of Labor has just released their model notices for the COBRA subsidy available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). There are two formats of the General Notice, one full and the other abbreviated. Also drafted by the DOL and on their webpage are an alternative notice for insurance issuers and a notice in connection with the extended election period. A link to the DOL’s website with the model notices is listed below.  Staffscapes will have more information about the COBRA subsidy notices after we have had time to review the models issued by the DOL. 

See Also

• DOL COBRA Model Notices
  DOL COBRA Model Notices

The Sectretary of Labor due to release model notification regarding the COBRA subsidy program.

The Sectretary of Labor must release model notices for the subsidized COBRA program no later than thirty (30) days after the date of enactment (2/17/09) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This week will culminate the 30 days, therefore the model notification should be released by the 19th of March. As a reminder, employers have sixty (60) days from enactment of the Stimulus bill to send out updated notices to any assistance eligible individuals.

StaffScapes will release additional information once we have had time to review the model notices being released from DOL this week. 

Stats of Unemployment from the Census Bureau

While reading daily about the jobless claims still rising I can across an article that opened my eyes about the number of claims that have been made. More than 651,000 jobs were cut in February. This added to the unemployment rate which is currently at 8.1%. Here are some stats available by the Census Bureau.

651,000 Jobs were cut in February. This number is larger than the populations of these cities:

*Baltimore
*Denver
*Seattle
*El Paso
*Washington, DC

12.5 million People are unemployed in the US. This number is more than:
*Women attending college
*Male scientist and engineers
*People watching ABC’s show “Lost” this season

12.5 million is also larger than the populations of all 45 states including:
*Ohio
*Pennsylvania
*Michigan
*Virginia

4.4 million jobs have been lost since the start of this recession December 2007. This is larger than the population of the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

2.6 million jobs have been lost in the past four months, which is about the number of senior citizens living in Florida.

8.6 million people have been forced to work part-time for economic reasons. This number is more than the population of New York City and more than the number of people who try to quit smoking every year.

As companies continue to eliminate jobs there is one sector that boosted its employment this last month and that is government.

Source: Unemployment by the numbers: How bad is it Hurting? Fox News.com/0,3566,506405,00.html