New Developments and Regulations Serve as Backdrop to May 18 Benefits Conference

New Developments and Regulations Serve as Backdrop to May 18 Benefits Conference

By Patricia Lawrence, Human Resources Manager

If you are a benefits or tax professional, manage employees or are just looking to stay on the cutting edge of the benefits and tax arena, the Employee Benefits Conference is one event you won’t want to miss.

Employee benefits are a big chunk of a compensation package and important to the employment relationship, from both the employee’s and the employer’s perspective. Attending this event will expose you to the latest benefits developments that could change the way you provide benefits for your employees or the way you advise your clients about the types of benefits that would best suit their needs.

Held on May 18 at the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan, the conference and its lineup of seasoned experts will leave no stone unturned.

One important benefit that employees must consider is life insurance. The Internal Revenue Service currently is issuing proposed regulations and other guidance addressing the value of life insurance policies held in qualified plans.

Andrew J. Fair, of Fair Aufsesser Fitzgerald and Hershaft P.C., an attorney who specializes in estate, business and retirement planning and a past president of the Estate Planning Council of Westchester, will be on hand to discuss the impact of these proposed regs and the related planning that may be required.

IRA distribution planning is another hot topic that will be discussed at the conference, concentrating on different planning strategies. Ed Slott, of E. Slott & Company, CPAs, who is a nationally recognized IRA distribution expert and a recipient of the Foundation for Accounting Education’s “Excellence in Estate Planning” and “Outstanding Service” awards, will show how to steer clear of the most common blunders associated with IRA distributions.

Executive compensation and its labyrinth of ever-changing tax regulations, stock options and other deferred compensation will also be addressed at the conference. Martin Nissenbaum, a popular presenter and partner at Ernst & Young LLP, who provides compensation planning services to corporations and their executives, will examine the current state of nonqualified deferred and equity compensation and the implications that new tax rates have on them. The firm’s national director of personal income tax and retirement planning, Nissenbaum has written several articles on tax issues for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes and Money magazine.

This year’s luncheon address will feature a favorite past presenter whose finger is on the pulse of all aspects of employee benefits taxation and its effect on pensions, healthcare and executive compensation, among other items. A riveting speaker whose presentations have been noted as “superb,” William F. Sweetnam, Jr., will give an update of what is happening with employee benefits from the perspective of the Office of the Benefits Tax Counsel of the U.S. Treasury. The office, for which Sweetnam serves as counsel, is the principal legal advisor to the secretary of the Treasury and the assistant secretary for tax policy.

To register or for more information on this year’s Employee Benefits Conference, contact FAE at 800-537-3635 or access the Society’s website at www.nysscpa.org and click on the “Continuing Education” link at the top.