Employee Benefits Security Administration February 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains final forms and instructions revisions for the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2023. The forms and instructions revisions relate to statutory amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (Code) enacted as part of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) for multiple-employer plans and groups of plans, as well as changes intended to improve reporting of certain plan financial information regarding audits and plan expenses and enhance the reporting of certain tax qualification and other compliance information by retirement plans. There are also some minor changes that further improve defined benefit plan reporting by building on changes made to the forms for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2022. The remaining changes are technical changes that are part of the annual rollover of the Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF forms and instructions. The revisions being finalized in this document affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers to plans subject to annual reporting requirements under ERISA and the Code.

This document contains exemptions issued by the Department of Labor (the Department) from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). This notice includes the following: 2023-03, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, D-12077; 2023-04, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona, Inc., D-12035; 2023-05, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont, D-12055; 2023-06, Hawaii Medical Service Association, D-12038; 2023-07, BCS Financial Corporation, D-12036; 2023-08, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi, D-12040; 2023-09, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska, Inc., D-12041; 2023-10, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc., D- 12045; 2023-11, Midlands Management Corporation 401(k) Plan, D-12031; 2023-12, DISH Network Corporation 401(k) Plan and the EchoStar 401(k) Plan, D-12012.

This document contains notices of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of proposed exemptions from certain of the prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and/or the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the Code). If granted, these proposed exemptions allow designated parties to engage in transactions that would otherwise be prohibited provided the conditions stated there in are met. This notice includes the following proposed exemptions: Unit Corporation Employees' Thrift Plan, D-12026; The Liberty Media 401(k) Savings Plan and The Liberty Media 401(k) Savings Plan Trust, D-12023; The Occidental Petroleum Corporation Savings Plan and The Anadarko Employee Savings Plan, D-12032 and D-12033.

These proposed rules would amend regulations regarding coverage of certain preventive services under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which requires non-grandfathered group health plans and non-grandfathered group or individual health insurance coverage to cover certain contraceptive services without cost sharing. Current regulations include exemptions and optional accommodations for entities and individuals with religious or moral objections to coverage of contraceptive services. These rules propose rescinding the moral exemption rule. These proposed rules also would establish a new individual contraceptive arrangement that individuals enrolled in plans or coverage sponsored, arranged, or provided by objecting entities may use to obtain contraceptive services at no cost directly from a provider or facility that furnishes contraceptive services. Contraceptive services would be available through the proposed individual contraceptive arrangement without any involvement on the part of an objecting entity. Under these proposed rules, a provider or facility that furnishes contraceptive services in accordance with the individual contraceptive arrangement for eligible individuals would be able to be reimbursed for its costs by entering into an arrangement with an issuer on a Federally-facilitated Exchange or State Exchange on the Federal platform, which in turn may seek a user fee adjustment.