Publications

Articles, Books, Media Coverage and Newsletters by and/or about the team.

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Articles
Books
Media Coverage
Newsletters

Publications and Articles

These articles represent a small sample of hundreds of articles that the team has written.

"Executive Retirement Benefits in the Non-Profit Sector," (PDF) Russell A. Gaudreau, Jr., Crain's New York Business.com, February 23, 2010
"Reforming Health Care: What Has the 'Public Plan Option' Got To Do With It?" Alvin D. Lurie, BenefitsLink.com, January 8, 2010
"Is It Now Time for Managed Accounts?" (PDF) Marcia Wagner and Dennis Blair, New York University Review of Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, 2009
"Partial Plan Terminations," (PDF), Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, Vol. 15, No. 5, July 2009
"A Meditation on the Definition of Plan Assets," (PDF), Marcia Wagner and Stephen Migausky, The ASPPA Journal, Vol. 39, No. 1, Winter 2009
"Proposed DOL Rules On 401(k) Fee Disclosures" (PDF), Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, June, 2008
"Criminal Issues Regarding Title I Investment Breaches," (PDF) Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, March, 2008
"Criminal Issues Regarding ERISA Investment," (PDF) Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2, February 2008
"The Senate Tax Patent Bill, Even Worse that the House Provision," (PDF), Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, February, 2008
"Where Fiduciary & Preemption Issues are Headed in 2008" (PDF), Marcia Wagner, ERISA Litigation Update for CFDD, February 21, 2008
"Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System: A Guide for the Novice," Diane Goulder Cohen, Benefits Law Journal, 2008
"Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System: A Guide for the Novice," Dennis Blair, Benefits Law Journal, Spring 2008
"ERISA Viewpoint: Make the Most of Auto-Enrollment Rules – Taking Advantage of the QDIA, ACA, EACA and QACA Standards." John J. Sohn, Legg Mason's The Retirement Edge, Fall 2008.
"ERISA Viewpoint: Participant Education Can reduce the Employer's Risk." John J. Sohn, Legg Mason's The Retirement Edge, Summer 2008.
"Commentary on the Patent Reform Act of 2007 Issued Patents and Patent Applications," Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, November, 2007
401k Fees - Litigation and Best Practices; Disclosure to Plan Participants" (PDF), Marcia Wagner, September 2007
"Fiduciary Issues Associated with Default Investment Alternatives Under Participant Directed Individual Account Plans," (PDF), MArcia Wagner, NYU Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Review, August 2007
"Will ERISA Preemption Derail Massachusetts Health Care Reform?" (PDF) NYU Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Review, August 2007
"MA Health Care Reform Law" (PDF), Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, July 2007
"Will ERISA Preemption Derail Massachusetts Health Care Reform?" (PDF) Marcia Wagner, Compensation Planning Journal, June 2007
"Preserve ERISA Plans with Proactive, Voluntary Changes," Marcia Wagner, Business Insurance, February 2007
"Learn to Uncover Hidden 401(k) Fees," Marcia Wagner, Boston Women's Business Journal, February 2007
"Fiduciary Issues Associated with Default Investment Alternatives Under Participant-Directed Individual Account Plans" (PDF), Marcia Wagner, Compensation Planning Journal, January 2007
"Supreme Court Confirms Health Plan’s Right to Reimbursement from Third Party Recoveries," Dennis Blair, Benefits Law Journal, Autumn 2006, with Stephanie V. Rosseau
"The Canaries Sing But They Sing Not to Thee," Alvin D. Lurie, Employee Benefits and Retirement Planning Email Newsletter #372, July 12, 2006
"Is Medical Tourism the Right Option?" Marcia Wagner, Boston Women's Business Journal, November 2006
"ERISA Plan Corrections: An Attractive Alternative to Hefty Penalties," Marcia Wagner, New England In-House, October 2006
"Medical Tourism: What are Your Options?" Marcia Wagner, Employee Benefits News, October 2006
"Medical Tourism and Group Health Plans," Marcia Wagner, Journal of Compensation and Benefits, September/October 2006
"Employee Benefits Bankruptcy Issues That Law Firms Need to Know," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, May 2006
"Solving the Dependent Definition Dilemma in Employee Benefit Plans," Dennis Blair, Benefits Law Journal, Spring 2006, with Brian Malynn
"What Is the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994?" Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, July 2005
"Fiduciary Issues Associated with Life Cycle Funds in Individual Account Plans" (PDF), Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, May 2005
"The New Department of Labor Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program," Marcia S. Wagner, Esq. and Deanna H. Niño, Esq. Copyrighted by, and reprinted with the permission of Tax Management, Inc.
"An Update on USERRA as it Affects Plans," Marcia Wagner, 401(k) Advisor, March 2005
"The Mutual Fund Scandals: What's A Plan Sponsor To Do?" Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership and Benefits Report, October 2004
"Same Sex Spouses in Massachusetts: The Affect on Employee Benefits," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership and Benefits Report, February 2004
"Managed Accounts: Still the Best, Least Risky Solution Yet Developed", Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, November 2003
"Paying Expenses from Plan Assets," Marcia Wagner, 401(k) Advisor, October 2003
"Managed Accounts: Are They the Answer?", Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, August 2003
"Dependent care spending accounts—do they make sense in 2003?" Dennis Blair, Benefits Quarterly, Second Quarter 2003, with Joe Lineberry
"HIPAA Health Data Privacy Rules: Final Regs. Issued," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, February 2003
"Designing long-term disability plans: Tax efficiency vs. maximizing wage replacement." Dennis Blair, Benefits Quarterly, First Quarter 2003, with Randall W. Luecke
"State Income Tax Statutes Could Frustrate Retirement Plan Sponsors," Dennis Blair, Benefits Quarterly, First Quarter 2003
Citigroup's Comments to Proposed regulations Under IRS Section 411(b)(1)(H) – Relief Requested for Cash Balance Plans and Other Hybrid Plans," John J. Sohn, March 2003.
"The Impact of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 on 401(k) Plans," Ari J. Sonneberg, Massachusetts Bar Association Section Review, Volume 4, Number 3, Summer 2002
"Understanding Split-Dollar Arrangement Rules," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, May 2002
"Qualified State Tuition Programs: Differentiating Among the Two Types," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, August 2001
"Department of Labor Establishes New Fiduciary Self-Correction Program," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership & Benefits Report, January 2001
"ERISA Allows Employers to Provide 'Hot' Benefits Without Getting Burned", Diane Goulder Cohen, The Daily Reporter, 2001
"Friend or Foe? The Pros and Cons of the New Department of Labor Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program," University of Denver College of Law, Marcia Wagner, Preventive Law Reporter, Summer 2000
"Friend or Foe? The Pros and Cons of the New Department of Labor Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program," Marcia Wagner, BNA Tax Management Memorandum, June 2000
"Participant Self Direction of Account Balances: Investment Advice or Investment Education", Marcia Wagner, Villanova Journal of Law and Investment Management, Vol. 1, Issue 1, Winter 1999
"Correcting Plan Defects," Marcia Wagner, Massachusetts Bar Association Taxation Section Newsletter, October 1999
"IRS Consolidates Employer Options for Correcting Pension Plan Defects," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership and Benefits Report, June 1999
"ERISA, Employee Benefits and Employment Update", Marcia Wagner, Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants On-Line, March 1999
"The Provision of Investment Advice," Marcia S. Wagner, Esq. Newsletter Vol. 26, No.1, January 1998
"Changes to IRS Correction Programs", Marcia Wagner, Massachusetts Bar Association Section Review, December 1998
"Law Firm Tax-Qualified Pension Plans: A Case Study," Marcia Wagner, Law Firm Partnership and Benefits Report, December 1998
"Eliminating Preretirement Distributions to Employees", Marcia Wagner, Massachusetts Bar Association Section Review, December 1998
"The Provision of Investment Advice Under PTE 97-60", Marcia Wagner, Trust & Investments, September/October 1998
"The Provision of Investment Advice Under Prohibited Transaction Exemption 97-60," Marcia Wagner, American Bankers Association, September 1998
"The Provision of Investment Advice Under Prohibited Transaction Exemption 97-60," Marcia Wagner, American Bar Association, Taxation Section Employee Benefits Committee meeting materials, January 1998
"The Provision of Investment Advice Under Prohibited Transaction Exemption 97-60," Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal, January 1998
"Doing It For Themselves," Claire Papanastasiou, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, January 13, 1997
"Tax-Qualified Retirement and Annuity Plans May Self-Correct Operational Violations," Marcia Wagner, MBA Section of Taxation Newsletter, February 1997
"Pension Simplification Highlights," Marcia Wagner, MBA Section of Taxation Newsletter, November 1996
"Alternatives To Plan Disqualification," Marcia S. Wagner, Reprinted from the Proceedings of New York University's Fifty-Third Institute on Federal Taxation 1995
"Alternatives to Plan Disqualification, Including Discussion of 403(b) Plans," Marcia Wagner, New York University Fifty-Third Institute on Federal Taxation (Matthew Bender), October 1995
"The Department of Labor Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program," Marcia Wagner, MBA Section of Taxation Newsletter, October 1995
"Retirement planning: More Than Investment Education," Dennis Blair, Journal of the American Society of CLU & ChFC
"Crime and Punishment - The Theory, Evolution and Future of Alternatives to Plan Disqualification," Marcia Wagner, Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal (Special ERISA 20th Anniversary Issue), December 1994
"A General Introduction to Employee Benefit Plans," Marcia Wagner, The Best of MCLE Journal, February 1994
"Qualified Plans With Disqualifying Defects: The Changing Face of Enforcement," Marcia Wagner, MBA Section of Taxation Newsletter, September 1993; reprinted in Massachusetts Bar Association's Best of the Sections 1993-1994
"Bankruptcy Protection for Retiree Health Benefits Increasing," Dennis Blair, Benefits Law Journal, Autumn 1993
"New Direct Transfer and Tax Withholding Rules for Benefit Plan Distributions," Marcia Wagner, MBA Section of Taxation Newsletter, October 1992; reprinted in Massachusetts Bar Association's Best of the Sections 1992-1993
"Insider Reporting and Short Swing Trading Rules for Qualified Defined Contribution Plans," Dennis Blair, Benefits Quarterly, First Quarter 1992.
"Defined Contribution Plans and Investments in GICs," Dennis Blair, Tax Management Financial Planning Journal, Mar. 17, 1992
"Walking Through the Discrimination Testing Maze for Welfare Plans," Dennis Blair, Benefits Quarterly, Second Quarter 1987, with Mark W. Kimble

Books

Quick Reference to HIPAA Compliance, Marcia Wagner, Aspen Publishers, 2009-2010 edition
Quick Reference to HIPAA Compliance, Marcia Wagner, Aspen Publishers, 2008-2009 edition
Bender's Federal Income Taxation of Retirement Plans, Marcia Wagner, (Chapter 1: Introduction to Retirement Legislation and Guide to Application: From ERISA to Pension Protection Act) and (Chapter 11: Controlled Groups and Affiliated Service Groups) 2008 edition
Quick Reference to HIPAA Compliance, Marcia Wagner, Aspen Publishers, 2007-2008 edition
Advising Small Businesses: "Qualified Retirement Plans", Marcia Wagner, West Services, Inc. 2007 edition. Click here for excerpt, Chapter 39: Qualified Retirement Plans.
Quick Reference to HIPAA Compliance, Marcia Wagner, Aspen Publishers, 2005 edition and 2006-2007 edition
BNA Tax Management Portfolio: "ERISA Litigation, Procedure, Preemption and Other Title I Issues" Marcia Wagner, (2005)
BNA Tax Management Portfolio: "EPCRS – Plan Correction and Disqualification" Marcia Wagner, (2004)
Quick Reference to HIPAA Compliance, Marcia Wagner, Aspen Publishers, 2004
BNA Tax Management Portfolio: "Plan Disqualification and ERISA Litigation" (1993); Marcia Wagner, update 1999
Labor and Employment Law: Compliance and Litigation, Marcia Wagner, Contributor for ERISA/employee benefits chapters, Clark, Boardman, Callaghan, 1997
The FMLA Guide, by Dennis Blair: Practical Solutions to Administration and Management/Chicago: Irwin Professional Pub., 1996

Media

Television Appearances by Marcia Wagner

Bloomberg Today with Kathleen Hays, Bloomberg Television, State Street Subprime Damages May Reach 12 Times Reserve Amount, May 2008
Nite Beat with Barry Nolan, CN8, Pension Legislative Proposals, October 2004
Nite Beat with Barry Nolan, CN8, The Crisis with Pension Plans, September 2004

Newsletters

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June 2009 Vol. XII, No. 1 (PDF)
New disclosure requirements; FAS 157; Form 5500 changes and expanded 403(b) plan reporting; partial plan terminations; IRS final regulations on automatic enrollment plans; reduction or suspension of safe harbor nonelective contributions; 2009 required minimum distributions suspended; 403(b) plan writing requirement deadline; Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008; Code Section 409A operational failure relief; COBRA subsidies and HIPAA privacy rules under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Massachusetts health care reform update; same-sex marriage developments.

November 2008 Vol. XI, No. 2 (PDF)
This Newsletter reports the 2009 index limits for Social Security benefits, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) limits for tax-qualified retirement plans, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) guarantee limit and Medicare rates. These past several months have been busy indeed with respect to tax and ERISA law changes, as well as updates to Massachusetts health care law.

May 2008 Vol. XI, No. 1
2009 indexed limits; Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act of 2008; changes to IRS’s Voluntary Correction Program; DOL proposed rules for participant-directed investments; Mental Health Parity Act; Massachusetts health care reform.

October 2007 Vol. X, No. 3
2008 indexed limits; Massachusetts health care reform update.

September 2007 Vol. X, No. 2
Final Code Section 403(b) regulations issued by IRS; IRS ruling on partial plan terminations; IRS regulations affecting cafeteria plans; IRS regulations on dependent care tax credit.

January 2007 Vol. X, No. 1
2007 indexed limits; Pension Protection Act of 2006; Massachusetts health care reform update; cash balance plans.

April 2006 Vol. IX, No. 1
2006 indexed limits; IRS final regulations on Roth 401(k) plans; IRS final regulations under Code Section 401(k); IRS proposed regulations under Code Section 403(b); IRS proposed regulations on phased retirement under pension plans; Deficit Reduction Act; Hurricane Katrina statutory and administrative relief; a HIPPA update.

November 2004 Vol. VIII, No. 1
2005 indexed limits; American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.

December 2003 Vol. VII, No. 2
Impact of same-sex marriage on employee benefits in Massachusetts.

November 2003 Vol. VII, No. 1
2004 indexed limits; new developments in the IRS’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System and DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program; IRS guidance on deemed IRAs; new regulations interpreting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

November 2002 Vol. VI, No. 2
2003 indexed limits.

March 2002 Vol. VI, No. 1
2002 indexed limits; GUST remedial amendment period extended; Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001; EPCRS changes; DOL’s final claims procedure regulations.

November 2000 Vol. V, No. 2
2001 index limits.

August 2000 Vol. V, No. 1
Extension of GUST remedial amendment period; update to Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System; Department of Labor’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program established; electronic notices.

November 1999 Vol IV No.1
2000 indexed limits.

November 1998 Vol.III, No.2
1999 indexed limits.

September 1998 Vol. III, No.1
IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998; Rev. Proc. 98-22 consolidating IRS correction programs into Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System. /p>

November 1997 Vol. II, No.2
1998 indexed limits.

September 1997 Vol. II, No.1
Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; plan amendments required by Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996; investment advice.

September 1996 Vol. I, No.2
Sexual harassment policies for Massachusetts businesses.

September 1996 Vol. I, No.1
Small Business Protection Act of 1996.

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