Tim Goodman

Tim Goodman’s practice focuses on assisting employers with executive compensation, health insurance, and employee benefit plans. Tim assists a broad array of employers, with a special focus on assisting cooperatives, agribusiness companies, tax-exempt organizations (primarily hospitals and health care entities), Alaskan Native Corporations, and governmental entities (primarily Indian tribes). This includes assisting employers on health care reform, wellness plans, and other welfare issues and welfare plan matters (including cafeteria, dependent care, education assistance, health FSAs, HRAs, HSAs, parking, and tuition plans), and severance. With respect to health care reform, Tim advises employers on the new fees imposed on employer health plans (the patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) fee, the transition reinsurance fee, and the employer shared responsibility (play or pay) fee) and the new requirements ranging from coverage of adult children and the summary of benefits coverage to essential health benefits.

Tim advises employers on qualified and nonqualified retirement plans (including pension, defined benefit, 401(k), 403(b), 457(b), and 457(f) plans, and section 409A). Tim has worked with employers on a range of retirement plan matters, including Roth contributions and in-plan Roth conversions. Employers also turn to Tim for advice on executive compensation and deferred compensation programs (including excess plans, SERPs, and other deferred compensation). His assistance includes advising employers on responding to benefit claims, answering questions regarding the extension of health coverage under COBRA and state law, drafting employee communications, complying with fringe benefit rules, payroll reporting of benefits, USERRA and HEART, complying with the HIPAA privacy and security rules, and addressing worker classification.

Tim also advises employers by updating them on legislation (such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA or PPACA – health care reform), the Pension Protection Act, the American Jobs Creation Act, the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act). This includes advising employers on the impact of section 409A on nonqualified deferred compensation plans. Tim also assists employers with new regulations, such as the health care reform regulations, GINA Part I regulations issued by the DOL, IRS, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; and the GINA Part II regulations issued by the EEOC. In addition to advice, Tim works with employers on taxation of benefits with respect to FICA taxes under section 3121(v)(2), nonresident taxes for work performed in multiple states, taxation of health benefits, and taxation and design of benefits employers provide to same-sex spouses and domestic partners. Tim also works with employers on benefits in M&A transactions and employer securities in retirement plans. Employers regularly have Tim assist them with plan drafting and design, including plan formation, IRS qualification, administration, merger, and termination of employee benefit plans, and the submission of errors under voluntary correction programs including the IRS employee plan correction program (EPCRS) and the delinquent filer program (DFVC).

Representative examples of employee benefit matters that Tim has assisted employers with recently include:

• assisting employers with the design of wellness programs; 
• working with employers to respond to IRS and DOL audits of 401(k) plans; 
• assisting employers with correcting errors under 401(k) and money purchase pension plans; 
• assisting health care entities in establishing 457(b) plans; 
• assisting health care entities with 457(f) plans and section 409A; 
• assisting health care entities and tax-exempt organizations with executive employment agreements; 
• assisting private and public employers reviewing retiree medical benefits; 
• assisting employers with DOL investigations of demutualization of proceeds and plan contributions; 
• assisting employers with plan submissions to the IRS for favorable determination letters; 
• preparing retirement plan amendments for employers to address law and regulatory changes, including HEART, WRERA, PPA, EGTRRA, GUST, and minimum required distributions; 
• preparing model domestic relation orders for employers; 
• preparing HIPAA health privacy documents for employers including plan amendments, policies and procedures, and privacy notices; and 
• assisting tribal entities with questions regarding the applicability of ERISA and plan qualification.