William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence

The Texas A&M graduate program for tax, wealth, and risk management is accepting applications from financial professionals with at least five years of industry experience for the summer. Even though our graduate program has grown to over 750 enrollment, the enrollment for a course section is between 20 and the maximum of 30 so that each student receives meaningful feedback throughout the course from the full-time academic faculty and renowned professional case study leaders, and each other via teamwork and peer review. Learn more about how we educate and position the industry’s leaders: https://law.tamu.edu/distance-education

Prof. William H. Byrnes

Robert Bloink, J.D., LL.M.

For clients who missed 2021 RMDs, it’s not too late to fix the mistake and potentially avoid stiff penalty taxes. We also have information on the newly revised forms that plan participants may receive to document retirement distributions beginning in 2022–and a summary of a new case that limits the rights of non-plan participants to sue under ERISA.

Clients Still Have Opportunities to Correct Missed RMDs for 2021 As most clients know, the IRS requires retirement plan participants to begin taking periodic distributions from IRAs and 401(k)s once the owner reaches age 72. Missing an RMD has steep consequences. The owner will be subject to a 50% penalty and the plan could lose its qualified status.If the RMD failures are no more than three years in the past, the owner can use a self-correction program (SCP) to correct the mistake. The SCP is only available until the last day of the third plan year following the plan year when the missed RMD occurred. The RMD will have to be distributed with earnings that accrued on the missed RMD during the failure period. The participant can also use Form 5329 to request a waiver of the penalty tax. In all cases, use of the SCP should be documented and the plan should document steps taken to prevent future missed RMDs. Along with Form 5329, the participant must file a letter stating that the error was due to reasonable cause and that reasonable steps have been taken to prevent future errors. For more information on the penalty for failure to comply with the RMD rules, visit Tax Facts Online. Read more

IRS Releases Revised Form W-4P and Form W-4R for 2022 The IRS recently released a revised Form W-4P (Withholding Certificate for Periodic Pension or Annuity Payments) and a new Form W-4R (Withholding Certificate for Nonperiodic Payments and Eligible Rollover Distributions) for use beginning in 2022. Now, individuals will receive different forms depending on the type of payments involved. Only individuals receiving periodic pension or annuity payments will receive the revised Form W-4P. Plan participants receiving nonperiodic payments, lump sum distributions, IRA distributions or certain rollover distributions will receive the Form W-4R going forward. In the past, those individuals would also have received Form W-4P. The forms can be used beginning in 2022. However, the IRS is not requiring plan administrators to make the change until January 1, 2023. For more information on the withholding requirements for annuity and retirement distributions, visit Tax Facts Online. Read more

Misclassified Independent Contractor Can’t File ERISA Lawsuit A California court recently ruled that a worker who claimed he was misclassified as an independent contractor could not file a lawsuit under ERISA for retirement plan benefits. The worker claimed that he was mistakenly excluded from the defendant’s retirement plans because he should have been properly classified as an employee. The court found that because the worker was not a plan participant, beneficiary or fiduciary, he lacked standing to sue under ERISA. In order to qualify as a plan participant, the plaintiff would must have a colorable claim to plan benefits. Here, the worker merely alleged that he should have been entitled to participate in the employer’s plan. As a result, the court dismissed the worker’s claims entirely without determining whether he should have been classified as an employee. For more information on the consequences of worker misclassification, visit Tax Facts Online. Read more

Look in your Tax Facts Online app for our continuing analysis of 2022 legislative and regulatory updates, weekly intelligence, and the impact on planning for a client’s wealth preservation and growth.

Wealth & Risk Management Degree for Industry Professionals – learn about the graduate degree here: https://law.tamu.edu/distance-education

Texas A&M, operating budget of $9.6 billion (FY2022) and capital budget of $1.9 billion, is #1 for U.S. public universities, one of only 60 accredited U.S. universities of the American Association of Universities (R1: Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity) and one of only 17 U.S. universities that hold the triple U.S. federal grant of Land, Sea, and Space! The law school, ranked in the 1st tier, has the #1 bar passage in Texas, and #1 for employment in Texas (and top 10 in U.S.)

• Ranked in top 20 public universities by Wall Street Journal / Times Higher Education (2020)
• #2 endowment for U.S. public universities, #8 overall
• #1 of U.S. public universities for a superior education at an affordable cost
• #1 for most CEOs employed by Fortune 500
• #1 employment outcome for law schools in Texas and in top 10 in the USA
• #1 bar passage in Texas
• Rank #11 by Money Best Colleges Report, 2021 and #5 in U.S. among public universities (Sources: U.S. Department of Education, Peterson’s, PayScale.com, Money/College Measures calculations)
• Texas A&M ranks #1 in Texas, #1 in the SEC, and #12 in the U.S. in Washington Monthly’s 2020 overall college rankings based on the quality of education, accessibility, graduation rates, student involvement, and research: see tx.ag/WashMonth20
• The School of Law enrollment for the Spring 2022 semester is 700+ degree-seeking Master/LL.M. students, and 450+ J.D.s. The university enrollment is 68,000+ degree seekers.