In Advisory Opinion 202504A, the Department of Labor’s DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) approved a lifetime income structure involving a variable annuity. The advisory opinion, issued on Sept. 23, involved a lifetime income strategy (LIS) offered by AllianceBernstein that approved a request by AllianceBerstein that their LIS program qualifies as a qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) under ERISA.

On October 1, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on how crypto assets should be taxed. Senators from both parties acknowledged that crafting tax rules for digital assets will be a complicated undertaking.

Based on testimony and questions from committee members at the hearing, a key issue that has yet to be resolved is what to do about small crypto transactions. Witnesses at the hearing argued that some kind of de minimis rule for small crypto transactions is necessary. Committee members questioned that, though. It was clear from the hearing interactions that determining what a “small transaction” is could be a fraught issue.

A slew of indexed tax limits and benefits adjust each year for inflation. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released Rev.Proc.2025-32, which lists many of these adjustments. Generally, the adjustments amount to about two percent for 2026.

On September 18, on a 51 to 47 vote, the Senate confirmed President Trump’s nominee, Dan Aronowitz, to head the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). EBSA is the Department of Labor (DOL) agency that oversees the ERISA provisions applicable to retirement savings plans.

On October 7, the Senate confirmed Janet Dhillon to head the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The vote was 51 to 47.

The PBGC oversees defined benefit (DB) pension plans’ ERISA rules. (Treasury has jurisdiction over DB plan tax rules.) Some 30 million American workers and retirees are covered by DB plans. The former Republican EEOC chair will lead the PBGC as it is more than halfway through administering a Biden-era bailout of some of the nation’s most severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans.

Chief among a raft of high-profile and controversial issues facing Congress this month is the need to fund the government before the end of fiscal year (FY) 2025 (so, by October 1). Failure means a government shutdown. It is unclear whether a shutdown could benefit either party, but some members on both sides may see some political value in a shutdown.

Congressional Republicans are working on a new tax package. It could include an increase in the section 199A qualified business interest (QBI) deduction, and improvements to health savings account (HSA) rules. It could happen as part of another bill (government funding), or as a second all-GOP reconciliation bill.

In a nod to the political potency of the risk that enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits will expire at the end of 2025, a group of 10 House Republicans—joined by several Democrats—have offered legislation to extend the premium tax credits as they were enhanced in 2021 (during the COVID pandemic) for one year.

Senate Democrats have introduced legislation, S.2556, that would repeal the health care cuts, including those to Medicaid, that were enacted this past July in the tax and spending cuts reconciliation bill. S.2556 would also permanently extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits.

On September 4, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued new guidance on expanded eligibility for Affordable Care Act (ACA) catastrophic health insurance plans. The guidance provides that individuals who cannot get premium tax credits or cost-sharing reductions via a health insurance exchange can now qualify for hardship exemptions under the ACA that allow them to purchase catastrophic health insurance. The expanded eligibility takes effect November 1, according to HHS.

In Rev.Proc. 2025-2026, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced inflation adjustment increases in the Affordable Care Act employer mandate penalties. The penalties are based on whether an applicable large employer (ALE) fails to offer affordable health insurance to at least 95 percent of its full-time employees and at least one of those employees receives a premium tax credit to buy individual health insurance. An ALE is an employer with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees. Affordability is measured by employee contributions to the cost of their employer-provided health care—penalties attach if those contributions exceed maximum percentages of their compensation.

Pursuant to a court request for information on timing, three government agencies said their intention is to release new regulations to extend the time permitted to short-term limited duration (STLD) health insurance. STLD health insurance—which currently can be in place for only four months—does not have to comply with most Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements, including consumer protections and minimum essential benefits.

Attorneys representing plan participants say they will challenge new Department of Labor (DOL) rules that “facilitate” inclusion of private equity as investment options in 401(k) (and other) participant-directed retirement plans. They say that ERISA preempts agency guidance and the President’s executive order directing DOL to “facilitate” inclusion of “alternative investments” (including private equity) in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) “long term action” regulatory agenda includes an update on white-collar overtime pay eligibility. The Spring 2025 regulatory agenda was released on September 4. This came after DOL pulled its spring agenda last month.

As of August 29, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) now requires agents and brokers to sign in anew to their Enhanced Direct Enrollment (EDE) accounts on the Enterprise Portal Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM) website after 30 minutes of inactivity. This is a new security requirement.

On August 7, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) directing the Department of Labor (DOL), working with other agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Treasury, “to facilitate” inclusion of alternative investments in 401(k) plans.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are looking at legislation that would allow employers to provide tax-free benefits to their independent contractors. A House Committee approved legislation that would create a safe harbor that would insulate employers and workers from workers being characterized as employees due to the provision of these “portable” benefits. Separately, a Senate committee held a hearing on similar proposals.

On July 30, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved two largely administrative ESOP bills. However, the committee’s chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), withdrew from consideration his larger ESOP bill that would substantially increase the amount of employer stock that can be contributed to ESOP participants’ accounts.

On August 7, the Departments of Labor (DOL), Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury (the tri-agencies) announced the agencies’ intention to initiate a notice-and-comment rulemaking initiative to consider needed amendments to the regulations governing the definition of short-term limited duration (STLD) health insurance.

The enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that were enacted during the COVID epidemic lock-down expire at the end of 2025. Efforts to extend them, and other expiring health insurance rules, could drive a new tax bill this fall.