BRADENTON, Fla. - nvtip -- The COVID-19 pandemic has employers looking for ways to help employees through group health insurance and FSA disruptions caused by furloughs, reduced hours, working from home, lack of health coverage, and FSA deductions that are no longer applicable due to the pandemic.

Companies wanting to allow mid-year election changes to address these problems contacted the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services,for relief from Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 125 plan rules that set strict terms against these practices.

In response, the IRS issued guidance for IRC Section 125 to allow COVID-19 relief to taxpayers through employer-sponsored group health plans.

To take advantage of these changes, employers need to know what relief is available, when it takes effect, and how to enact it without losing the tax-advantages granted to benefit plans by IRC Section 125.

New guidance permits employers to allow mid-year elections to employees' group health insurance coverage and FSA contributions, and to participate in a one-time expanded FSA grace period for eligible 2020 claims with an unused FSA balance from 2019.

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All an employer has to do to meet IRS and DOL written plan requirements for the new COVID-19 provisions is to attach a simple COVID-19 plan amendment to their existing Section 125 plan document.

Every Section 125 POP or Cafeteria plan already has a full plan document. It is how an employer documents its eligibility to provide pre-tax status to employee salary deductions for insurance premiums and FSA contributions.

Gathering all the information for a plan document and then presenting it in the required format is not a simple or easy task for most employers. It is much more than writing what the plan offers on a piece of paper and then signing it.

Preparing a plan document is complex and can be costly. Some employers pay as much as $600 for an attorney or accountant to prepare a proper Section 125 plan document, which includes:

• Section 125 Premium Only Plan Document;
• Corporate Resolution to Adopt a Section 125 Plan; and,
• Summary Plan Description (SPD)

A plan sponsor also needs employee election forms and information on annual discrimination testing.

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As a leading provider of tax-saving benefit plan documents for 20+ years, Core Documents provides everything an employer needs for a complete and custom Section 125 plan document package for far less than others charge.

Now they make it easy and affordable to add the new Core COVID-19 plan amendment to an existing Section 125 plan documents at 25% less than the regular cost to amend a plan document.

And, for the first time ever, this service is available to any employer -- no matter who produced the original plan document.

Usually, Core Documents only services plan documents originated by their trained and certified team. Due to the COVID-19 crisis and anticipated strong demand, however, the Core COVID-19 plan amendment package is open to any employer at the same low price.

To learn more about COVID-19 group health plan relief available to employers and the new Core COVID-19 plan amendment package, visit www.coredocuments.com/covid19 or call 1-888-755-3373.