Prohibited Transactions Under ERISA: Obstructing Additional Taxes and Major Penalties

Holly M. Hejmowski, CPA is a Senior Manager with over eleven years of professional accounting experience working at Freed Maxick CPAs, P.C., which is a top 100 accounting firm.  Holly specializes in employee benefit plan audits including defined contribution, defined benefit, 403(b), and Taft-Hartley multi-employer plans for both private and public companies. She is responsible for the overall planning, organization, supervision, and completion of numerous employee benefit plan audits. She has provided litigation support to employee benefit plans and has assisted clients undergoing Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service audits.

Rachel J. Markun is a Partner in the Napa office of Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young LLP.  Rachel advises clients regarding the corporate, tax and fiduciary issues relating to ESOPs.  She has represented ERISA plan fiduciaries, employers and institutions in connection with legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, ERISA, the federal securities laws, and the California laws.  She has extensive tax expertise relating to tax-exempt entities and all aspects of retirement plan qualification matters as well as fiduciary and corporate governance matters.  She represents retirement plan corporate sponsors in a variety of matters, including Internal Revenue Service audits and U.S. Department of Labor investigations.  She counsels many ESOP companies and fiduciaries on a range of compliance, best practices and risk management issues, and with respect to various transaction matters.

Shane Stroud’s practice focuses on a wide variety of matters in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation, including those related to mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, initial public offerings and other extraordinary corporate events (such as private equity and leveraged buyout transactions).  Shane also routinely advises clients on excessive compensation, golden parachute and deferred compensation issues.

Shane also counsels clients with respect to bankruptcy, securities, corporate governance and other laws affecting employee benefits and executive compensation matters.  He also advises a wide range of companies with regard to designing and drafting equity based and incentive compensation plans.  Shane has extensive experience representing both executives and employers with respect to the negotiation and drafting of executive employment and severance agreements.

He regularly advises clients on the implementation and design of qualified and non-qualified employee benefit plans (including health and welfare plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans and supplemental executive retirement plans).  Shane also advises clients on a wide variety of ERISA issues, including plan reporting and disclosure, participation, vesting, funding, benefit accrual, fiduciary responsibility, prohibited transactions, plan termination, merger and employer withdrawal liability issues.