Heart Act Provisions Clause Samples
The HEART Act Provisions clause outlines compliance requirements related to the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act (HEART Act), which primarily addresses tax and benefits issues for military personnel. In practice, this clause ensures that retirement plans or benefit programs administered under the agreement are operated in accordance with the special rules and protections afforded to individuals called to active military duty, such as accelerated vesting or survivor benefits. Its core function is to ensure legal compliance with federal law, thereby protecting both the plan sponsor and eligible participants from inadvertent violations and ensuring that military service members receive the benefits to which they are entitled.
Heart Act Provisions. In the case of a death occurring on or after January 1, 2007, if a Participant dies while performing qualified military service, the survivors of the Participant are entitled to any additional benefits (other than benefit accruals relating to the period of qualified military service) provided under the Plan as if the Participant had resumed and then terminated employment on account of death. Moreover, the Plan will credit the Participant’s qualified military service as service for vesting purposes, as though the Participant had resumed employment under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act immediately prior to the Participant’s death. For remuneration paid after December 31, 2008, (i) an individual receiving a differential wage payment, as defined by Section 3401(h)(2) of the Code, is treated as an Employee of the Employer making the payment, (ii) the differential wage payment is treated as Compensation and Net Compensation, and (iii) the Plan is not treated as failing to meet the requirements of any provision described in Section 414(u)(1)(C) of the Code (or corresponding Plan provisions) by reason of any contribution or benefit which is based on the differential wage payment, but only if all Employees of the Employer performing service in the uniformed services described in Section 3401(h)(2)(A) of the Code are entitled to receive differential wage payments (as defined in Section 3401(h)(2) of the Code) on reasonably equivalent terms and, if eligible to participate in a retirement plan maintained by the Employer, to make contributions based on the payments on reasonably equivalent terms (taking into account Sections 410(b)(3), (4), and (5) of the Code).
3. Effective January 1, 2010, the first sentence of Section 18.1 of the Plan is amended to read as follows: In the event of a transfer of business assets, operations, or employees from the Employer to a successor employer, provision may be made by which the Plan and Trust will be continued by the successor; and, in that event, such successor shall be substituted for the Employer under the Plan.
4. Effective January 1, 2010, Section 18.2 of the Plan is amended by adding the following to the end of said Section: Notwithstanding the foregoing, a transfer of amounts from the Trust Fund to a nonqualified foreign trust shall be treated as a distribution from the Trust Fund.
5. Save and except as herein expressly amended, the Plan shall continue in full force and effect.
Heart Act Provisions