John J. Jacobson

John J. Jacobson

Stockholder
John J. Jacobson

John J. Jacobson

Stockholder
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Corporate clients are appreciative of John’s ability to apply his experience in a practical manner so that business objectives may be met while avoiding exposure to potential liability.

John enables clients to navigate successfully the regulatory hurdles of ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, and other laws that apply to retirement plans and other employee benefit plans. Corporate clients are appreciative of his ability to apply his experience in a practical manner so that business objectives may be met while avoiding exposure to potential liability. He responds quickly and clearly to clients’ concerns, and he does so in a way that clients understand.   He regularly drafts plan documents and summary plan descriptions. He also submits to the IRS determination letter requests and applications under the Voluntary Compliance Program that are submitted to the IRS.  In addition, he handles IRS and PBGC audits of retirement plans and investigations of retirement plans conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor.  John’s responsibilities also include negotiating the provisions of service agreements with record-keepers and other service providers for benefit plans.  On a daily basis, clients depend on him to resolve, in a practical manner, particular issues that arise in plan administration.

Representative Experience

  • Consolidated, pursuant to plan mergers, six defined benefit plans into one plan.  The resulting plan, covering thousands of participants, now enjoys economies of scale.
  • Resolved, pursuant to a voluntary compliance filing with the IRS, the tax qualification defects of a 401(k) plan that had been in effect for over 30 years but had never obtained an IRS determination letter and had not adopted certain required plan amendments.
  • Handled the termination of a defined benefit plan in which the employer was able to receive a return of substantial, surplus assets while minimizing its exposure to excise taxes.
  • Implemented window plans pursuant to which enhanced benefits were offered during limited time periods so that employees were encouraged to retire without the sponsoring employers being exposed to liability under the age discrimination laws or the tax qualification rules.
  • Successfully negotiated an attractive settlement with a company that served as client’s record-keeper after it made errors that could have resulted in the client incurring major expenses, although the record-keeper would not have been exposed to significant financial liability to the client if a claim had been made.

Practice Areas

Admissions

  • State of Connecticut

Education

  • Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
  • Bowdoin College, A.B. (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa)

Professional & Community Involvement

  • Connecticut Bar Association
  • American Bar Association, Section of Taxation, Employee Benefits Committee

Honors & Awards

    News