The most well known statute governing employee benefit plans is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"). However, it is not the only federal statute regulating such plans. Internal Revenue Code ("Code") section 401, 26 USC section 401(a), and related sections impose numerous requirements on qualified retirement plans. Code section 403(b) sets forth the requirements for tax-sheltered annuities for certain tax-exempt organizations, and public schools and universities. Section 457(b) deals with eligible deferred compensation plans of governmental and tax-exempt organizations. Section 415(m discusses excess benefit plans of governmental organizations. Sections 457(f) and 83 set forth the tax rules governing other types of deferred compensation for employees of nonprofit and governmental employers. Other Code sections deal with the tax aspects of other types of employee benefits (e.g., health insurance, life insurance, disability benefits, child care benefits, and tuition reimbursement, and flexible benefit plans discussed in sections 101, 104, 105, 106, 117, 125, and 163). Governmental employee benefit plans are not subject to most of the provisions of ERISA. However, they are subject to an amalgam of federal, state, and local laws, plus various Constitutional provisions that have been held to impose certain requirements on governmental plans. In the case of employee benefit plans international organizations (treated as governmental under US law), treaties may also come into play. Church plans are typically not subject to ERISA, but are subject to state trust laws and other similar laws. However, some of them have made an election to become subject to ERISA, in order to avoid having to deal with the laws of all 50 states. Plans of churches that have not made this election are referred to as "nonelecting church plans." In addition, the regulation of plans of churches and related must take into account the need to avoid regulation of religion in violation of the First Amendment to the federal Constitution. This category includes sites that provide free resources for studying one or more of these areas of law.
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