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Jewell Lim Esposito

Partner

"Clients have me do the ERISA/tax legwork, so that they can get back to running their companies."

Jewell Lim Esposito has nearly 20 years of practice in Employee Benefits and Tax law. She emphasizes work on Fiduciary Compliance, Tax Qualification of Retirement Plans, Executive Compensation, and Payroll Taxes for public, tax-exempt and government contractor clients on employee benefit matters. Her practice involves frequent interaction with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Treasury Department.

In the area of qualified plans (Title II of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)), Jewell designs and evaluates 401(k) and 403(b) plans, profit-sharing plans, and employee stock ownership plans and other retirement plans and then monitors them for ongoing regulatory compliance with applicable regulations. Jewell helps companies quantify the costs of their plan design decisions. She also counsels plan fiduciaries on their ERISA Title I responsibilities and has obtained prohibited transaction exemptions involving pension plans and real property. Additionally, Jewell advises clients on the structure of pension plan investments, venture capital operating companies and real estate operating companies to conform to the plan asset regulation. In the Mergers and Acquisition context, she negotiates the rights of employers and their employees who are part of acquiring, terminating or spun-off pension, health and welfare plans.

In the Executive Compensation area, Jewell advises management and boards of directors on the tax and corporate aspects of incentive 409A arrangements, including equity-based incentive plans, supplemental executive retirement plans, performance-based programs and non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements. She negotiates offers in compromise and installment agreements for both company payroll tax liabilities and officer trust fund recovery penalties.

In the labor and employment area, Jewell counsels employers involved in various labor and employment matters (including Service Contract Act, collective bargaining, overtime, wages, employment and compensation agreements, breach of contract, wrongful discharge, COBRA, and hire/fire/severance). She has worked on complex federal withholding and income tax issues related to employers and their H-2A foreign agriculture workers. Jewell also assists with establishing, funding, and ERISA fiduciary oversight with respect to VEBAs and MEWAs.

Over the course of her career, Jewell has examined hundreds of 401(k)/403(b)/457(b)/457(f) pension plans and payroll tax issues. She negotiates and structures settlements with the IRS and DOL with respect to fiduciary and tax issues, pension issues and matters with respect to delinquent payroll and employment taxes.

Jewell is a frequent lecturer on ERISA, compensation and labor and employment issues. She has authored a number of employee benefits, fiduciary, executive compensation and payroll tax, publications and is regularly invited to speak on such topics nationally and regionally.

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Publications/Presentations

• "Avoiding 401(k) Disasters," Compensation & Benefits Review (Sage Publications, January 2010)
• "Fiduciary Misrepresentation Claims,” ERISA Fiduciary Law (BNA Books, 1998)
• "Back to the Functional Definition of Fiduciary,” Probate and Property (October 1996)
• "403 (b) Compliance Issues." Nationwide plan adviser conference (2010) 
• "Form 5500: Tackling Compliance Risks, Understanding Applicability of IRS Paid Preparer Rules."  Interactive webinar for accounting professionals (2010)
• "Auditing Your Retirement Plans."  Interactive webinar for Human Resource Professionals, members of the National Society of Human Resource Management (2009)
• "Look What Tax Defects Your Clients Have."  Presentation before the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (2009)
• "Don't be Surprised by the IRS: How to Avoid 403b Plan Problems Now:  What's on the IRS Target List?. . .  What's the Difference Between a 401(k) and 403(b) Plan?" Workshop before financial advisers to and HR professionals of tax-exempt organizations (2007)
• "Who's Stealing From Your Retirement Plan?" Radio address to Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC listening area (2007)

Professional Activities/Associations

• Director, Oceans for Youth Foundation
• Director, National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies

Other Personal Background Information and Interests

• When not entrenched in all things ERISA and Employee Benefits, she can be found playing board games, learning poker, and scuba diving with her family and friends.