By: Randall A. Denha, J.D., LL.M.* President Trump signed the SECURE Act (“the Act”) last December as part of the government’s spending bill and it will inevitably affect most retirement plan participants, for better or worse. The SECURE legislation — which stands for “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” — puts into place numerous…
By: Randall A. Denha, J.D., LL.M.* The holiday season has come and gone, and here we are in the year 2020. Hard to believe. Remember that just yesterday we were worried about Y2K? For many of us, the start of a new year can be a time of empty commitment to self-betterment. Meaningful resolutions are…
NACS survey finds record-high retailer optimism for the first quarter of 2020 By NACS Online // January 02, 2020 ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Convenience retailers overwhelmingly said their sales increased in 2019, according to U.S. convenience store owners surveyed by NACS, the trade association that represents the convenience and fuel retailing industry. Three in four retailers (74%) said…
The industry faces an October deadline for EMV compliance at the pump By NACS Online // January 08, 2020 NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Starting in October, fuel pumps must be equipped to handle chip card transactions or retailers risk liability for any counterfeit fraud that might occur at that station, Bloomberg/Detroit News reports. Gas stations had asked that…
2019 OSHA 300A logs must be posted by February 1, 2020 2019 OSHA 300A logs must be electronically submitted by March 2, 2020 Between February 1st and April 30th, 2020, all employers covered by the recordkeeping regulation must post a hard copy of their 2019 OSHA 300A Summary in a common area of their workplace that…
By NACS Online // December 30, 2019 ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Legislation raising the federal minimum age to purchase all tobacco products from 18 to 21 was signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 20. It was anticipated that the law would take effect in 2020 after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued regulations implementing…
By Auday P. Arabo, MIRA President & CEO // December 19, 2019 Across the state, members of the Midwest Independent Retailers Association are feeling the pinch of liquor delivery delays and failure to receive full orders as a result of problems faced by one the state’s three authorized distributors of liquor. But we are strongly…
The $5.54 billion settlement will compensate merchants for excessive interchange fees By NACS Online // December 18, 2019 ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Judge Margo Brodie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York on December 13 approved a $5.54 billion settlement in the long-running litigation brought by NACS and other merchants against Visa, MasterCard and…
Higher minimum wages “worsen the financial health of small businesses,” researchers said By NACS Online // December 18, 2019 CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that higher minimum wages adversely impacted small businesses, the Wall Street Journal reports. “As the federal minimum wage rose from 1989-2013, small businesses in affected states suffered…
Extending the credit and raising the tobacco purchase age win House approval in spending bill By NACS Online // December 18, 2019 WASHINGTON—Congressional leaders forged a deal on a tax package with a hodge-podge of provisions affecting convenience and fuel retailers, including retroactively extending the biodiesel blenders’ tax credit and raising the minimum age to…
