Matthew Whitehorn

- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

- ERISA

- Tax

- Tax-Exempt Organizations

- Health Care

- Startups & Emerging Businesses

Matthew I. Whitehorn is a Partner in Dilworth Paxson LLP's Tax Group and Chair of the firm's Employee Benefits Group. For more than 25 years, Matt has built a practice centered on ERISA and employee benefits, advising public, private, and tax-exempt employers on the full range of issues that arise in operating and correcting qualified retirement plans, non-qualified deferred compensation arrangements, and health and welfare programs. His work regularly touches on ERISA fiduciary compliance, Affordable Care Act requirements, governmental and tax-exempt employer pension and 457(b) plans, the treatment of benefits in bankruptcy, withdrawal liability and compliance with Code Sections 409A and 457(f).

Matt's standing in the field is reflected in his appointment as the 2016-2017 Chair of the IRS Advisory Committee on Tax-Exempt and Government Entities, his membership in the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and the IRS Mid-Atlantic Area Pension Liaison Group, and his role as co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association's Employee Benefits Committee. He is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and served as Adjunct Law Faculty at Temple University's Graduate Tax Program, where he taught qualified employee benefit plans and executive compensation. Matt is recognized in Chambers USA for Pennsylvania Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, and has also been named to The Best Lawyers in America and the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list for his employee benefits work. Beyond his practice, Matt chairs Dilworth Paxson's Pro Bono Committee, reflecting a long-standing commitment to public service that has been recognized with awards from the Legal Clinic for the Disabled and the Villanova Law Alumni Association.

- Served on the acquisition counsel team representing a major regional newspaper publisher in a corporate transaction.

- Serves as pension counsel to a major urban municipality and a2 state pension system.

- Advises the human resources departments of private employers, tax-exempt organizations, and governmental entities on retirement and health & welfare plan matters.

- Represented a financially distressed employer in discussions with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regarding an involuntary plan termination.

- Negotiated a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration resolving fiduciary breach allegations against a plan trustee.

- Secured IRS and Department of Labor correction program approvals addressing plan loan failures, automatic enrollment errors, and late Form 5500 filings, and advised clients on self-correction strategies.

- Negotiated resolutions of multiemployer pension plan withdrawal liability assessments on behalf of contributing employers.

- Obtained relief from IRS-assessed penalties under the Affordable Care Act's employer shared responsibility provisions.

- Government and Public Sector

- Not-for-Profit / Charity

- Financial Services

- Health and Life Sciences

- Business and Professional Services