Michael A. Thrasher

Michael A. Thrasher, who died in 2020 at age 74, was a noted employee benefits lawyer and a Charter Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”), having been inducted into the College in 2000.

Michael graduated from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and received his J.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Subsequently, he received an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, where he also served as an adjunct professor for many years focusing his teaching there on welfare benefit plans.

He spent most of his career with the Office of Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, beginning in the early 1970s. By the late 1970s, he had already become a Branch Chief in Employee Plans and Exempt Organizations at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel and by the time of his retirement from the IRS in 1996, had reached the position of Assistant Chief Counsel. Throughout his very productive years at the IRS working on numerous important benefit matters, he conscientiously took the concerns of all stakeholders into account in order to prepare guidance that worked effectively for all. Practitioners found Mike approachable and thoughtful in discussing policy issues with them.

Among the many employee benefits issues for which he was responsible during his time at the IRS are: Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Associations (“VEBAs”) under Section 501(c)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”), the funded welfare benefit plans rules under Section 419 and 419A of the Code, the Treasury Regulations under Section 105(h) of the Code involving self-directed medical expense reimbursement plans, loans under qualified plans (Section 72(p) of the Code), deductions for contributions to qualified plans (Section 404 of the Code), benefits provided under cafeteria plans (Section 125 of the Code), multiemployer pension plans, and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”), including leveraged and tax credit ESOPs.

When he retired from the IRS, he became Of Counsel to the Groom & Nordberg firm, now Groom Law Group, also located in Washington, DC. At Groom, he continued to advise clients in many of the same areas (focusing particularly on VEBAs, the Section 105(h) non-discrimination rules, and funded welfare plans), but he expanded his expertise to include Health Savings Accounts (“HSAs”) and Flexible Spending Arrangements (“FSAs”). Michael retired from Groom in December 2013.

Michael was a member of both the Exempt Organizations and Employee Benefits Committees of the American Bar Association Tax Section, and while at the IRS, he was a much sought-after committee panelist. Attendees at the meetings very much appreciated Michael’s candor and direct approach to issues. As one College Fellow remarked, “Whenever, he spoke, we feverously took down everything he said.”

Photo Source: Groom Law Group, Chartered