Art of the Qualified Plan Audit

In Summary Hardship Withdrawal Access Expanded: The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 significantly expanded participant access to retirement funds in hardship situations. Key changes include eliminating the mandatory six-month suspension of deferrals after a hardship withdrawal and permitting plans to remove the requirement to maximize plan loans first. These rules became mandatory for plan years … Continued

Posted By: Maria Hurd, CPA Why Ask Why? Why should the rules that determine how and how much a person can save for retirement be different depending on whether the person works for a government entity, a nonprofit, or a for-profit employer? People are people, and their retirement needs are not different based on what … Continued

In Summary New Audit Standard Introduced: SAS 136, effective for plan years ending on or after December 15, 2021, replaces the limited-scope audit with the ERISA Section 103(a)(3)(C) audit. This change mandates the auditor to provide an opinion on all financial information except for the carved-out certified investment data, which differs significantly from the former … Continued

In Summary High Cost of Exclusion Correction: Correcting the improper exclusion of eligible employees from making salary deferrals under the IRS’s EPCRS involves substantial employer contributions. This includes a Qualified Nonelective Contribution (QNEC) and 100% of the missed matching contribution, potentially leading to a perceived windfall for the affected participants who received their full paychecks … Continued