Art of the Qualified Plan Audit

There has been a lot of talk about changes brought by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act) that President Trump signed last December.

In “The DOL can use large retirement plan filings to uncover missing welfare plan filings”, we discussed the importance of plan sponsors not forgetting to file a Form 5500 for their health and welfare plans when filing the annual Form 5500 for their retirement plan.

With the October 15th deadline in the past and a majority of Form 5500s having been filed, many plan sponsors, auditors, and third-party administrators have breathed a sigh of relief.

Discrimination. It’s a concept that most people don’t associate with retirement plan savings.

The use of the wrong definition of compensation is the most common error found in employee benefit plan audits, and it can be a very costly mistake to correct in accordance with the provisions of the IRS’ Employee Plan Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS).

We often ask the question, “How does our 401(k) plan stack up?”

On April 6, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule expanding the definition of investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and modifying the complex list of prohibited transaction exemptions as it relates to the expanded definition.