Art of the Qualified Plan Audit

In its quest to Set Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement, SECURE 2.0 enhanced the Long-Term Part-Time (LTPT) rules of Secure 1.0 by making them applicable to 403(b) plans. Since employees are more likely to contribute to an employer-sponsored retirement arrangement than an Individual Retirement Account, and more Americans are working part-time since the pandemic, … Continued

SECURE 2.0: Mandatory Automatic Enrollment Coupled with Corrective Contribution Relief Employees Plan to Make the Right Choice…Later When it comes to choosing to save for retirement, people tend to be short-sighted. Many eligible employees don’t choose to participate in their employer-sponsored retirement plans. Behavioral finance studies show that people tend to imagine themselves making the … Continued

Posted By: Saaib T. Uppal, CPA, QKA IRS Announces Increases on Benefits and Contributions Dollar Limitations for 2023 The IRS has announced cost-of-living adjustments that should be noted for retirement planning purposes. Below is a chart that outlines employee benefit plan limits for 2023: Plan Limits RETIREMENT & SOCIAL SECURITY 2023 Limit 2022 Limit 2021 Limit … Continued

Posted by Maria T. Hurd, CPA Yes, the Audit Extends to Excluded 403(b) Employees: Testing Compliance with Universal Availability It’s never a good sign when an employer sponsoring a 403(b) plan says: “You don’t need to see backup for employees who are excluded from the plan.” Ohh! But we do! Not often, but sometimes, clients … Continued

In Summary Reliance on External Parties Does Not Erase Fiduciary Responsibility: There is a misconception that service providers, like recordkeepers, are solely responsible for compliance. While these providers assist with administration, the plan sponsor retains the ultimate legal and fiduciary duty to ensure the plan operates within both the law and its own written terms, … Continued

Posted by Maria T. Hurd, CPA Where have you worked, for how long, and how much have you contributed to the 403(b) plan? These are all the questions that make up the puzzle pieces necessary to compute each participant’s available 403(b) catch-up. Participants in a 403(b) plan can make an additional contribution once they have … 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 Requirement for the Independent Audit: The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) mandates that large retirement plans, generally those with 100 or more participants at the beginning of the plan year, must have their financial statements audited. These audited statements are required to be attached to the Schedule H of the annual Form … Continued

Posted By Maria Hurd, CPA The SECURE Act increased IRS Late Filing Penalties for Form 5500 by how much? How can I avoid them? IRS Penalties Tenfold. That’s how much the SECURE Act (the “Act”) increased the penalty for the late filing of a Form 5500 –TENFOLD! Before the Act, the IRS could assess a … Continued