Art of the Qualified Plan Audit

In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and retirement plan operational errors. Two decades of plan audits have shown time and time again that even the most accurate plan sponsor is not immune from making one of the common errors.

By special request, following is a summary of the basic available safe harbor formulas, with no extra editorials. See bullet points for information about enhanced match opportunities.

In my previous blog, “How to Order a Triple Stack Match for your Plan,” I discussed the basics of the triple stack match formula.

In my last blog, Almost There: Moving Closer to the New EBP Audit Standard , I gave a brief background on what led to SAS 13X – Statement on Auditing Standards Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA (“Final Balloted Draft”) and its proposed changes to the audit report.

The IRS is striving to make the process of taking hardship distributions “a little less hard” through proposed regulation issued on November 14th, 2018, ushered by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA).

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 2019:

In the 14th century epic poem the Troilus and Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer portrays a tragic love tale between Troilus, a Trojan warrior, and Criseyde, the daughter of a Greek fortuneteller.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act) resulted in major changes to the US income tax code.

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.

Our recent blog “So You Are Changing Jobs…Are You Forgetting Something?” urged people to consider a rollover of their retirement accounts when joining a new employer plan