For more than a year bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been making headlines, and its skyrocketing value has investors asking when it will become an investment menu option for their 401(k) or other retirement savings plans. DWC Managing Partner Keith Clark answers that question in a article published on the Kiplinger website.

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Someone would have to be living under a rock for the last year or so not to have noticed all the talk about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.  The values have fluctuated quite a bit, but all the press makes it sound like cryptocurrencies are a great investment that can generate significant returns.

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Our company’s workload fluctuates throughout the year with big spikes during the summer. As a result, we often hire seasonal workers who help us out during the busy times, but do not work during the regular workload months.

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A participant in our 401(k) plan took out a loan a couple years ago. She could only afford to make the bare minimum payments at the time, but is now in a financial position to pay down the loan more quickly.

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We just discovered that one of our employees has been stealing money from the company for quite some time. We fired him as soon as we discovered the theft, and we are working with the police and our attorney to determine what recourse we have. The employee has enough in his 401(k) account with us to cover most of what he stole, but he has submitted a request to take a distribution from the plan.

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It seems like 401(k) plans require a lot of different notices and disclosures be provided to participants each year. We have safe harbor and default investment notices at the end of the year, fee disclosure notices and participant statements each quarter, and the summary annual report (SAR) when we file our Form 5500—and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

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A participant in our 401(k) plan recently took a hardship distribution. We know we are supposed to suspend his deferrals for six months following the distribution, but we are not entirely clear on how strict that timing is and what happens at the end of the six months.

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One of our employees who was a participant in our 401(k) plan recently passed away. He never submitted a beneficiary designation form; however, since he was married, we understand that his spouse is automatically his beneficiary. According to his spouse, there are enough other assets such that she does not want to accept the death benefit from the 401(k) plan and prefers, instead, that the benefit pass to her brother-in-law (her deceased husband’s brother).

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Every couple of years, our 401(k) plan fails the ADP/ACP test by a small margin. Since we don’t always fail the test, gathering our year-end census information to send to our TPA sometimes isn’t as high a priority as some of the other projects necessary to close out the year.

Choosing a third-party administrator to manage your company's document design, compliance or government reporting services should be based on careful due diligence, rather than on the price of fees, DWC Managing Partner Keith Clark wrote in an article on choosing a TPA published on the Benefit News website. 

"If I am hiring an attorney or any professional service firm," Clark wrote, "I want to hire the provider who best meets my service criteria. My buying questions will be focused on their experience and service model. If I like the answer, I will then ask about their fees."