401(k) Q&A | Plan & Industry Content From DWC - The 401(k) Experts

Finding Balance with Form 5500

It’s rare that updates to the Form 5500 warrant little more than a yawn, if anyone other than those who prepare the forms even notice. That is NOT the case with changes issued by the Department of Labor today. In nearly 250 pages of new regulations, revised instructions and sample forms, the DOL announced some changes for the 2023 plan year that ...

Interesting Compliance Scenarios - 2021 Edition

DWC 03/18/21

Are There Plan Design Options We Should Consider as Part of the Mandatory Cycle 3 Plan Document Restatement?

DWC 11/10/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: Plan Design Options to Consider as Part of the Mandatory Cycle 3 Plan Document Restatement

Facts We’ve been following your recent posts about how making even small changes to certain plan provisions can make managing the plan easier without sacrificing our objectives. Making life easier, while minimizing chances for errors…you’ve really been speaking our language.

Which Common Plan Fees Can (and Should) We Pay from Plan Assets?

DWC 08/18/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: Which Common Plan Fees Can (& Should) We Pay from Plan Assets?

Facts We are reviewing our company expense budget to identify any that we can eliminate or reduce. We’ve read that it is possible to pay expenses related to maintaining company retirement plans out of plan assets. We sponsor both a 401(k) plan and cash balance plan for our employees, so shifting some of those fees from the company to the plan ...

Can We Pay Plan-Related Expenses Out of Plan Assets?

DWC 04/28/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: Can We Plan Plan-Related Expenses Out of Plan Assets?

Facts Like many businesses, we’ve been watching our cash flow carefully over the past several weeks. We’re making adjustments where necessary so that we can stay on top of the invoices we receive from our service providers. Among those invoices are a few related to expenses for our 401(k) plan. I think I’ve heard that I can pay those invoices ...

What is a Suspense Account and Can We Use Our Forfeiture Account Instead?

DWC 12/3/19

Facts The annual compliance report that our TPA provided to us indicates that we over-funded matching contributions for certain employees and instructs us to transfer the excess amounts out of the affected participants’ accounts and into a plan suspense account. The only problem is that I am not sure what a suspense account is. When I spoke to our ...

Is It Possible to Split Eligibility to Allow for Deferrals but to Postpone Safe Harbor Contributions?

DWC 10/29/19

Facts We allow new employees to join our 401(k) plan on the first of the month after they are hired. They become eligible to make deferrals and also receive the company safe harbor contribution at that time. We don’t have high turnover, but employees who leave often do so within the first year of joining us. We don’t mind allowing new hires to ...

Forfeiture Account Gathering Dust? We’ve got a fix for that!

DWC 02/28/19

Q1 2019 COTQ Blog Header Image_Forfeiture Account Gathering Dusrt

With all the responsibilities that come with being a plan sponsor, not to mention a business owner, your plan’s forfeiture account probably doesn’t make it anywhere near the top of the priority list. More than likely, forfeitures are allocated to the account automatically by your plan’s recordkeeper following a participant distribution. Then, your ...

Can Higher Than Normal Turnover Affect my 401(k) Plan? | Part 3 of 3: The Results

DWC 02/19/19

QOTW - 2.19.2019 - Can Higher Than Normal Turnover Affect My 401k Plan - 2 of 3 - Plan Compliance

Facts In last week’s QOTW, you provided some tools we could use to identify which participants were affected by our decision to close one of our locations, and to calculate our actual turnover rate for purposes of determining whether a partial plan termination has occurred. We’ve performed the review, and our minimum turnover rate will exceed 20%. ...

Which 401(k) Plan Fees Can Be Paid Out of Plan Assets?

DWC 03/20/18

Facts When we first established our 401(k) plan, the company didn’t have a lot of discretionary income, so we went with a low-cost provider and set it up so the plan would pay for its own fees. We have since been told that paying fees out of the plan isn’t that straightforward.

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