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Finding Balance with Form 5500

Adam C. Pozek 02/24/23
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 ...
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How Much Fidelity Bond Coverage Are We Required to Have?

DWC 05/12/20
DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: How Much Fidelity Bond Coverage Are We Required to Have? - Retirement Plan Compliance
Facts We are in the process of reviewing all our various business insurance policies to determine which ones we need to keep, update, or eliminate.  One the coverages on our review list is the fidelity bond for our 401(k) plan.  Although our plan does invest some in regular mutual funds (about $200,000), the plan also holds some non-traditional ...
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Is It Possible to Avoid an Audit for the First (Short) Year of Our Plan?

DWC 10/1/19
QOTW - 10.1.2019 - Is It Possible to Avoid an Audit for the First Short Year of Our Plan - Plan Compliance
Facts Our company has about 200 employees, and we launched a new 401(k) plan on October of last year.  We were eager for all of our existing employees to get excited about this new benefit, so we waived the waiting period to join so that everyone would be eligible on day one.  The good news is that it worked, and we had a lot of our employees sign ...
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Who Are All the Providers Servicing My Plan & What Do They Do?

DWC 08/20/19
QOTW - 8.20.2019 - Who Are All the Providers Servicing My Plan and What Do They Do - Fiduciary Duties and Due Diligence
Facts I sponsor a small 401(k) plan for my employees.  Sometimes, I get confused about which service provider to go to for different plan-related questions.  Time and efficiency are important to me (and so is cost), and it seems like having all these different providers might be overkill.  Recently, I was talking to a friend who is also a business ...
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Are We Required to Force Former Employees to Take Their Money Out of Our Plan?

DWC 04/23/19
QOTW - 4.23.2019 - Are We Required to Force Former Employees to Take Their Money Out of Our Plan - Plan Distributions
Facts We just received our year end testing and it mentioned that we have several terminated participants with small balances that we are required to distribute from the plan.  I remember seeing something in one of our documents that mentioned distributions for account balances below $5,000, but I’m not entirely sure what that means or how I’m ...
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Should We Split Our 401(k) Plan to Avoid the Annual Audit?

DWC 02/6/18
QOTW - 2.6.2018 - Should We Split Our 401k Plan to Avoid the Annual Audit - Corporate Structure - Mergers and Acquisitions
Facts Our company has been growing over the last couple of years, which is a good thing. However, after seeing your last two Questions of the Week (here and here), I am concerned about the need to have our 401(k) plan audited. We are committed to keeping the plan in compliance, but I cringe at the thought of searching for an auditor and dealing ...
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How Do You Select a CPA for Your Annual 401(k) Audit?

DWC 01/30/18
QOTW - 1.30.2018 - How Do You Select a CPA for your Annual 401k Audit - Fiduciary Duties and Due Diligence
Facts With over 100 participants in our 401(k) plan in 2017, we have learned that our plan will now require an audit each plan year from an Independent Qualified Public Accountant (IQPA). This will be the first year the plan is subject to an audit. The idea of beginning this process is daunting and a little unnerving, to say the least!
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When Does My Plan Need An Outside Audit?

DWC 01/23/18
QOTW - 1.23.2018 - When Does My Plan Need an Outside Audit - Plan Sponsor Requirements
Facts We are a small business that has been growing quite a bit in the last couple of years and are now up to about 100 employees. Our company has a 401(k) plan and most of the employees who are eligible for it are contributing. We have been told that because of the size of our plan, we might need to have it audited each year by an outside ...
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The views expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or organization. All content is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to be tax or legal advice.

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